Twin Springs Fruit Farm FAQS
Answers to frequent questions
Twin Springs Fruit Farm is located near the village of Orrtanna in the heart of the Adams County Fruit Belt. Gettysburg is our county seat. Our farm is 100+ acres in size, and we rent an additional 30 acres from a neighboring farm for vegetable and melon production.
Twin Springs was started by four partners, none of whom were from a farming background, back in 1979. Since the retirement of three of the original partners it has become a family farm, with Aubrey King, and his two sons Michael and Jesse owning and running things. All three partners are active full-time in growing or marketing for Twin Springs.
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We have no pick-your-own or roadside market. All of the crops we grow are sold at markets in the greater Washington area. We make sixteen trips a week at the height of the season. This is accomplished with a lot of devoted, hard working part-time help and seven sometimes dependable Isuzu trucks.
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Some of the vegetables you see at *our own markets come from Amish growers in Lancaster County, PA. Two, or sometimes three times a week we are at the Leola Produce Auction supplementing our fruit with the high quality veggies produced there. *Check out our market schedule to find which are “Our Own” and which are public markets of which we are one of many vendors, each of which has its own rules as to what is allowed in the way of purchasing local produce for sale at any given location.
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Yes, we really mean “rain or shine.” We are always glad to see our customers, but never more so than on a rainy day.
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In 32 years of fruit farming, we have never had a season of total crop failure. We had one year in which we lost all of our stone fruit crop (peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries, apricots, and plums) due to severe cold–but this is very unusual. The only thing we can count on is that every season will bring its own set of challenges. We are always worrying about the weather, but there is some comfort in knowing that in the end it will be beyond our control.
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The time from Christmas until May 1 is not really a “downtime” at Twin Springs. A half acre of greenhouse veggie production, trees that need to be seasonally pruned, as well as any miscellaneous chores keep us occupied during the slowed down market season.