<\/p>\n
When Leon Risenhoover,76, looks out the windows of his Dolores farmhouse, apple trees stretch out before him.<\/p>\n
He sees the trees, he sees the fruit yet to be picked, and he sees the history of Montezuma County and a story that can told by the apples themselves.<\/p>\n
You see, Risenhoover has trees on his property that were planted in 1906, during a time that trains still trundled into Montezuma County. The area was famous for apples and trains would haul them out to destinations abound.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was supposedly the first double red delicious in the valley,\u201d Risenhoover said, recently as he gave a tour of his orchard, with towering trees sporting large gnarly trunks and sheep milling around in the background.<\/p>\n
This year, there was a late frost, so very few bright red apples dot the trees, and recent rains mean that Risenhoover is late to pick them this year. This is the second late frost in a row. Risenhoover\u2019s crop last year was small too.<\/p>\n
Being an apple farmer in Montezuma County isn\u2019t easy, he said. \u201cYou get about six years of good crops out of every 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
This could explain why apples aren\u2019t as abundant as they were in the early 1900s.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is too much work for very little return,\u201d Risenhoover said.<\/p>\n
But still, Risenhoover was planning on going out in the field to pick and be ready to sell them for about $1 a pound.<\/p>\n
He grows the double red delicious, winesaps, Romes and golden delicious.<\/p>\n
When asked his favorite, he reached up into some branches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe red delicious, hands down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
With a rub on his shirt, the apple took on a shiny glow, and it tasted, well, delicious.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see,\u201d he said. \u201cThose red delicious types in the store. They don\u2019t taste anything like that. They are probably a year old in the store.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, their thick skin and beauty is what earned the red delicious such popularity, but their longevity was ultimately their downfall and the reason they have a bad name today.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to get them fresh from the orchard, my orchard,\u201d he said, smiling.<\/p>\n
To get some of Risenhoover\u2019s apples, drive to 14856 CR 26, Dolores. Risenhoover said to be sure to honk to get his attention and be patient.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t move fast anymore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Apples will be on everyone\u2019s mind Saturday, Oct. 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project Orchard Social at Let It Grow, 90 N. Mildred Road, Cortez. farmer\u2019s trees tell history of Montezuma County\u2019s orchards<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":117367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[281,1934,1587,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-117366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-agriculture","tag-farmers-market","tag-farms","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117366"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=117366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n Jude Schunemeyer will give an update on the Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project at the event.
\n The event will feature music and even an apple press with apple and cider tastings.
\n There will be activities for children and if you have apples, you may enter them in the apple contest.
\n The Montezuma County Fair started over 100 years ago, primarily from the energy and passion of local fruit growers who wanted to show off their fruit, some of which went up to state and world fair levels. Over time, much of this passion faded, and for various reasons, the fair got moved up earlier in the season, a season too early to enter most fruit and local apple orchards started to disappear.
\n The Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project is hoping to put the area\u2019s fruit back on display.
\n There will be awards for: biggest, most attractive, funniest-looking, wormiest, best spitter and best of show.
\n Schunemeyer hopes to make the apple social an annual event.
\n The recently formed orchard restoration group is still looking for some of the apples seen at the Montezuma County Fair that won top premiums between the years 1903 to 1911. Have you seen any of these Colorado varieties: Walbridge, Flora Bell, Kent\u2019s Beauty, Colorado Favorite, Wyeth, Colorado Red, Ben Maupin, Shackleford, Baskett, Dwinnie, Bovuet, Lover\u2019s or Lover\u2019s II, Sweet Pear, Tennessee, Striped Sweet Pippin, Colorado Seedling, Cooper\u2019s Colored Hedard\u2019s Pippin syn. Harbord?
\n If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of these apples contact Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project. 970-565-3099 or letitgrow@q.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"