Local Farmers Lack Connecticut-Grown Peaches

Not one of roughly 4,000 peach trees at Middlefield’s Lyman Orchards produced a single piece of fruit this summer because of a warm winter followed by a February cold snap. 

People looking for pick-your-own peaches in the state can reach out to farms near the shoreline, as the State Department of Agriculture says that part of Connecticut did not get hit quite as badly. 

For the vast majority of the state, however, the trees never became dormant, so when the cold snap hit, the buds died. 

“I’ve never experienced it and I’ve been on a farm full-time [for] over 35 years,” John Lyman said. “And my dad doesn’t remember either.” 

To help supplement this year’s loss, the Lyman family had to improvise. 

Lyman decided to partner with a peach farm in Pennsylvania that offers similar varieties to what they usually have on their farm. 

“Fortunately we’ve been able to get what we need right now,” Lyman said. “And hopefully that will continue into early September [or] mid-September.” 

If so, his peach supply will carry him right into peak apple season. 

“I understand there’s been a frost early in the year that didn’t do well with the peach tree,” said Evelyn Greenlaw, who drove in from New Hampshire to go peach picking with her sister. “But that’s OK, we found out there were apples and I’m going, ‘OK, let’s do apples!’” 

Luckily for Greenlaw, the mild winter caused apples to arrive a week early this year. 

Lyman hopes that pears, the corn and sunflower mazes and Lyman Orchards’ Apple Barrel store will help give customers plenty of options. 

“It’s the experience of coming out and picking your own,” Greenlaw’s sister, Janice Keenan, said. “It’s just fun.”

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