Farmer of the Month: Steve Frecon of Frecon Farms

If the word “orchard” brings to mind acres of flat, fertile ground covered in gently waving fruit trees, go ahead and toss that image out the window. At Frecon Farms—a small family farm—in Boyertown, Pennsylvania—apple and peach trees cling to rocky slopes steep enough for skiing. 

“What makes our farm special?” Steve Frecon mused when The FruitGuys got him on the line in mid-October to check in on the farm’s fall harvest. “… Lousy soil!”

Lousy Soil, Lovely Fruit

Frecon’s one hundred and seventeen acres of fruit trees and bushes—including apples, peaches, sweet cherries, plums, pears, and blueberries—are rooted in rocky clay soils. This might seem like a curse, but it’s actually a blessing. The rocks provide good drainage and the clay holds in moisture. Plus, the stressed-out trees produce peaches and apples with a truly unique flavor. 

“Some of our worst ground produces some of our best fruit,” Steve said. As a co-owner of Frecon and its head of sales and growing operations, he knows the land better than anyone. 

Here at The FruitGuys, we can vouch for that Frecon flavor. Every year, we dance a little jig when Steve’s first peaches arrive. During apple season, we pack his farm-fresh apples into our fruit boxes by hand, delivering time capsules of fall flavor to offices up and down the East Coast. 

Steve’s Favorite Bites

When we asked Steve which of his fruits he liked best, he gave us a classic farmer answer.

“My favorite fruit, it changes by the season,” he said. “… When we first get into blueberry season, I’m fortunate enough that I’m eating blueberries by the fistful like a bag of potato chips because they’re just everywhere: They’re around and they’re plentiful.” 

When the blueberry ecstasy fades, he craves Spring Snow white peaches in May, sweet Victoria® peaches in August, and Jonagold, McIntosh, and SnapDragon® apples through the fall. Frecon Farms grows twenty-three apple varieties, so there are plenty of options to choose from. 

“I feel so bad for the Jonagold apple—it doesn’t get the credit it deserves,” Steve said. “I think if there was better storage technology around when it came out Jonagold would be as popular as Honeycrisp. I would take it any day over a Honeycrisp apple, which is most of the world’s favorite nowadays.” 

Jonagold apples have red and yellow skin, a lush sweet-tart flavor with notes of honey, and crisp, almost crackly white flesh. They store well, but Steve still prefers to eat his apples when they’re in season. By spring he’s on to other cravings.

“I don’t want to see a McIntosh in April—don’t offer me one—but a good MacIntosh in September? You can’t beat it,” Steve said.

From ‘Family Farm’ to ‘Forever Farm’

It’s hard to say whether Steve’s grandfather, Richard S. Frecon, knew about the magic in Frecon Farms’ “lousy soil” when he started the operation in 1944. Richard was a United States Department of Agriculture produce inspector who spent his career trekking back and forth from Maine to Georgia, stopping at farms along the way. After years of inspecting produce in Boyertown, he decided to set up shop there growing fruit. 

Today, Frecon Farms is still a family business—but it’s much more than an orchard. Steve, his siblings, and their spouses have made their small family farm an “agritainment” destination. Fall visitors can pick their own apples, buy fresh fruit at the market, or grab a bite at the bakery, deli, or cider and espresso bar. October highlights include flakey bourbon-apple pies, scratch-made soups, mouthwatering apple cider donuts, and hard cider made from Frecon’s own apples. 

“Our parents, aunts, and uncles ran the farm from the ‘70s through the 2000s, then the next generation stepped up to the plate,” Steve said. 

Steve never wanted to be a farmer. After growing up at Frecon, he left his muddy boots behind for ten years to work in tech. But he couldn’t resist the pull of the family business—and ended up falling in love with the land. Now, he wants to preserve it for generations to come. 

“I spend a lot of time thinking about what this place will be like after me, and I can’t stand the thought of it being houses. I’ll be working in the future with the state and the county to figure out what steps we need to make this a forever farm,” he said. 

Adapting to a Changing Climate

Steve’s family has grown fruit for eighty years. But because of climate change, apple season looks different than it once did. For decades, the small family farm relied on consistent rain throughout the year and weeks of below-freezing temperatures to put its peach trees into their dormant winter state. Now, Boyertown can go weeks without rainfall, temperatures rarely dip below freezing, and spring is coming earlier than ever. 

“If it wasn’t for the hurricane that passed through the East last week, we wouldn’t have had any rain for going on two months,” he told The FruitGuys, referencing Hurricane Helene.

An early start to spring coupled with a late spring freeze can be disastrous for early-blooming crops like cherries, plums, and pears. This year, one of those late freezes took out Frecon’s entire pear crop. It also triggered a visual imperfection called “frost ring” on some of the farm’s lower-elevation apples. Those fruits ended up in the cider bin. Steve is keeping a close eye on these changes and looking for opportunities to mitigate risk. That might mean adding more irrigation or bringing in fans to circulate and warm the air in the orchard. 

“You won’t find a gambler in Las Vegas that’s a bigger gambler than a fruit grower,” Steve told The FruitGuys with a smile. “It’s the greatest gamble.”

Want to Try a Taste?

Steve’s gambles often pay off with delicious fruit. To try it for yourself and support other small family farms, too, check out The FruitGuys’ seasonal fruit boxes. We’re proud to feature Frecon Farms’ crisp and juicy apples in our Eastern mixes through the fall and winter months.