In brief, Indian Creek Orchard is a 6000+ boutique orchard located in the northeast corner of Polk County
(1 ½ hrs from the Twin City Metro Area).

The trees are all dwarf or semi-dwarf which allows for easy picking. We encourage Pick-Your-Own Apples.

Indian Creek Orchard 139 350th Ave. (Cty, HWY EE), Frederic Wisconsin 54837 715-653-2689 Owners: Linda & Mike Welch (and their family).

Linda & Mike fell in love with Polk County about 15 years ago. They built a retirement Lake home and used it as a base of operations as Mike flew around the country working as a Retail & Business Executive. At about that same time they purchased and built a 500 acre Elk Ranch south of Eau Claire.

As time went on and their children started families they decided to “settle down”. A search was started for a unique business in Polk County and they found the Orchard.

Linda & Mike are now in their 9th growing season at the orchard, they bought the orchard because of their interest in the trees, specialty gourmet farm-direct foods and food products and because apple trees were a whole lot calmer than the other specialty food products that they raise; Elk. “Apple trees don’t move as fast as a charging Bull Elk.”

2 years ago Linda & Mike sold their Ranch in Eau Claire and re-located part of their Elk herd to a new Ranch in Polk County. The 2 operations are now 14 miles apart rather than 140 miles apart…"a whole lot less windshield time.”

“As we get older our goal is to reduce the Elk herd and keep having more fun with the Orchard (Mike says), but Linda is quick to point out that some of her girls (Elk Cows) are going to live the “good life” at the Ranch and will only die of old age.” “Since Elk can live to be 20 + years old it may take awhile to reduce the herd.”

Since buying the Orchard Linda & Mike have added a bakery, they squeeze cider, make their own apple syrup, are experimenting with hard cider and wine, they quadrupled the retail space, added their own line of apple products and added locally brewed beer and locally made wine. As well as hundreds of other unique gourmet food products such as jams, jellies, relishes, mustards, syrups, pickled vegetables, etc., and support other farmers that need outlets for their locally made products.

“We search out interesting food products. Each year we travel during the off-season looking for new products and ideas including going to the Specialty Gourmet Food Show in Chicago.”

“What a tough job, eating and drinking great food, beer & wine”!

CROP UPDATE:

• Since we have irrigation, this seasons drought has not affected our orchard as it has those without irrigation.
• The “hot” weather on the other hand has negatively affected the size of the early apples and in some cases in the very early apples it appears the apples on the south side of the trees actually “baked” on the tree.
• The FALL APPLES are less affected, they maybe slightly smaller, but the quality seems fine. The late fall apples are looking great.
• Let’s hope the really hot weather is gone and that these cool nights and warm sunny days continue!
• Ripening Schedule:
  • ALREADY PICKED: State Fair (sold out), Red Free (u-pick available) & William’s Pride (available but since apple drops when it is fully ripe, we have picked them all).
  • READY TO GO: Paula Red, Ginger Gold & early MacIntosh (starting 9/9 we will open u-pick on the MacIntosh).
  • FUTURE:
    MacIntosh, Prairie Spy, Cortland & the other mid-Sept. Apples should be ready in 7-10 days early…around 9/12.
    
    Honeycrisp, Haralson, Sweet 16 & other mid-late Sept. Apples should be ready around 9/20 – 9/23. Our Honeycrisp Fest is 9/23 (u-pick will be available on these during the Honeycrisp Fest).
    
    Connell Red, Honey Gold & other early Oct. Apples maybe ready Late Sept.Fireside & other late apples should be ready mid-Oct. These apples are looking very good.
    
    Veggie Picking: Our green beans, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers & strawberries usually get picked out by early afternoon on weekends. On weekdays they usually last longer.The pumpkin crop looks like it will be early, expect them by mid-September.
    
    
• Disease: the ironic part of a drought is that during drought years we can use less sprays because most apple diseases need moisture to grow, reproduce and spread.
• The other interesting thing about apple diseases is that with recent computer modeling and with the isolated nature of our orchard (no neighboring orchards to get diseases from), we have been able to target spray applications and eradicate a lot of disease. This simply means “less” spray and a “healthier” environment!
• By researching new root stocks, Linda & Mike have found hardier variety combinations.
• They also went with trees that can be planted closer together.
• European growing techniques were used, basically creating a hedge or wall of dwarf trees positioned to maximize the light as the sun moves across the sky.
• This also maximizes spray application and minimizes mowing grass.
• We also experienced a severe winter with little to no snow cover. The lesson we learned was that some root stocks marketed as being weather hardy were not and that leaving some ground cover (weeds & grass) between the trees help insulate the roots.
• Pears & Plums have been planted.
• New “trial” varieties have been planted.
• Thousands of new apple trees have been added.
• Fall bearing Strawberries were added 2 years ago, most planted on raised beds for easier access by the elderly and wheelchair restricted customers.
• Several varieties of Raspberries now call the orchard home.
• This year the orchard will experiment with pick-your-own sweet corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini as well as raspberries, strawberries and pumpkins.
• When you pick-your-own you know the produce has not been prematurely picked, treated with chemicals to preserve the produce and artificially stored. Simply put, it is tastier and healthier.
• Needless to say pre-picked produce is also available.

OTHER ADDITIONS:

• A new Bakery was added 4 seasons ago, this last winter we tripled the space dedicated to the Bakery.
• We have experimented with hard ciders and wine, we will have Honeycrisp wine for sale this year. Chateau St. Croix Winery north of St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin has turned our fresh squeezed Honeycrisp apple juice into wine. We intend to release the first bottles mid-July of 2006.
• For the last 4 years we have been selling Locally Brewed Micro-Brewery Beer and Regional Wines. This has been a lot of FUN!
• The orchard sells hundreds of gourmet food products, some are our own product line others are Amish made, most are unique hard to find products. Jams, jellies, mustards, honey, syrups, relishes, pickled vegetables, chocolates, muffin mixes, pancake mixes, salsas, spreads, etc…..all great gift items!

  	Horse Carriage rides, Trails, Straw piles, Play Areas for the kids, picnic tables, Bon fires, Tee-Pees, Gazebos and other fun stuff have been added so that you can have some fun and relax. Almost all of our apples are now sold through our retail store, mail order, via non-profit organizations (fund-raisers) or farmers' markets.
  We encourage you to come out and visit our orchard, bring your family, friends and your camera.