UW-Madison Extension and Marbleseed Organic Field Day
Organic Apple, Currant, and Gooseberry Production
Wednesday, June 28, 2023 – 1:00pm-4:00pm – Free
Two Onion Farm, 19638 Cottage Inn Road, Belmont, WI 53510
Join Chris and Juli McGuire for a tour of Two Onion Farm to learn about organic apple, currant, and gooseberry production. We will visit their half-acre planting of currants and gooseberries, established in 2020, and view their ongoing trials of the cordon trellis method of growing these plants alongside more traditional untrellised, bush plantings. We will also hear results of a recent on-farm trial on organic methods of controlling gooseberry Anthracnose leaf spot, a troublesome disease in the Upper Midwest. We will then tour their apple orchard, including trees ranging from 1-12 years of age, and discuss site preparation and planting, tree training, groundcover management, pest control, variety selection, and orchard equipment. We will hear how their apple growing methods evolved as their orchard changed from a small component of a diverse vegetable farm to their farm’s primary focus.
Topics covered will include:
- Organic fruit production
- Orchard management
- Trellising methods
- Disease control
Chris and Juli McGuire have operated Two Onion Farm since 2003. For the first fifteen years of their farm, they grew up to five acres of diverse organic vegetables and marketed them through a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program in the Madison, WI and Dubuque, IA areas. In 2011-2012, they began planting perennial fruits on their farm, and they have gradually transitioned their farm to entirely fruit; they now raise 3 acres of apples and one-quarter acre each of currants and gooseberries, all certified organic. They market their fruit through their own CSA program, through other CSA farms, to Madison-area grocery stores, to local food processors, and through their own line of applesauce and apple butter. They have been very active in the regional organic farming community, taught numerous workshops and classes, and conducted several on-farm research projects on organic fruit growing.
This field day is co-sponsored by UW-Madison Extension and Marbleseed.