HOPE —In operation for 78 years, the legacy of Hope Orchards is long and rich in local history. And over the decades, every owner of that land has nurtured its abundance of fruit trees, careful stewards of their health and the annual crops that bring the public out to enjoy afternoons of picking apples in the early autumn.

Now, it is time for new owners to assume responsibility for what many in the region regard as their hometown orchard, 45 acres of agricultural and forested land that anchor the town’s center, known as Hope Corner.

Emily and Brien Davis, who have owned Hope Orchards since 2001, are selling their land and operations to Anna and Kyle Rittenburg, young farmers ready to care for the trees and existing gardens. They are also game for trying new ventures, including the cultivation of perennials for market, and increasing their vegetable and fruit productivity.

The Davises are not going far; in fact, they will keep the farmhouse, carving out a small piece of land from the real estate transfer. The Rittenburgs, who have one child and another on the way, will build a new home for themselves in what is referred to as the Winter Orchard, closer to Route 235.

Currently, 12 of the 45 acres are in orchard and another 33 acres in forestry, with a thick stand of trees on the western edge of the land. Most of the cultivated land is dedicated to apples — Paula Red, Ginger Gold, McIntosh, Baldwins, Jonathans, Cortland, Empire, Macoun, Spartan, Golden Delicious, Golden Russet, Black Oxford (which started in South Paris, Maine), Spencers and Red Delicious.

Plus, there are peach trees, raspberry and blueberry bushes, and vegetable gardens, all part of a growing Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) effort, and producing fruit and vegetables for the Orchard’s vegetable stand.

It has been a labor of love for the Davises since they acquired Hope Orchards after moving to Midcoast from St. Albans, where they had already lived for 13 years.

“We had left the country for a year and came back,” she said. “We were asking ourselves, ‘are we going to stay here?’ We always wanted to do farming.’”

Brien wanted an orchard, and they were both ready to take on the care, propagation and annual harvest of apple trees. They found themselves on the Midcoast with a 45-acre orchard started in 1946 by Ralph Wentworth. Ray Ludwig bought the orchard in 1972 and he and his wife, Evelyn, had an apple store on Route 1 in Rockport. In 1982, James Wentworth and his son, Bill, bought the orchard. Then Carl Drexler and Linda Anderson Drexler bought the orchard and kept it in operation for 20-plus years before the Davises purchased it.

Originally, the apple varieties were fairly simple.

“Ralph Wentworth had a lot of Baldwins, Macs, Red Delicious and Cortlands,” said Brien.

In 2001, Emily and Brien tended to the orchard part-time while working regular day jobs full-time, Brien in medicine and Emily in the school system. What they found, in addition to acres and acres of trees, was a community that already cared deeply about the orchard, and its heritage.

“This place has been part of this community for many years,” said Emily. “People come through here – they are now in their 80s – and they remember it from when they were kids. They really feel like it is theirs.”

“I’m just the keeper of the apples,” Brien has said, at the Hope Orchards website. “This orchard was planted before we came and when we are gone someone else will carry on. My grandfather was a farmer and I grew up thinking I would have farming in my life.  This is it.”

Emily, likewise, has appreciated the orchard for what it provides — nutrition, and a continuum of agriculture aligned with the seasons of coastal Maine. They increased production in the orchard with trellised trees, and new apple varieties.

But for all the love and affection Emily and Brien have poured into the orchard, they decided that age 67 is fine time to hand the place over to a younger generation.

“Quit while you’re ahead,” Brien laughed.

And they are both ready to try other pursuits. Brien wants to volunteer – he is now on the Pen Bay YMCA board of directors, and wants to help other organizations. They realize that as they approach Age 70, “it is better to stop while you are still going strong rather than when you have to,” said Brien.

“The way I put it is, we’re going out on a high note,” said Emily.

