Iowa City Family Opens Second Farm Business Near Des Moines

Cumming, Iowa (AP) — Paul Rusch pulls two red free apples from a tree at Wilson’s Orchard & Farm, about five miles northeast of downtown Iowa City.

Warm and sweet apples are one of nearly 100 varieties that are at the heart of Rasch’s growing family business. Beyond the traditional ‘you choose’ apple orchard and pumpkin patch, family added strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. Zinnias, dahlias and other flowers. weddings, music and other special events. cider business; livestock operations; farm-to-table restaurants and barbecue smokehouses;

Today, Iowa City’s flagship company, founded nearly 40 years ago, has put down roots in Cumming, a town of about 500 people southwest of Des Moines, building a second orchard and developing the state’s first farm. We are building a restaurant and event center at 900. A development on an acre called Middlebrook. The $800 million mixed residential, retail and commercial project is centered around agriculture, with orchards participating in huge community gardens.

Wilson’s Des Moines Subway Orchards are on 115 acres, about 30 of which are used for livestock grazing. “The rest is not just fruit trees, berries, pumpkins, flowers and vegetables, but also in prairies and places where nature is left to express itself,” Rush said in a video announcing the project on Thursday. .

The goal is to connect people with food and “the land where it was born.”

For a long time, I dreamed of expanding my business to Des Moines,” Rasch told the Des Moines Register. He added that he had been looking for a place near the capital with scenic rolling hills, ponds and forests for a year without success. He found mostly flat cornfields.

“It didn’t look like it was going to happen,” he said, until the Middlebrook developer added 160 acres to the project. “And then everything worked out.”

Plans for the new orchard grew organically as Rush’s children Katie and Jacob Gering and wife Sarah Gering joined the business, bringing their own skills and ideas. Rasch, who purchased the orchard with his wife in 2009, said the family wanted the business to be more sustainable, both environmentally and financially.

“We wanted to be more diverse. We were only open a month, then six months, now a full year, and what we do in that year has expanded.”

“It’s kind of a slippery slope,” Rush said of the growth of his family’s business, which drew about 265,000 people last year to Iowa City’s orchards, markets and restaurants. I was allowed to.”

As Rasch walks through Iowa City’s orchard, he talks about some additions that resonated with visitors. The flower garden is in full bloom across a quarter of his acre and visitors can cut or buy at the farm’s market. You can also walk across the bridge or wander through the rows of sunflowers.

“People just love them,” says Rush, adding that the flower garden is also a popular photo spot.

Bees and other pollinators also love flowers.

“We have seen many native pollinators return.

Cutting back on summer mowing also helps pollinators, says Rush, who walks through grass full of purple clover.

“I used to mow a lot.

A habitat supports an insect that helps protect his crops.

“97% of insects are good people. Rush, a farmer, said. “We nuke them. We were living off the spray.

“But we’ve learned that we don’t have to do that. If we let 97% of our employees do the work, I’m not saying we don’t do anything, but we don’t have to do that much.” No,” he said, adding that new technology has helped in this effort.

For example, this farm uses pheromone disruption to prevent harmful codling moths from laying eggs on apples. The caterpillar will eat it later. Crew members tie pheromone bands to trees, flooding orchards with scents and making it difficult for males to find and mate with females.

“It’s more expensive, but it’s pesticide-free,” Rush said.

Regenerative agriculture is more than “taking one or two big steps.” You need a myriad of little measures to make this work,” he said. Find and control voles that eat the bark you give.

Rasch also feeds the pomace (the pulp, skin, core, stalks, and seeds left over after apples are pressed for cider) to the lambs, pigs, and cows he and other farmers raise. Meat is served at the family’s ciderhouse restaurant and take-out barbecue his stand, The Smokehouse, along with orchard produce.

The family built a restaurant and event space after Katie Goring saw demand from customers, and the family moved a restored barn onto the property to house their new venture.

Rush, who hired James Beard Award finalist chef Matt Steigerwald when he ran the Lincoln Cafe in Mount Vernon, said, “I decided that if you’re going to eat food, you should eat really good food. ‘ said. He incorporates products from orchards and area farms into his restaurant menus.

With orchard development underway in Cumming, Katie Goring says the family’s next step will be to build a 20,000-square-foot farm market and bakery, cider bar and restaurant, cider cellar and production facility this fall. The business and orchards will open next year when strawberries are available first. The family plans to build his space for events in a year’s time.

Rasch said the Cumming restaurant will serve cider.

“Most people don’t know this, but Iowa was once one of the largest apple producers in the United States, and before Prohibition, hard cider was the most popular alcoholic beverage in the country. ’” he said in a video announcing the project. “One of his goals for us as a company is to re-establish cider and cider culture in Iowa.”

Steigerwald, the business’ culinary coordinator, will lead the Cumming Restaurant and the Iowa City restaurant. In addition, the family owns a 90-acre commercial orchard in Solon, between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, where they produce cider, which is sold in Metro Des Moines and eastern Iowa.

While Iowa City’s restaurants lean toward fine dining, Katie Gering said the farm-to-table cuisine at Cumming’s restaurant will be more casual, with grab-and-go options available in the market. The new orchard plans to offer a fine dining experience through special events like Iowa City hosting the Full Moon Dinner.

“The common theme in all food is quality: carefully sourced, local ingredients,” says Jacob Goering.

In both Iowa City and Cumming, Rasch said it’s important that orchards are places where people frequently enjoy them.

“I don’t want this to become an annual destination,” he says, explaining why the orchard frequently features band performances, tractor and hay rides, winter ice skating and other events. was added.

“We have a lot of special events here in Iowa City that are also held in Des Moines,” Rush said.

Steve Brewer, president of Diligent Developments, which is developing Middlebrook’s agrihood, believes Wilson’s Orchard will fit in with the existing community garden, which attracts 400 to 500 people every Friday during the summer. ing.

Armed with lawn chairs, families enjoy free music while purchasing garden produce, wine, cocktails, and dinner from one of the 20 vendors on site. The town is already popular with bikers on the Great Western Trail from Des Moines to Cumming.

The developer is building a trail that runs throughout the development, including Wilson’s Orchard, as well as connecting the agrihood to the trail. , due to be built over the next decade, already features the Middlebrook Mercantile, an upscale bar and general store.

Bruere said Wilson’s Orchard will make Cumming even more of a destination for metropolitan residents.

“No one complains that there are too many wineries in California,” he said.

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