Despite Ottawa’s dry weather, the apple crop is looking promising at this local orchard

Apple picking season is kicking off, but there’s concern that the summer’s dry weather may have affected this year’s crop. CTV’s Camille Wilson reports.

Apple picking season is here and the apples are ready for picking.

It was opening day for Mountain Orchards’ “pick your own apples” on Saturday, welcoming hundreds of families looking to spend quality time together.

Despite the dry season the Ottawa region experienced this summer, the apples at Mountain Orchards pushed through.

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“We were pushed back just a week this year because apples weren’t quite ready,” says Miranda Martin, Office Manager at Mountain Orchards. “We have trickle irrigation; we put it on when the trees needed it. It gets down to the roots, to make sure that the trees are a little bit happy. We don’t see a lot of troubles with the trees.”

Martin says they look forward to this time of year and they are happy for the good turn out.

“The apples took a little bit longer to grow and be ready, but we are so surprised. It’s one of the best crops that we’ve had in years,” she said. “I know a lot of other farms are struggling a little bit because they don’t have the irrigation setup that we do but we are lucky in that aspect.”

The lack of rain has affected many farmers and their crops this year, including the corn crop, which is struggling at Mountain Orchards.

The farm is filled with family fun for the everyone, with wagon rides, playgrounds, hay jumps and corn mazes.

“I just like going to the different activities, and there’s lots of different varieties of apples that you can pick from and it’s really yummy,” says Jorja, who was apple picking with family.

“We thought a fun little activity would be to bring him to the apple orchard for his first time,” says Mallory Guichet, apple picking with son.

Mountain Orchards is open seven days a week with free admission and parking, you only pay for what you pick. Prices are based on the bag.

“The Orchard is free to come. We don’t have admission prices; you don’t pay to park. You can come to the orchard and spend a whole day for free. The small bag is $27.50, and the large bag is $47.50. It comes around to about $2.50 per pound, which is close to the store prices,” says Martin. “But again, you can come here and spend a whole day and not spend any money. It’s a good family outing, especially in this economy. I know people like to watch their money a little more.”