It’s a breezy 10-minute drive from Kelowna’s International Airport to Gatzke Orchards, a working farm that is as much about organics as it is about tourism. While the Gatzke property is special, it is one of many such down-to-earth family attractions well worth exploring in the fertile lands that surround the bustling city of Kelowna, B.C.

A FAMILY AFFAIR

“There are so many treasures in the Okanagan – those five- or 10-acre parcels whose operators are farming because it’s their passion,” says 46-year-old Allan Gatzke, a fourth generation farmer whose family has been working this land since 1929. Gatzke names a few: Andrea McFadden’s pastoral Okanagan Lavender Herb Farm; Stephen Cipes’ Summerhill Pyramid Winery, known these days both for its certified organic wines and its organic vegetable and herb garden; and Carmelis Goat Cheese Artisan, a boutique dairy just down the road from the CedarCreek Estate and St. Hubertus wineries.

“These are people who are living their passion. They take pride in what they make and do. Each has a story that is true to itself.”

Larger operations, like the family-owned Kelowna Land & Orchard Co., Kelowna’s oldest working orchard, offer extras that keep kids and parents alike entertained for hours. KLO’s orchard tours, petting farm, onsite restaurant and country market, and home-made Iced Apple Ciders – and least not its fabulous, fresh fruits – are renowned.

Like others in this rich community, Gatzke cultivates both hospitality and agriculture. “We’ve got direct farm marketers teaming up with chefs. That movement is supporting culinary tourism. It’s a natural fit,” he says.

Gatzke Orchards contributes to that mix, in part by baking over 5,000 fruit pies each year, many of them snapped up by scores of visitors who come to the family’s 12-acre showcase orchard each year to check out the intriguing farm implements museum, picnic or pick fruit.

As a youth, Gatzke worked the farm’s majestic fruit trees atop 16-foot ladders. “We’d pick a bin of apples after school and another before dinner.”

Fewer and fewer orchards feature traditional fruit trees like these. “We used to plant 75 trees per acre in the Okanagan. Now, high-volume producers plant 1,000 or more per acre,” density achieved by sophisticated rootstock, and trees that grow along trellises, says Gatzke. “It’s a Tuscan look – they look like vineyards.”

Though the look of fruit crops is changing, the product is as delicious as ever. In the Okanagan, one kind of fruit or another is picked from June through late fall.

Among Gatzke’s early favourites are Tay berries, a cross between a Tulamine raspberry and a blackberry, ready in June. “They have a unique flavour and fragrance. We sell them fresh, and make jam and pies out of them.” Beginning near the end of July, apricots, peaches and “a raft of sweet plums – from Japanese Shiros to Elephant Hearts” are picked daily.

For peach and nectarine lovers, mid- to late-August is primetime, says Gatzke, whose favourite peach is the Donut, “an unusual flat fruit with white flesh that’s ‘to die for.’ When they are ripe the whole orchard is perfumed.” From mid-August through fall, apples are ripe for the picking, beginning with the Sunrise, a particularly sweet and crunchy Okanagan specialty.

“Everyone looks forward to the Sunrise. They are probably the season’s first and best eating apple.” In the fall, it’s pears. Among the finest, says Gatzke, is the Hosui or ‘applepear.’ “The flavour…it’s an explosion the way the fruit fractures in your mouth when you bite into it.”

There are plenty of options when it comes to family fun. Whether it’s boating on Okanagan Lake, playing at the city’s urban parks and sandy beaches, hiking in the nearby mountains, or sightseeing in the eclectic downtown, Kelowna is a family affair. Everyone is welcome, even Fido.

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