Without the use of fungicides and petroleum-based commercial fertilizers, the high altitude and moist eastern evenings make for a tricky task in growing apples. Apples though, as Eric explained, are incredibly difficult to grow organically. Eric told me that when they first started at Country Pleasures Farm, they planted a large number of apple trees along their grounds. Our discussion of apples and pears was what really put it into perspective for me. How does one justify the more expensive option? All the buzz around organic makes it difficult to decipher what exactly it is that is motivating you to make this choice. One is the conventional version, and the other is an organic option, often weighing less, but costing more. When they started in 1986, it was the first certified organic orchard in the state of Maryland and, after spending the day getting to know Eric and Lori, I gained a new respect for the term “organic.”Īs I explained to Eric, when I walk through the produce section of my local grocery store, I am often greeted with two options for any given fruit or vegetable. Eric sensed my reluctance to renounce my way of doing it and retorted, “You will not know what tastes good until you….taste it.” Seems simple, right?Įric and Lori Rice own Country Pleasures, a thirty-acre organic farm located about fifty miles northwest of DC. This put my careful, measured, no-nonsense approach to the task of finding the “perfect berry” to shame. “Ooohs” and “aaaahhhs” emerged as they smacked their lips, their heads tilted ever so slightly back towards the sky, their eyes closed, and their faces enveloped by blissful deliciousness. As I filtered through the shoulder-high bushes, searching for perfectly plump, navy-colored berries, I found myself repeatedly distracted by the sound of my fellow pickers. As Lori Rice explained to me, in a very matter-of-fact way, “The rule is that you’re supposed to eat every third berry.” At Country Pleasures Farm “quality control” is taken very seriously, and to assure high standards, there is a certain unique “golden rule” applied to berry picking.
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