Maury Wills – Wills Family Orchard
As the colors change and the leaves start to fall it is a beautiful drive out to the Wills Family Orchard in Adel.
This month we spoke with Maury and Mary Wills, owners of the apple orchard and you-pick pumpkin patch located on the western side of Adel’s countryside.
Maury Wills grew up like many Iowans, just one generation removed from the farm on the Southside of Des Moines.
Mary knew the reality of chores growing up on a dairy farm.
It was the Mother Earth News craze of the 1970’s mixed with stories of his father’s life on the farm, which inspired Maury to seek a peaceful and fruitful life in the country.
“When we met we had this idea of living in the country with an agricultural enterprise. When this land was for sale in the 1980’s we made many trips in April to walk the land and my first impression was ‘nothing but a lot of ditches, hills, and trees’. It just didn’t do anything for us. We came back in May, when it was turning green and I thought ‘wow, ditches and hills and trees!’ So we bought the land.
I took out my stack of Mother Earth News-this was before the internet- and came across an article about AP Thomson in Shenandoah Valley. It was an awesome article about organic apples. It had all these little nuggets about how to do it right. One day I was mowing our lawn in Earlham and all these maple trees were popping up. I had the article in my mind, and then seeing all those trees-it just came together. We never looked back. I went to the library and took out any book I could about how to raise apples before the advent of all the chemicals.”- Maury
This organic prospective came to define the Wills Family and its orchard. It is apparent when speaking with Mary and Maury that integrity and authenticity plays a very big role in their personal and professional lives.
“We have friends who are orchardists in Illinois. They are top-notch people with high standards and they stick to their convictions. They stand by their honesty and scarcity- making it a treat to come out to the farm. That really resonated with us.”-Mary
“There are different ways to define or view organic. Organic, basically, is rooted in soil management and sustainability. There are a number of organic farmers who like to view what they’re doing as biological- or ecological farmers, and what they do happens to be organic as well. When most people think of organic they boil it down to chemicals. The rule of thumb is that all synthetic inputs are prohibited unless otherwise noted.” – Maury
The Wills should know. As Bureau Chief for the Agricultural Diversification & Market Development Bureau for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Maury manages the Organic Certification program and, years ago, helped write the state of Iowa’s organic program.
As a result, Wills Family Orchard chooses apple varieties that are hearty and less susceptible to bugs and tree diseases. While you might not recognize the different names, these apples are crisp, tart, excellent for apple pies and baking, and perfectly iconic of a trip to an apple orchard.
“We want our place to be very family centered. And the activities we provide to be authentic to a country environment. That’s why you won’t see bounce houses here. We like to think that this is a time to unplug a bit from those carnival activities, from technology, and just enjoy the natural environment. We also have a very strong emphasis on food quality. We think it’s really important to provide good quality products whether its apples or fruit spread. We do have a weakness- the apple cider donuts- they are not organic but they are awesome.”
The beautiful homestead, built by this family of 8, and acreage is welcoming to visitors during weekends in September and October. You’ll find 4 aces of apples, 3 acres of pumpkins, a 1 acre corn maze, ½ an acre of squash and gourds, about 1 acre of peach trees and dark cherry trees, and 35 acres of timber.
Plan to spend an hour or so at the farm, and remember to wear walking shoes or boots. Visitors may not bring in their own food, or pets, but blankets and lawn chairs are welcome if you’d like to relax amongst the countryside. There is also a great walking path to enjoy!
Due to a harsh winter this year visitors won’t be able to pick their own apples but that just means that the best apples have been hand-picked and pre-bagged ready to grab and go. You will be able to pick your own pumpkins with a wagon and lopper at your side!
Visit the Wills Family Orchard Saturdays 9am- 6pm, and Sundays from noon – 6pm. If you want to experience a real treat, join them during Apple & Pumpkin Fest weekends October 4th and 5th and 11th and 12th.
On these special days the family can participate in hay wagon rides, run through the corn maze, listen to local music, enjoy apple wood smoked barbeque by Master Griller Catering, and fresh caramel apples, Queens apple dessert, sliced apple pie, and who could forget the apple cider donuts.
Activities have a small fee per person to help make sure everything runs like a well-oiled machine.
Everything you see, the whole family has had a part in. From planting 9,000 seeds by hand to building their own home, the Wills family is a shining example of Iowan ingenuity and spirit.
“Each year we reevaluated and had to make decisions- will we add more trees this year? Do we get a deer fence? There have been certain things that have guided us because they just weren’t authentic to who we are. Maybe an idea will come along that we think, ‘people may like this or it might make us money’ but it just isn’t who we are. We moved out here to live- and so that the business could be part of how we live. We don’t eat 100% organic food and we’re not bashing conventional agriculture at all, this is just how we do it.”
Wills Family Orchard
33130 Panther Creek Road
Adel, IA 50003
Phone: 515-993-5151
Website: willsfamilyorchard.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/WillsFamilyOrchard
