Apple Picking Season Returns To Porter’s Livesay Orchard

Porter may be the Peach Capital of Oklahoma, but this month, another fruit is getting its day in the sun.

Livesay Orchards offers apple picking in its apple orchard.

Kyle Livesay, a fourth-generation farmer, said his family took over the existing peach and apple orchard on this land in 1966.

“It has shifted since then; it is about 90% peaches and 10% apples now,” he said.

Livesay Orchards grows six different varieties of apples: Red Delicious, Fuji, Granny Smith, Arkansas Black, Pink Lady, and Evercrisp.

“We are going to be constantly having varieties that are maturing at different stages; they are not all getting ripe at one time,” said Livesay.

This strategy extends the apple-picking season into October, even when Mother Nature has other plans.

“This is a really unique year,” Livesay continued, saying, “I do not think we have ever been three weeks early for an apple crop before.”

Operating a pick-your-own apple orchard is a task.

“It is a 12-month cycle growing apples,” Livesay said. “There is not really an off-season where we can totally leave them on their own. There is always something needing to be done.”

However, he said that being able to share it with the community makes it all worth it.

Livesay added, “People like to come out and see how fruit is grown, teach kids where fruit comes from because they may not realize what an apple orchard even looks like.”

The apple-picking process starts in the Livesay Orchards Farm Market, where guests get a half-bushel box.

“We then show them where we are picking that day, and they go out and pick however many apples they would like,” said Livesay.

Admission to the pick-your-own apple orchard is $5, and the apples cost $2 per pound.

Livesay Orchards is open for apple picking on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information visit Livesay Orchards in Porter.