Our Story
Sandow Farm is located in Keswick Ridge, a rural community in New Brunswick famous for its scenic rolling hills and apple orchards. The farm is situated on a 5-acre property within the Wolastoq/Saint John River watershed and has been a family farm since it was first settled.
We’re a family who cares deeply for organic, local and regenerative agriculture. We purchased this farm when our youngest child was a baby from a family that we knew had similar values to ours, and had been great land stewards. We wanted to raise our children in the country with clean air, fresh water and plenty of acres to roam.
We made the right choices! We continue to learn and experience so much as orchardists.
Passionate about organic agriculture, we built on the tradition and gained organic certification and maintained it for six years. We use no man-made chemicals or sprays of any sort. Our apples are tree-ripened and frost-sweetened, having great taste and nutrition. We’ve had six years as a certified organic orchard. Due to the rising costs of certification, currently we are operating as a spray-free orchard, with delicious & nutritious Sandow apples. We are proud to be implementing the wholistic practices as organic orchardists. Our dominant apple variety is the Sandow, the namesake of our farm.
Our apples are grown by an agriculture that stewards the land and involves the people drawing sustenance from it. Growing fruit in our region presents certain challenges and a great deal more work than one might expect.
Marieka Chaplin
Marieka has over 20 years of experience in the non-profit conservation sector. She loves the orchard during all four seasons; from Nordic skiing around to orchard to warm apple cider sipped at the campfire.
Phil Chaplin
Phil is a professional Engineer. He’s got lots of physical strength for operating the pole pruner in March and hauling apples in October. He’s the consummate host to customers who visit the u-pick.
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Sandow Farm Apple U-Pick
Autumn becomes particularly delicious with the traditional ritual of bringing in the apple harvest. We hope you choose Sandow Farm for your apple-picking traditions. Here is some useful information to assist you with your harvest.
Hours
In 2023 we will open on Monday, September 25th. We remain open until end of the day on Thanksgiving Monday (October 9th).
7 days a week – 11am – dusk – Any Weather, during the u-pick season only.
Please note that for health and safety reasons, animals are not allowed at the orchard.
Prices
You are welcome to bring your own bags. The apples are $2.00/lb. Cash only please.
Pre-Bagged Purchase Options
$20 for 1 peck (10lbs)
$40 for half bushel (20lbs)
Roadside Stand
We operate a roadside stand that opens in early September each year with bagged apples for sale. 7 days a week, 11am-dusk and whatever the weather.
How to Pick An Apple
The stem of a ripe apple will break cleanly when the bottom (calyx) end is tipped upward toward the spur from which it hangs. Gently place the apple in your bag. Dropping or throwing your apple could bruise it!
Apple Storage Tips
Keep apples in a cold but above freezing area, such as a fridge or garage.
Cover loosely in order to hold in moisture. Apples like high humidity.
Apples produce ethylene, which will ripen the fruit, so allow the apples to breathe.
Follow these tips and your apples will last for several months!
Our Apple
When we purchased our farm, we were blessed, and challenged, by the opportunities presented; the greatest of which was restoring the lovely old orchard behind our farmhouse. The main cultivar in our orchard, the Sandow, is a delicious apple, but not well known, and here is her story…
The Sandow Story
Our dominant apple is the Sandow; a scab-free variety which makes it a good candidate for organic agriculture. It is the namesake of our farm, and here is some information for inquiring minds:
The SANDOW variety began as a seedling of Northern Spy planted by B. Hunter and D. Blair in 1898 at the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa, it first bore fruit in 1911, and was introduced in 1935. It was never widely distributed, being popular in only New Brunswick and Quebec. Above medium in size, roundish and slightly ribbed. Dull in colour, yellow washed with deep crimson, often with patches of light brown russet radiating out from the basin end. It is crisp, juicy, with a pleasant tangy flavour, sprightly, having a hint of cherry and lingering – very reminiscent of Ribston Pippin. One of the best flavoured varieties to come out of a research program.
A very high quality winter apple which is a favourite dessert apple of many fruit enthusiasts who have been fortunate enough to locate it. It is quite tart when first picked but after a month in storage the sugars increase and the flavour is enhanced to create the perfect balance between tart and sweet. Besides being a superb dessert apple it is also one of the best for cooking. Cut pieces do not turn brown when exposed to air and, therefore, it is excellent in salads. It is also a good apple for adding to cider blends. Probably its worst fault is the tree which has branches that grow straight up so it must be properly trained when young. It ripens mid October and stores well into May. Like many of the late ripening apples its flavour is much improved after the first couple of light frosts. It tends to be biennial.
Source: The Kitchen Garden, by Daryl Hunter
Ready to get pickin?
Head out to the farm to pick your heart’s content, or visit our roadside stand!
Civic Address
684 Tripp Settlement Road,
Keswick Ridge, NB E6L 1X2