Rita Stepp (pictured second from the left) and her family own and operate Stepp’s Hillcrest Orchard in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Her family has been doing pick-your-own apples since the early ’60s and now offer a multitude of agritourism activities. This year, their five-acre corn maze is dedicated to WNC farms with a portion of proceeds supporting ASAP’s Farmer Resiliency Fund. All activities at Stepp’s are available through the end of October.
Can you share some history about Stepp’s Hillcrest Orchard and what kind of activities you offer?
My mother-in-law and father-in-law started the business on a very small scale. They were selling apples out of the trunk of their car, but now we have over a 100-acre farm with about 40 acres of apples with about 8,000 apple trees. We do pick-your-own apples, pumpkins, grapes, and flowers like sunflowers, zinnias, and tulips. Every day of the week our five-acre corn maze is open. On the weekends we have wagon rides around the farm. We have an apple cannon where you can shoot apples at a target and a jump pad for kids 12 and under. We welcome school groups as well. We also have a bakery with lots of goodies made with products from the farm.
How important is agritourism for your farm?
Agritourism is what we do—it’s what we are all about. We are agriculture, we are farmers, we grow things and we work year-round as farmers, but we also invite visitors to come to our farm. We think it is so important for people to see where their food comes from, how it grows, and the work it takes. Plus, to get out in the fresh air and experience nature. So, pick-your-own apples is our claim to fame, but the agritourism activities help us maintain the farm and will sustain our business for generations. Right now, we have three generations that work on the farm.
How did Helene impact your business and how is it going this year?
With Helene, we actually were very blessed. None of our structures were hurt. We had a few apple trees that blew over, but we were able to straighten them back up. Our problem was our road. We have a lot of people come to visit us, but both sides of our road were destroyed and people could not get here. So, we had to close for four weeks in October, which is our busiest time of the year. It was very painful and greatly impacted our revenue. We were able to go off the farm and take apples off the farm, but that’s not our claim to fame or our business model. This year we were very fortunate. The road is fixed and we have had a lot of visitors to come and enjoy themselves at the farm.
What are the best parts and hardest parts about farming?
The best part about farming is seeing people and seeing them enjoy our farm and have that fun farm experience that is so important to us. My husband, Mike, really loves the growing part. He is so into growing the apples. I think my husband’s favorite part is operating the machinery. Really, the whole process of growing and making sure we grow a quality fruit for people to enjoy. As far as challenges, weather is a big deal. We’ve had two or three hail storms this year. In past years we have had some hard freezes in the springtime when the apples are in bloom which affects the apple crop. With all the rain, it’s hard to maintain the disease levels, too.