Green's Pleasant Springs Orchard offers fresh apples, apple cider, lettuce, and tomatoes this fall in its 29th year at the Dane County Farmers' Market. Owned by Dick Green and family, the orchard in rural Stoughton grows 67 varieties of apples on some 1,700 trees, and devotes more acreage to vegetables sold throughout the season.
Refrigerated apples are transported fresh from the farm for sale at markets. Pleasant Springs also vends at the Wednesday downtown market, the Westside Community Market on Saturdays, and the Monona Farmers' Market on Sundays.
Dick Green spoke with The Daily Page at the Saturday market from his stand on East Main across from Walgreens.
The Daily Page: How did you become a farmers' market vendor?
Green: We began marketing what we grow in 1976 as one of the eight original vendors at the Hilldale market.
What do you offer through the fall season?
Sixty-seven varieties of apples, 12 varieties of lettuces, tomatoes, and fresh apple cider.
What's your most popular product?
Honeycrisp apples.
What's your most remarked-upon offering?
Customers can select their own quality apples; we do not pre-bag apples. We bring washed, graded, refrigerated apples to the market and do not load the trucks until 4 a.m. on Saturday. Also, we blend at least eight varieties of apples to produce cider fresh each Thursday.
What's your favorite product elsewhere at the market?
Hans Lehner's Muenster cheese curds.
What's your pre-packaged, supermarket-shelved guilty pleasure?
Blueberry yogurt (fruit on the bottom).
If you were to make a meal incorporating your products, what would you make?
An apple crisp made with a combination of Cortland, McIntosh and Earliblaze apples.
The recipe is: 4 cups sliced and cut up tart apples 2/3-3/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup oats 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/3 cup butter/margarine (softened)
Heat oven to 375 and grease an 8x8x2 pan. Place apple slices in pan. Mix remaining ingredients and sprinkle over apples. Bake 30 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is golden brown.
