Snook Orchards

Opportunity knocked for rookie apple farmers Quintin and Cindy Snook after moving to the Emmett Valley last winter… “The opportunity came along to purchase a chunk of the Benson orchards, not knowing a thing about raising apples or how an orchard operates. We said yes, we could probably do that.” An early winter hard frost wiped out most of the 2015 apple crop in the Valley except for the Snook Orchard. “This orchard really didn’t get frosted like a lot of the other ones. We were lucky. Just a handful of trees didn’t produce and we have lots of Golden Delicious apples that we need to make belong to somebody else. That would be really nice.” The 600 trees in the orchard have left the couple with tons of Golden Delicious apples and nowhere to sell them. “I made a phone call to Leah Clark at Idaho Preferred and she gave us quite a list of contacts. We are a little late in the game so I am going to probably do a little bit of speedy, in person marketing with samples of our apples to some of the bigger co-ops and stores. So we’ll see how we do.” Golden Delicious. Local farmers markets, a food bank and a You Pick operation are other options for the Snooks. Their main goal is to not let any of the crop go to waste. “There is a lot of good energy in walking through an orchard and looking at apples and picking them. It’s quite pleasant and there is a certain way you pick apples. You pick them up so you keep the stems on them. That helps them last longer. We did not realize we were going to have so many apples. We have a lot of apples.” The lesson learned? “Next year we will be more ready to be early with the marketing contracts I think.” But for now, if you are looking for apples, give them a call. A 37 pound box will cost you about $25.