Meet Moser’s Farm Partners: Apples from Brumbaugh Fruit Farm are a family affair
Some could say “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” when talking about our co-owner Christina Moser and her grandparents Winston and Jeanie Brumbaugh of western-Ohio’s Brumbaugh Fruit Farm.
“Many Moser’s Farm Market customers may have heard us talk about my grandfather and his fruit farm as the inspiration behind our market,” said Christina or “Christy” as “Grandpa B” likes to call her. Their story of family, hard work and passion is as bright as the apples Grandpa B still grows at his orchard and Christy sells at her market.
Farming is in their DNA
Farming began in the 1940s for Winston when he helped his mother who was selling vegetables she raised while going door-to-door in Dayton, Ohio. She had given her younger son the choice to either shovel chicken manure or pick vegetables from the garden. Winston says he chose to work with the vegetables because he thought it would be “much more pleasant” getting to shell beans indoors and watch the 10” black & white television for entertainment. His older brother took up the shovel in the chicken coops.
Winston’s childhood on the family farm would lead him to plant 100 apple trees on his own property more than two decades later. “I was working as an airline ground handler at the time, so I tended to my apple orchard in the mornings.” He and Jeanie created Brumbaugh Fruit Farm in Arcanum, Ohio, and started selling apples in the mid-70s.
Fast-forward nearly 50 years, and that small orchard of 100 trees -- many of which still yield fruit today -- has expanded into a 40-acre diverse family business. These days, the fruit farm offers a popular bakery and agri-tourism activities for families and school groups. It’s probably best known for its consistent quality of fresh-picked produce including peaches, pears, pumpkins and 28 varieties of apples – some of which make their way to Moser’s every year. In fact, Brumbaugh’s saucing apples are expected to be among the first apples to arrive at Moser’s in mid-to-late July this season.
Now at 86, Winston has been in the fruit business for decades and still keeps very involved at his age. Day-to-day operations at Brumbaugh’s are handled by another family member, but on a recent day in June, Winston spent a couple of hours in the bakery helping to make 100 apple fritters and 20 dozen cookies. After lunch he was planning to plant grass seed and do some repair work around the farm. During peak season this fall, he thinks he’ll put in 60+ hours a week helping at his market.
“Grandpa B still has the energy of a 20-year-old,” said Christina. He compares aging to apple trees – “the older you get, the less productive you are, but you still have good quality.”
“A little piece of home”
When Brad and Christina had the idea of opening Moser’s Farm Market and Barn in 2018, Christina immediately knew she wanted to sell Grandpa B’s apples. “We had a hunch that others might like his fresh apples as much as we do,” she said. Her decision to sell Brumbaugh’s produce at Moser’s may have also been guided by her fond memories of working at Grandpa B’s market while growing up.
Her earliest childhood memories are grading apples with Grandpa B and sitting in his apple-picking bag. She learned how to count back change and work in the market when she was nine. “I remember Christy standing on an apple crate to reach the cash register,” said Grandma B. “She was always very responsible to wait on customers and do the work at our market.”
Christina’s dad started the bakery at Brumbaugh Fruit Farm many years ago, and she also worked in that part of the business starting at age 12. “Every summer and fall included countless days and weekends doing something out there - work or play,” she said. Brad and Christina got married under her grandparent’s apple trees at the orchard and regularly take their young family for visits to pick apples.
When Christina asked her grandfather if she could sell his apples at Moser’s, it didn’t surprise him – “she couldn’t get the farm market out of her blood,” Winston said. “It’s been a life-long endeavor for me. For Christy, I think it might be her way of always having a little piece of home with her now in Columbus.”
“Meet Moser’s Farm Partners” regularly features the area farmers who bring you “farm fresh, flavor first” produce at Moser’s Farm Market and Barn. Brumbaugh Fruit Farm is in Arcanum, Ohio, about 90 minutes west of Columbus. Each season, Moser’s sells several varieties of apples from Brumbaugh’s. For more information go to Brumbaugh Fruit Farm's website.