On Sept. 13, with the afternoon especially warm and dry, Brien, Emily, Anna and Kyle gathered at an orchard picnic table to describe what they are doing. Farmstead customers drove in and out of the gravel parking lot, some dropping by the table to chat. Anna had arrived from her side gig of housecleaning, which prompted a short conversation about the merits of quality vacuum cleaners (Miele was the agreed top choice).

Kyle had come in from a walk around the orchard with a banker, who had come to consult about a loan. When the real estate closing takes place in late December, Kyle and Anna will own the property, and it will be under a conservation easement with the Maine Farmland Trust, never to be subdivided for residential development and to remain in agriculture. It is a vision that Emily and Brien articulated: To see the orchards continue in production and the land conserved for agriculture and forestry.

“The qualifier is that Kyle and Anna are not just doing an orchard,” said Emily. “They are also farming. So some of the land that is already being used, including the green house, for gardening vegetables.”

“Diversified veggies,” said Kyle.

With Hope Orchard apple-picking season just one week away on Sept. 20, there was the talk of weather and effects of warmer weather on apple crops. The sweetness of apples strengthens with the cooler nights, but it has been warm in the Midcoast all through September. The state had designated Sept. 15 this year as Maine Apple Sunday — too soon, everyone agreed.

Kyle, thinking into the future, suggested, “probably if we had twice as many of the early season apples, we could be picking this weekend.”

But there was also agreement that the state’s marketing push to designate mid-September as Maine Apple Sunday was, “way too early.”

“It should be October,” everyone agreed.

Aligned goals

The Davises and the Rittenburgs met through the common Midcoast threads that weave a community together.

“There were rumors that these two were around,” said Emily. “With interest in another farm in the area.”

Then, they connected. Anna’s mother, Barbara Mason, lives in Hope, and Anna, herself, is a 2012 graduate of Camden Hills Regional High School.

“We just took a chance and got together,” said Emily.

Anna and Kyle originally met at Unity College in 2015, when they were the sole two students enrolled in the agriculture program. Kyle had grown up in upstate New York, working at an orchard, and they migrated to the Hudson Valley region after graduation for employment on farms.

Then, they moved back to Maine with sustainable agriculture on their minds.

And with local farming, there is always room for forming mutually beneficial relationships with other farmers and enterprises built close to the landscape. Hope Orchards gets manure for fertilizer from a horse rescue farm around the corner.

“They’ve just been giving it us,” said Kyle.

“That speaks to a bigger piece for me,” said Emily. “Which is that this place is a valued part of the community.”

She is looking forward to Kyle and Anna taking over.

“They bring a way broader exposure and knowledge base,” said Emily. “I am excited to see what it evolves into.”

After working in food pantries, Anna identified what was important to her.

“I want to keep growing food for people,” she said. 

Kyle recently left his full-time job as manager of the annual department at Plants Unlimited to work at Hope Orchards, and Anna is spending more time farming, as well. They tend to the CSA (it is the fourth season), and are full of ideas about increasing cultivation of seedling perennials, and expanding the vegetable garden.

“This summer we started growing winter squash in the summer orchard,” Kyle said. “Maybe next year we will start growing a lot of pumpkins, because we sell a lot in the fall.”

They are currently selling produce at Hope General Store, across the street, and they are talking with Goose River Greenery, in Rockport, about renting greenhouse space in which to grow winter greens.

Kyle’s parents are helping out until the end of October, working in the garden and on the farm. And, family members come and go, ready to help out.

As Hope Orchards tips toward autumn, they continue harvesting produce and flowers on Wednesdays for the CSA and farm stand. It has been a good growing year, all except for the potatoes. But the grafted apples, peach and cherry woods stock, persimmons, thornless blackberries, echinacea, and strawberries seedlings are doing well, and they will be wintered over and then revived for the spring sales, all in preparation for Summer 2025.

Like the seasons, it is a turning point for Hope Orchards, but the change is organic, slow and steady, with a promising future for a Hope legacy.

“We’ve been stewarding this land for 24 years and we’ve tended to it really well,” Emily said. “Now it is time for somebody else to take over.”

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6656