A Fruitful Family: Brookwood Fruit Farm
Picking fruit right off the tree is one of life's little pleasures. And then there's eating fruit out of hand or baking it into sweet treats.
“My dad likes to say if it doesn’t go in a pie, he doesn’t like to grow it,” says William (Will) Bristol, a fifth-generation farmer at family-owned Brookwood Fruit Farm in Almont. He and his father, Charles William (Chuck) Bristol, are the current operators of the farm, which has been in the family since 1910.
Tree fruit—tart cherries, peaches, pears, plums, some 50 varieties of apples—are offered here on a you-pick and wholesale basis. “Apples are 90% of what we grow,” Will says. Pie pumpkins are also available.
It all grows on what Chuck Bristol calls the “new farm.” His father grew up next door on the “old farm,” which was first occupied by the Bristol family in 1827 after the land was granted to an ancestor for Revolutionary War service. The family, which emigrated to North America in the 1600s, had a fruit farm in England and continued the tradition in Connecticut before moving to Michigan. Chuck took over the new farm in 1988; Will is the youngest of his five sons.
“I always knew that I was going to be the one, and probably by myself,” Will says. Chuck and all five sons earned degrees at Michigan State University. “Since it originally opened, Bristols have been going there,” Chuck says.
Over the generations, Brookwood has at times included livestock and vegetables. But for 50 years the focus has been on fruit. “We do a fair amount of you-pick, but the majority of [apples] we pick ourselves,” Will says. They sell them to schools, organizations like the Rochester Older Persons Commission and a dozen cider mills.
The farm has the abiloity tpo store 10,000 bushels fo cold, keeping them fresh until they are eaten. "My grandpa built a very expensive cold storage room," Chuck says. The apples go into cider all winter long and are sold at the Oakland County Farmers Market. "We start there with peaches in late August, and we will be there until we run out of apples in late March," Will says.
For those who enjoy the pick-your-own experience, Brookwood is open sevne days a week in the fall. Visitors start in the salesoom, where they can learn about the different varieties offered. "A lot of people like to walk to the orchard, so as they walk through here they get to see the processing equipment," Will says.
Brookwood offers both old and new apple varieties, and father and son sometimes disagree about which to plant. "I've been after him to cut down all the Red Delicious," Will says. But, Chuck counters, "There's people that want the usual, that want the old, old varieties." Even so, "Everything we plant [now] is new varieties. We can't get them fast enough. We plant stuff we haven't event tasted yet."
"A lot of people say 'I grew up eating this apple, and I can't find it anywhere else," Will says. "We [also] appeal to the the people who say, 'I've never heard of this.' With 50 varieties, we cna play both ends."
Having so many choices can be mind-boggling. "Most of the job of selling apples is people don't know what they want," Will says. "So it's helping them decide what they like." At the market they are willing to mix varieites in a half-bushel. Pricing is two-tiered, with the newer varieties costing a bit more.
Chuck says whenevera new variety comes along, he asks family members to make it into a pie and applesauce. He is the taste tester, of course. It is delicious research and he can pass the results on to the bakers who buy his fruit.
Fall is the busy season here. After tart cherries in July, the farm closes for a couple of weeks until mid-August, when peaches start coming in. Apples start in August with Lodi, Viking, Jersey Mac and Tydeman’s Red. Early September brings Paula Red, Zestar!, Ginger Gold, Molly Delicious, Gala and Prima. Honeycrisp arrive in mid- September, along with McIntosh and Red Mac. Later in the month the varieties really pile on, from the familiar Empire and Golden Delicious to the not-so-familiar: Wolf River, Jonnee, Shizuka, SnowSweet. The harvest continues to evolve until late October, when Granny Smiths are among the last to arrive.
It wouldn’t be fall without cider and doughnuts, and although cider isn’t made here, it is made by one local cider mill using only Brookwood apples and sold here. As for pumpkins, Brookwood only grows pie pumpkins, not the typical jack-o’-lantern types. “I have just enough for school groups and pick-your-own,” Chuck says. Lucky fall visitors may also find frozen tart cherries, which are sold in three-pound containers until they’re gone.
The Bristol family eats more apples “probably than anyone else,” Chuck says. “Some of it is organic, some of it is not,” Will says. “My 3-year-old daughter has to stop at the barn and has to see Grandpa and has to eat an apple every day.
“We live in the orchard. We’re confident that it’s a safe place to live and a safe place to eat.”
