The traditional summer-ending holiday marks the unofficial start of apple-picking season. But there is another reason folks are packing Sky Top Orchard in Flat Rock, N.C.
The September issue of Southern Living magazine features the orchard's owners, Lindsey and David Butler in an article titled "Apple Time In The Mountains."
"If Southern Living says it's great, then it's got to be great," Lindsey Butler says. "And we hope that we fit that category."
In the past couple of weeks, the Butlers say people from as far away as Florida and Alabama have come to the orchard because of the article.
"They happen to be flipping through the magazine, and the wife will say, 'Gee that's close to us, let's go!' So we've had a lot of people do that," David Butler says.
The main crop ready for picking this week is Gala-variety apples. Red and golden delicious apples will be ready in a week or two.
In addition to sweet, crisp apples, the orchard is blessed with spectacular scenery worthy of its name.
"The clouds settling in on the mountain tops. You know they'll come and pass and you'll be standing in the clouds for a little while," Lindsey Butler quotes from the article.
The Butlers say that the article has helped remind them what is so satisfying about their business, which comes with a large amount of hard work, too.
"I sometimes lose sight of what others are seeing, and I think they captured it," Butler says.
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
