Whitman Brook Orchard

Whitman Brook Orchard A beautiful hillside apple orchard in the tradition of old Vermont. Over 140 varieties, including many hard to find heirloom apples.

Open for 2026 PYO starting Saturday September 12, open weekends thru early November. Wheelock Road, Quechee, Vermont

Our unsalable fruit is diligently collected for our friends at the Kilham Bear Center. We hear each cub eats about 25 lb...
08/31/2026

Our unsalable fruit is diligently collected for our friends at the Kilham Bear Center. We hear each cub eats about 25 lbs a day, a quantity sometimes hard to supply in certain years. While the bears enjoy all that we provide, occasionally customers will buy fruit for the The Kilham Bear Center . Special thanks this year to Rachna Hukmani for her generous order in honor of a milestone birthday. Our summer apples, ripening before the orchard opens to the public and without keeping qualities necessary for donation to the local food shelves … is a big treat for the bears.

The bears ate them with abandon.

August summer apples are spectacular for the first chunky sauce of the season. Sunday’s sauce was a mix of Yellow Transp...
08/26/2026

August summer apples are spectacular for the first chunky sauce of the season. Sunday’s sauce was a mix of Yellow Transparent and Duchess of Oldenburg.

08/05/2026

Apart from climbing the tree, this bear was a well behaved customer, foraging some early drops off the orchard floor. The red sphere delicately engaged is a sticky fly trap that we use in lieu of spraying. Not good to get in your hair, and from the bear’s reaction, doesn’t taste good either.

We know things are starting to ripen when the wild world comes out to taste the Yellow Transparent, a favorite for late summer applesauce.

On June 23rd, the day after a tornado left its mark on the orchard, we grafted our few remaining pieces of Black Oxford ...
07/24/2026

On June 23rd, the day after a tornado left its mark on the orchard, we grafted our few remaining pieces of Black Oxford scionwood to the broken stem of a Grimes Golden. One month later to the day, the promise of green shoots. Our loss, while only a few trees, was two of our favorites. Planted about 1920, they marked the upper row of the original orchard, standing strong in the face of the 1938 hurricane, the ice storm of ‘97, years of heavy crop loads and countless high winds.

Thursday’s wind, devastating to parts of Woodstock, left its mark on three trees in the 1920’s Block.One Black Oxford wa...
06/20/2026

Thursday’s wind, devastating to parts of Woodstock, left its mark on three trees in the 1920’s Block.

One Black Oxford was sheared at the base. Its neighbor, a twin-trunk Grimes, broke its west stem, now resting on the ground … still clinging to life. A smaller Black Oxford, its feet wet from the recent rains was no match for the wind.

We’ll try saving the bigger Black Oxford stump with a late season graft, the broken Grimes trunk will serve as a bench while we contemplate its future and we’ll keep our fingers crossed for the younger Black Oxford, now propped upright.

The king bloom is the largest central flower in the apple cluster. Opening first, it receives the most energy, usually d...
05/28/2026

The king bloom is the largest central flower in the apple cluster. Opening first, it receives the most energy, usually developing into the largest apple of the cluster. Smaller surrounding flowers act as nature’s back up if frost or other damage kills the king bloom.

The making of a cleft graft. A small branch or in this case a young main leader, split to accommodate two scions. ...
05/27/2026

The making of a cleft graft. A small branch or in this case a young main leader, split to accommodate two scions.

Three stages of sealing up a rind graft, the technique used on large limbs to change variety, heal a wound or both. ...
05/21/2026

Three stages of sealing up a rind graft, the technique used on large limbs to change variety, heal a wound or both.

There is no mystery as to why it is called the pink phase…
05/07/2026

There is no mystery as to why it is called the pink phase…

04/28/2026

A few final touches on the pruning season with the company of a Pine Warbler, Dark-eyed Junco, House Finch and a Robin. The spring chorus is ramping up.

Address

Wheelock Road
Quechee, VT
05059

Opening Hours

Saturday 11am - 4pm
Sunday 10am - 3pm

Telephone

(802) 296-6902

Website

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