Save the Gravenstein!

A Love Letter to Sonom a County’s Iconic Apple.

The Gravenstein apple grows here in Sonoma County— and almost nowhere else in the world. Slow Food International gave the apple presidia status, certifying it as an “agriculturally and culturally significant product.”

The Russian River chapter of Slow Food USA has been working for over 20 years to make sure consumers know about the apple and its unique characteristics and value. There is both a Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce—sponsored annual apple blossom parade and a Sonoma County Farm Trails—organized Gravenstein Apple Festival every year (not including 2020, of course, and this year’s was modified, as well). The Gravenstein is honored, savored and completely distinct. Yet its hold in the county is fading.

There are many reasons for this, including the ever-increasing costs of land and labor. There’s more to apple growing than picking, but it is still seasonal work. Finding a new work force each year is a challenge, but employing staff year-round can be near impossible unless the farm is diversified. There are also invasive moths and mistletoe, fires and drought to contend with.

In the avalanche of pressures on apple growers, many are quitting the business, or ripping out apple trees to grow grapes. Those who continue to grow apples must then find ways to sell them, either straight from the tree or processed into apple-based products like apple juice, apple cider vinegar, hard cider and applesauce.

LAST PLANT STANDING

Manzana Products Co., the last remaining large-scale apple processing plant in Sonoma County, has processed apples at its Green Valley Road location, near Graton, for nearly a century. In 2012, it was purchased by French conglomerate Agrial. The processor produces apple-based products for large consumer brands including Bragg and Kirkland, as well as for smaller local farms, which pay the plant to process their apples at an annually (if not more frequently) fluctuating fee per ton.

Manzana now only processes certified organic apples, which narrows the number of farmers able to use the plant. Jay Holmgren, Manzana’s buyer, shared that only about 25% of the apples they process are grown in Sonoma County. The rest come from “Fresno, Sacramento, Arizona and Washington [state].” He added that Manzana is committed to buying all of the organic apples that Sonoma County can produce, and currently works with about 25 local growers, some bringing in as little as three harvest bins, or as much as 3,000 pounds of fruit.

There is also Apple-A-Day at Ratzlaff Ranch in Sebastopol, which processes apples on a smaller scale, and several local cider makers have their own processing equipment. But compared to the apple-processing capacity in Sonoma County during its heyday, current capacity is woefully precarious. Once they find a processor who will take their apples, farmers have little idea what their crop will be worth until they arrive, hat in hand, at the plant’s door. And that price often makes apple growing a losing proposition. Joe Dutton, whose Dutton Farms grows 200 acres of CCOF-certified organic apples, sells his entire crop to Manzana, as he has since 1964. “Manzana is demanding higher and higher quality, which means a lot more labor,” he said.

Manzana is in the same position as the farmers, not knowing the cost of their products until they are made, which means that the entire system is relying on a lot of blind faith.

Randy Roberts, of Lyngard Orchards in Sebastopol, summed up the farmers’ quandary: Though many apple farmers would not still be in business without the facility, “Manzana is not able to make contracts or commitments in advance of the season. They’re not able to be clear about prices for the year. Last year’s price was 30% less than the previous year’s. Farmers spend the money for pruning, discing and thinning before knowing whether Manzana will buy their apples or what price they will offer.”

I don’t mean to paint Manzana as the bad guy in this local apple story. Last year, Manzana donated line time to process 40,000 pounds of apples collected under the coordination of the local chapter of Slow Food, as well as donating apple-based products to food banks. The company also announced plans last fall to make $9 million in improvements to ensure its longevity as a resource to the apple growers in Sonoma County.

I started writing this with the intention of exploring Manzana’s role and responsibility to the health of our local apple economy as the sole remaining large-scale processor, but the truth of our apple industry is much more complex, and troubling. Fifty years ago, there were many processing and packing plants; now there is one. Land is also more expensive, seasonal labor is harder to find—and more costly when you do—and the climate is hotter, with the myriad of problems that brings.

DO APPLES REALLY MATTER TO SONOMA COUNTY?

The benefit of preserving the local cultivation of apples is more than maintaining a storyline of rural Sonoma County that goes back to the iconic hand-painted wooden crates we still see displayed around the county today. In the face of the encroaching effects of climate change, apples are a solid crop. They pull a significant amount of carbon from the atmosphere, to sequester it in the ground; studies have shown that they require much less water than grapes; they are little affected by smoke taint [from periodic wildfires]; they are a pollinator’s paradise; and they are versatile. An apple can be eaten out of hand or cooked. And, perhaps most importantly, an apple can be preserved in the form of sauce, vinegar or— and I can’t stress this enough—booze. Calvados, apple brandy or hard cider, anyone?

They are also long-lived. At Randy Roberts’ Lyngard Orchards in Sebastopol, there is a 120-year-old Gravenstein apple tree. It still produces apples.

Since its founding, Sonoma County has been world-renowned, in turn, for its production of eggs, cherries, apples and grapes. The need to preserve apple growing here is about more than one crop. “It’s about biodiversity and soil health,” said Paula Downing, board member of Slow Food Russian River.

I do have a particular reverence for our iconic Gravensteins, the first apples of the season, ripening in early August. A green apple that blushes pink when ripe, it is sweet, tart and crisp, ideal for both eating fresh off the tree, and for baking. It adds structure to cider, vinegar and juice. “Nothing beats a Gravenstein, in my book,” said Roberts, who grows a considerable variety of apples to lengthen the season.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

If you’re lucky enough to have an apple tree on your property, cherish it. Seek out an arborist who can help you care for it. “You can often save neglected trees with grafting,” offered Ethic Ciders founder Ned Lawton. If you have more apples than you and your friends can eat fresh or use in baking or cooking, take your extra apples to the free press offered by Slow Food Russian River every fall to turn them into juice, cider or the good-health hack, apple cider vinegar.

If you don’t have your own apple tree, buy apples at the farmers’ market in season. Farmers like Dave Hale of Hale’s Apple Farm, who sells his apples at the Marin Farmers’ Market, among others, is farming the same piece of land that has been in his family since 1863. Those over 21 can seek out delicious locally produced hard ciders that are made from apples grown close to home. See the Cidery Trail Map in this issue!

For extra credit, ask the farmers, should you encounter one in the wild, how you can support their efforts to keep their apples trees in the ground. The tree you save could be a lifeline for someone 120 years from now, in a world as unimaginable to us now as our world would have been to the farmer that planted that tree at Lyngard Orchards over a century ago.