Blue Roof Orchard & CSA's - Stewards of the Land

Far Right L-R: Optimist Member Beth Frieders, Juli McGuire from Blue Roof Orchard, and Optimist President Terri Ellis

The Optimist Club was delighted to have Juli McGuire speak this morning about her passion for sustainable farming and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA's). Juli is a native Hungarian. After she graduated from college in Hungary, she had the opportunity to come to New York state for a year. It was there that she met her husband, Chris, who worked in a college lab at the time. Juli has lived in the U.S. since 2000 and became a citizen in 2005.

Chris and Juli came to Wisconsin when Chris started graduate school in Madison. They purchased their 12 acre "little piece of heaven" outside of Belmont in 2003. Under the name "Two Onion Farm", they initially set out to grow onions and other organic vegetables for the community-supported agriculture (CSA) program with the simple goals: feed our community with delicious, clean, and nourishing food; preserve our soil and environment; and provide our family with meaningful, skilled work. They started planting apple trees in 2012 and in 2019, phased out their vegetable produce. They wanted to raise perennial crops that would protect their hillside soils from erosion. They have since changed their name to "Blue Roof Orchard" and have focused on apples, applesauce, and apple butter for almost eight years now. They currently have over 2200 dwarf apple trees offering 30 varieties of delicious, unique, local, and organic apples. They have developed excellent methods of raising apples and are passionate about raising fruit. Apples grown by their family for our families is the McGuire's delight and passion.

Blue Roof Orchard continues to be a part of CSA which is a partnership where consumers (members) purchase a share of a farm's harvest in advance, providing essential capital and a guaranteed market for the farmer. In return, the members receive weekly or bi-weekly fresh, seasonal produce directly from the farmer. This eliminates the middlemen and ensures fresher food. Blue Roof Orchard offers four apple box sizes ranging from 3 - 20 lbs. There are over 25 pick-up sites in Wisconsin with Driftless Market on Main Street being the Platteville area pick-up site.

Juli and Chris make a great team and have a beautiful story to share. You can learn more at https://youtu.be/dZO1JnJE62s and Blue Roof Orchard – Apples: Delicious, Unique, Local, Organic