since 1950

Hendersonville, North Carolina

"Everybody wants something different"

Anthony Owens

Anthony Owens inherited the family’s apple orchard created since 1950 called "Windy Ridge Farm", now: Twisted Apple® He has grown apples for the past 30 years and gained a lot of experience in the last decades.

Twisted Apple® are a small-scale NC farm, produces 14 varieties of apples available in both organic and conventional, also produce apple cider, nectarines, and 20 certified organic acres of mixed vegetables.

Observing a shift in public awareness of the health risks of pesticides and related growth of the organic market, Twisted Apple® set about figuring out how to grow apples organically. University researchers warned organic apple production was impossible in North Carolina because of the state’s particularly high rate of disease and insect infestation for apples, but only took the skepticism as a challenge.

In Twisted Apple® believe strongly that is better changed the direction toward more diversification and environmentally friendly growing practices.

Through researching and diligently testing organic methods and products, and drawing on the intimate knowledge of orchard management, this self-taught horticulture company has had no problem keeping pests off his crops.

"In 2003 Windy Ridge Farm (Twisted Apple) became the first certified organic apple orchard in North Carolina"

In Twisted Apple® sprays the organic trees weekly with non-toxic bacterial and plant-based pesticides which wash off with the rain, we spends a lot of time scouting the orchard for signs of insects or disease. If detected early, outbreaks can be controlled with extra spraying. In the spring, when clusters of blossoms are beginning to bud, we goes tree by tree plucking off all but the most mature bud on each branch to the enable the fruits to grow large.

In Twisted Apple® know that everybody wants blemish-free produce, that´s why for the organic vegetable plot he established in 2001, which grows heirloom tomatoes, summer squash, green and yellow wax beans, high quality veggies depend on healthy soils, we covers the fields with rye grass in the winter to plow under as a green manure in the spring time.

Twisted Apple® achieves high quality fruits through careful pest control and by shipping irregular fruits to an apple sauce producer in New York and the local wine-maker.

As far away as Florida and Vermont, people have gotten wind of the farm reputation for flawless fruits and vegetables and requested shipments. Twisted Apple® delivers to coop grocers and health food chains locally in Hendersonville and Asheville, and as far as Columbia, South Carolina.