June 24, 2010 - When Baxter Adams decided to grow apples in the Hill Country around Medina, people were quick to tell him he wouldn't be successful.
Without regard to the critics, he planted his first 1,000 trees in 1981, and thus started a new industry in Texas. Over the last 29 years, Love Creek Orchards has made Medina town almost synonymous with Texas. In fact, the state legislature proclaimed the town as the "Apple Capitol of Texas."
Part of the reason Adams was told he wouldn't be able to grow apples in Central Texas was the prevalence of cotton root rot in the region. He discovered naysayers were right about that. Part of what he learned was to stay away from old cotton fields, where cotton root rot still lurks, but he also learned that's not always enough.
"I made one real bad mistake," he said. "I'd been told that root rot might last for 20 years in the soil and to avoid fields that had cotton in them during that time. I picked a field that hadn't had cotton in it for 77 years, and it hit me hard. By the third year, all the trees were dying fast."
Adams moved to another field and fumigated it before planting. The sandy, porous soils of the Hill Country take well to fumigation, but Adams said more compacted soil, like in the Blackland region, doesn't respond to the treatment.
"Basically, I learned to cope with it," he said. "The disease problems we've had since then have been manageable. I haven't had to use insecticide in four years, knock on wood. Bugs have been a real small problem for me.
"If you keep your pesticide use low, there are enough beneficials to help you control the bad bugs. Also, here in the Hill Country, we have a lot of Mexican free-tail bats and they keep a lot of those kinds of pests at bay here."
Adams has tested more than 100 varieties in his orchards and has settled on a rotation that keeps the apples coming for five months of the year, unless it happens to be a hot and extremely dry year, like the last two. The late Dr. Loy Shreve, an Extension horticulture specialist based in Uvalde for many years, suggested Adams grow apples on dwarf root stock. He did, and that has become the standard in much of the state. Full-grown apple trees take up to seven years to bear fruit, but the dwarf varieties begin producing in less than two years.
Gayla apples from Love Creek are picked around July 7 of each year, making them among the first apples in the country to be harvested.
"The Gaylas we grow like warm weather, and you sure get that down here," Adams said. "By latitude, we're south of New Orleans, Tampa and Houston. Our growing season is a long one."
Love Creek also grows two Fuji varieties that ripen around mid-August and a Red Fuji (though it's not actually red in color) that ripens in September. Last in are the Granny Smith apples, which carry the harvest well into November.
Four years ago, Adams began offering customers a pick-your-own option. Before that, he sold mostly to the HEB grocery chain.
"HEB was very generous and very kind to me," he said. "But I'm really small and they're really big. After a while, I just felt like I wasn't best-served by going that route. I like having people out here because I like meeting people and working with them. For me, it's part of what makes this so enjoyable."
Blackberry picking starts late in the spring, with the Gayla apples and figs coming ripe in July, and persimmons in October. Visitors to the orchard can also buy more than 50 products made from apples, including butters, jams and jellies and apple pies. Adams sold the store and caf in 2007 to Bryan and Stacie Hutzler. They now call it The Apple Store because that was its unofficial name for all the years that the Adams ran it as the Cider Mill and Country Store.
Bryan Hutzler, an engineer by training, said he and his wife Stacie lived in Austin and Dallas for several years, but wanted to raise their children in a different environment.
"It's very enjoyable for us, and a big change of pace," he said. "My wife and I are closing in on three years here, and we love what we're doing and being around the orchards and the people who come here for the apples, the trees or one of our apple pies."
Love Creek also has a nursery that grafts 11 varieties of apple trees for a backyard tree or as part of a commercial orchard. The nursery also includes big-tooth maple trees, cypress, cherry, chinquapin oak and others. Love Creek was among the first in the state to propagate and sell the big-tooth maples, which occur naturally in only isolated parts of the state, which just happened to include Love Creek Ranch.
The apple industry has expanded considerably since the Adams' made that initial plunge almost 30 years ago. The largest commercial operations are located in parts of the Panhandle, he said.
"Those guys up there have a big advantage over me," he said. "They're farmers. I'm just a guy who liked apple trees and started growing them."
In 2000, the Adams donated much of the original ranch to the Nature Conservancy of Texas. Baxter said he's getting too old to make long-term plans and his sons-in-law are all city boys who are doing well in other areas.
"Growing the maple trees takes care of what would be my off-time," he said. "It keeps me working year-round, but that's the way I like it because I really do enjoy it. It's a blessing to get up every day and be able to do what you love doing."
For more information on the orchards and store, including picking times and what's ripe, go to www.lovecreekorchards.com or call (830) 589-2588.
