Blue Ridge Country Sept/Oct 2023 - 45

P
crop went south and J.H. made a bold
move to grow nothing but apples. In
1969, at the suggestion of his wise wife
Yvonne, they introduced a pick-your
own option and invited the public to
come to the farm. They also shut down
the wholesale side of their business. Over
the years, as other avenues dried up-
imported concentrate suppressed prices
on fresh apples grown for juice, hitting
American suppliers hard-more and
more people flocked to Stepp's orchard
to fill baskets with fruit straight from the
family trees.
As inevitably happens in the weatherdependent
profession of farming, there
were a few bad years. Joby had already
moved to Virginia when, in the 1980s,
a series of freezes decimated much of
the crop, sending Stepp off to find other
work. He landed a job with Duke Power,
then took his uncle's place at the Employment
Security Commission, connecting
farmers and laborers.
Twelve years after he left, vowing to
come back when he could, Stepp returned
to manage the farm, with his
wife Rita, a retired teacher, coordinating
school tours. His dad passed away in
2011.
Today Stepp runs the apple farm
with his spouse, daughters Danielle and
April, sons-in-law Rex and Kevin, and
a passel of grandchildren who help out
during the peak fall season, which starts
in August. From their on-site store, they
sell pre-picked apples, T-shirts and other
gifts alongside treats ranging from apple
cider doughnuts and fried pies to cookies
and slushies. Kids of all ages line up to
navigate the corn maze, take a tractorpulled
wagon ride through the orchard,
and shoot apples out of a cannon.
Like his father before him, it's important
to Stepp to be a good steward
of the land. " He was always trying to
take care of the ground so that it didn't
erode. That was the biggest thing that I
took away from him: What do I need to
do to keep it from washing away? "
He also strives to use only the chemicals
that are absolutely necessary to spray
trees for pests. " I always work with the
PhD people that advise us every year, "
he says. " We're trying to take care of the
environment. "
Despite his Speedy Gonzalez demeanor,
as he's gotten older, relationshipbuilding
has become more important to
Stepp than efficiency and production.
" I can't tell you how good it makes
me feel when we've got customers that
tell us, 'I came here with my parents
when I was a kid.' And they got their
kids with them and they still come to us.
And then all the new people talk about
how beautiful our place is and say, 'We
appreciate what you do. Your products
are great.'
" The relationships we've built over
the years with repeat customers, and
then the new ones-that is the thing that
makes me feel the best about what we do
right now, just to know that people are
satisfied with what we do and are happy
to come. God's just blessed us to have
this place and all that goes with it. Every
once in a while, somebody will stop
me and ask me a question, wanting my
opinion about something that they can
actually take home. I slow up a little bit
and it calms me down. "
MIKE STEPP'S FAVORITE APPLES
" This is in no certain order, " says the owner of Stepp's Hillcrest Orchard in
western North Carolina. " But Jonagold, Cameo, Fuji and Honeycrisp-I like all of
those equally, pretty much. "
For Stepp, it's all about taste. " Some people like the look, like a solid red apple
because it has such great appearance. To me that's not a big deal because I've
seen the good, the bad and the ugly on all of those. I go for the taste.
" Oh, and I would add Pink Lady in there. It's hard, maybe more so than the others,
and it's got a great flavor too. So I've got five that I would take at any time. "
-NH
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023 45
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Blue Ridge Country Sept/Oct 2023

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