Address: 4315 129th Pl SE, Bellevue, WA 98006
Types of fruit grown within this orchard:
Heirloom apples: Varieties such as Winesap, Ben Davis, Baldwin, Esopus Spitzenberg, Duchess of Oldenburg, Opalescent, Transparent, and Winter Banana.
Plum: 4-way grafted Shiro/Methley/Hollywood/Beauty, 2-way grafted Italian/Early Laxton, Greengage, and several Italian.
European pear: Bartlett, 2-way grated Bartlett/Seckel, Lincoln or Duchess D’Angeline.
Smyrna quince
Background and history:
Holy Cross Lutheran Church was built over 50 years ago on the site of a small farm and orchard. Although Bellevue was once semi-rural, populated with many small farms and greenspaces, urbanization over the years has rapidly transformed the area. Holy Cross shares that they intend to keep the site free from development and maintain the church grounds, community garden, and orchard for the enjoyment and use of the whole community (Holy Cross Lutheran Church, 2022).
The orchard boasts a wide variety of fruit and nut trees, including 17 apples, 6 plums, 5 quince, 3 pears, and one walnut and hazelnut tree. The Holy Cross Earthkeeping team has worked with community volunteers, as well as City Fruit, to harvest the fruit for local area foodbanks. The Earthkeeping team share their 2012 harvest numbers as:
7/28/12 – 300 lbs. yellow Transparent apples
8/4/12 – 100 lbs. yellow Transparent apples
8/11/12 – 10 lbs. Winesap apples & 5 lbs. Italian plums
8/25/12 – 200 lbs. misc. apples and plums
9/8/12 – 300 lbs. apples, pears, and plums
9/22/12 – 80 lbs. misc apples
10/6/12 – 60 lbs. apples (made 30 gals of apple cider at their annual community cider press event) & 50 lbs. of quince sold to local restaurants
10/20/12 – 100 lbs. of quince sold to local restaurants
Total fruit without quince = 1,055 lbs. (0.5 ton)
