Applewood Orchards, LLC

In 1935, Walter E. Swindeman, Sr. a wholesale grocery salesman noticed the poor-quality apples in the surrounding area stores. With that thought, he told his wife, “When I retire, I am going to raise good apples as a hobby, then go back and call my old customers and supply them with the best quality apples”. This is what gave Walter the incentive to begin Applewood Orchards. From there, he planted 600 trees on the original 16 acres of Applewood land. When the trees started to produce, he stored the fruit in the basement of his garage and sold the fruit out of his garage. Before long, he started to handle fruit for other apple growers in the area so he could supply his old grocery customers as well as local retail trade. Walter’s son, Bernie, grew up on the farm helping his dad and was able to save money to buy land and set up an orchard of his own in his teen years.

In 1955, Bernie and his wife took full control of the family operations and continued to expand the little farm business. In 1958, they built one of the first Controlled Atmosphere (CA) rooms in the United States. By now, the family business had expanded to supplying several major chain stores, and Applewood Orchards incorporated in 1963.

In the mid-1970’s, Bernie’s sons, Steve, Scott and Jim, got involved in running the family business. The three sons now run the business along with the fourth generation, Scott’s son Michael and Jim’s sons Brandt and Trent. Applewood has grown to 350 acres of apples, multiple grower-packer relationships, and now ships to numerous areas in the U.S and exports to several countries. Today, Applewood Orchards, LLC is successfully acquired by FirstFruits Farms of Washington to become the first nationwide apple supplier and continues to provide customers with consistent, high-quality apples.

We are delighted to welcome them into the EcoCertified family in 2024!