Fruit crops a labor of love in Colleton

Aichele family learns to expect the unexpected from Mother Nature

Ashley Garner
The Post and Courier

editor's note: This is part of an ongoing series about farmers and food producers in the Lowcountry.

"When you're a farmer, you have to be an optimist," says Fritz Aichele with a wry smile. "There's always next year; we're going to get it perfect."

Surrounded by 44 acres of what he describes as "incredibly peaceful" land in the Colleton County hamlet of Canadys, it's hard to imagine trouble lurking anywhere on Maple Ridge Farm. Every year, however, an evildoer or two shows up to wreak some havoc.

Borers, fire blight, Pierce's disease, sun scald, a late freeze — if you're a farmer, you have to expect the unexpected. A month ago, it was golf-ball-size hail falling from the sky on a Tuesday night.

Aichele was working the booth at the Mount Pleasant Farmers Market. His wife, Sandy, was driving near the farm. She called him

frantically. The hail was pounding so hard, "I really thought the windshield would break," she says.

In the aftermath, the Aicheles were left with $3,000 in damage to a brand-new car and less than a quarter of a salvageable peach crop. And the peaches had looked so good, so promising this year. The storm also wiped out the last two weeks of their best strawberry crop ever. The berries were mashed or dented and filthy with dirt and debris.

The farm was knocked back, but not out. The blackberries and blueberries were spared from the worst of the damage. The Asian pears and muscadine grapes also made it through mostly intact.

The Aicheles have a measure of insurance with six different fruit crops. "If one doesn't do well, it's not the end of the year," he says.

Family affair

Jim Aichele, now 82, started Maple Ridge Farm in the mid-1980s for something to do in his retirement. He decided to plant peaches and blueberries for a "u-pick" operation.

The family name already was well-known in the plant business. Frederick Aichele, his father, had a florist shop in downtown Charleston in the 1930s. He also established Carolina Floral Nursery, becoming recognized as a pioneer in the propagation of azaleas and other shrubs. His two sons, Jim and Jack (now deceased), later took over the nursery and moved it to U.S. Highway 52 near Moncks Corner. The business eventually was sold and now operates as Carolina Nursery.

Ashley Garner
The Post and Courier

The Aicheles (from left), Sandy, Jim and Fritz, mind the "store" inside a gazebo at Maple Ridge Farm. Jim Aichele started the Colleton County farm in the mid-1980s.

Ashley Garner
The Post and Courier

Fritz Aichele checks on the progress of his blackberries.

Fritz Aichele didn't seem destined to be a third-generation plant grower. He was working as a cartographer and environmental planner for a state agency when his dad bought the former soybean fields in Canadys. Sandy was working in day care.

"He asked me if I wanted to help out," says Aichele of his father. That, his wife kids, turned into every weekend and his days off.

After Hurricane Hugo in 1989, the couple decided to make the leap and move to the farm with their three young daughters. Spending more and more time there, it just made sense. So they traded traffic-clogged James Island for country life on Maple Ridge Road, about 25 miles from Summerville off S.C. Highway 61.

Both continued to work their regular jobs until retiring in 2005, when the farm was turned over to them. Dad, meanwhile, remains on the job. He helps out at the farmers markets and drives the tractor on occasion.

"We still all work together. It's still a family affair," Fritz Aichele says.

Picky business

The Aicheles are extremely proud of the fruits they sell. "We're very particular about what's picked," says Fritz Aichele. That means no blemished fruits.

The farm has no full-time employees; the picking is done by local housewives. "We pay them well and treat them with respect," Aichele says. What is expected in return is a keen eye for plucking the best, plumpest fruits. Each flat even bears the picker's name.

"We're trying to market the highest quality fruit we can," Aichele says. As a result, "We've been able to cultivate a loyal customer base."

One of their most popular sellers is Asian pears. Aichele planted several trees after reading about them in a magazine.

The pears were a hard sell initially. People hadn't tried them and they already were pricey in grocery stores. Now, Aichele says, he has people "hooked."

"They're crispy, juicy, sweet and very refreshing, wonderful on a hot summer day."

He compares the texture to a water chestnut, and says customers use them in various salads along with eating out of hand. "We literally can't keep up with demand and we're the only source around."

The Aicheles are hoping to develop another niche market in Satsuma mandarin oranges. They plan to plant three different varieties next spring. Aichele says the oranges will give the farm a fall crop in a few years and extend its season, which normally winds up in August.

The farm isn't making them rich, but the Aicheles say there's a substantial personal payoff.

"We're always talking to the customers face to face, and they want to know about the fruits," says Sandy. "We've never sold anything we didn't grow and never will."

"People really appreciate it," Fritz says. "I feel like we're doing something positive and healthy. They don't just buy something; they come up and talk to you. That means a lot."

Teresa Taylor is the food editor. Reach her at food@postandcourier.com or 937-4886.