Harvesting opportunity, one apple at a time

Lori Kaye Lodes

Contributor

September 29, 2025

TREMPELEAU – Twenty thousand caramel apples. 

Seven thousand pies. 

Five thousand gallons of hard cider.

Located along the scenic Great River Road in Trempeleau, Co-owners and sisters Jessica Ecker and Sara Ecker-Foster said Ecker’s Apple Farm in Trempeleau isn’t just celebrating agritourism – it’s producing it by the truckload.

What began as a simple family orchard in 1945, the sisters said, has since evolved into a full-scale retail and experiential destination.

Still very much a family-run operation, Jessica said Ecker’s now offers not only crowd-pleasing Honeycrisp apples and a range of other varieties, but also a curated fall experience geared toward adults – though families are heartily welcomed, too.

The sisters said their leadership is a testament to multigenerational dedication.

Jessica – who handles the farm’s marketing, human resources and graphic art – said she lives in her childhood home with her husband, children and mother, Mary, who still leads the farm’s seasonal pie crew. 

Her sister, Sara, she said, is the orchard manager and is deeply involved with operations even though she calls Rochester, Minnesota, home.

Jessica said her husband, Simon, manages the beer garden and orchard operations, as well as peels the apples for apple pies.

“My husband does all the peeling for the apple pies, peeling 2,000 pounds – a ton – of apples every Sunday,” she said. “And that’s just enough pies to get us through the week.”

Apples… and so much more

Though apples are at the heart of the farm, Jessica said she is the first to acknowledge that Ecker’s is not just in the apple business.

“We’re in the entertainment business, and we use apples to do as many value-added products as we possibly can,” she said. “We’re agritourism, specialty food tourism and experiential tourism with apples as our main crop.”

Jessica said the business is driven by the apples’ calendar, with the farm opening mid-August with just a few apples and then hitting their stride with high season in September and October. 

That, she said, includes the debut of a premier Honeycrisp apple that ripens a bit earlier than the classic Honeycrisp.

Jessica said the season continues through the end of October, with the closing of the beer garden honored with a Drain the Taps event the weekend before Halloween.

The farm’s main apple crop, she said, is Honeycrisp, though they tease amongst themselves that they play a game called “Honeycrisp And.”

“When people ask what we sell, we have to give them another choice even though 99% will buy the Honeycrisp, so we call it ‘Honeycrisp And,’” she said. “They just want to know if we sell other varieties. But I get it. Honeycrisp is versatile – it’s a great eater, you can make sauce, bake with it. It’s funny to hear [customers] want a choice. But in the end, they will pick the Honeycrisp.”

Those Honeycrisps – and other varieties – Jessica said, are all grown on site.

And though the farm spans 200 acres, she said only 25 are used for growing apples – and even then, just a portion of that is actively planted.

That’s by design, Jessica said, as the family has embraced the high-density orchard model now common among modern growers.

Rather than letting trees grow large and widely spaced, she said they plant smaller, semi-dwarf varieties in tighter rows – allowing for more efficient use of space, easier harvesting and better overall fruit quality.

“It makes it easier to grow [apples] and easier to pick when you don’t have to pick trees 60 feet tall,” she said. “The density is so compact that we don’t need the acreage that old school farmers needed.”

A toast to the apples

Jessica said the apples harvested from their trees find their way into farmstand bags and a growing line of value-added products.

That, she said, includes several types of hard cider, poured on tap in the on-site beer garden she and business partner, Mike DeGabriele, launched in 2013 – a move initially inspired by the success of local wineries.

“I thought, ‘They’re doing wine, so we’ll do beer,’” she said.

However, Jessica said after reviewing their business model, it became obvious that cider – not beer – was what orchard visitors expected.

So, she said she swapped the brewing permit for federal and state winery licenses and never looked back.

“Hard cider is a wine with fermented fruit,” she said. 

Idea and permits in hand, Jessica said Ecker’s Apple Farm hired a hard cider maker, who stayed with the farm for four years before returning to his family’s winery in 2023.

During those four years, however, Jessica said he trained her and DeGabriele in the craft – ensuring that the cider-making process could continue under their direction.

“I took notes like no other,” she said. 

Jessica said the production remains largely in house – minus the pressing.

Since the farm doesn’t have its own press, she said apples are sent to another orchard, and the juice is hauled back to Ecker’s for fermentation and cider-making, before making its way to a La Crosse brewer to be canned.

Though a few cans are distributed to local spots – including pizza farms – Jessica said most of the 5,000 gallons produced annually is consumed at Ecker’s Apple Farm.

“Ninety-nine percent of my product is out the door here,” she said. “People ask for kegs all the time, but I can’t run out of cider here, so we don’t do that.”

Jessica said the cider experience doesn’t stop at the tap, as the farm recently introduced Hard Cider Sloshies, available in Fat Ginger, Grape Ape, Show Us Your Bluebs, Dirty Shirley, Classico Margarita and Aperol Buzz flavors, which have been a big hit.

All of it, she said, adds up to a laid-back, adult-friendly vibe that draws in locals, as well as of-age students from nearby college towns like La Crosse and Winona.

Jessica said the atmosphere is amplified by live music every weekend of the season and themed events – such as Flip Flops & Flannels, Ecktoberfest and $5 Fridays & Trivia – designed to catch the eye on social media.

“The beer garden experience caters to adults, but families are free to come out to the orchard, sit out there, enjoy free music and not even spend any money if they don’t want to,” she said.  

Admission to the farm is free, except during the annual Hootenanny event, which Jessica said makes it appealing to families.

Once on the farm, she said guests are welcome to indulge in purchases from food trucks that offer fare ranging from tacos, to pizza, to a good old-fashioned cookout by the local Lions Club.

Jessica said the farm’s welcoming atmosphere feels right at home on a property rooted in generations of family tradition.

What began as a hobby farm owned by her great-grandparents, Jessica said, transformed into a full-fledged apple orchard in the 1970s, when her father, Peter, and grandfather began planting apple trees in earnest.

Jessica said her mother, Mary, joined the family in 1977 and played a key role in helping to expand the orchard alongside her husband.

Together, Jessica said they laid much of the groundwork for what the farm has become today.

Though her father passed away in 2009, Jessica said his presence is still felt across the farm – in the original logo he designed, in sketches and artwork displayed throughout the property and in the legacy he helped create.

“His aesthetic is definitely here,” she said. 

As previously mentioned, Jessica said her mom is still very involved in the business – heading up the pie crew.

“It’s really an around-the-clock baking situation,” she said. “And because we [make] pies, we go through Thanksgiving while other orchards close at Halloween.”

That being said, Jessica said the farm switches to weekend-only hours to meet the high demand for their apple pies.

To keep things manageable, she said the team sets a limit on its Thanksgiving pie orders – offering not just apple, but also pumpkin and pecan pies for the season.

By that point in the season, the weather has started to shift, and Jessica said Ecker’s Apple Farm is often the last one still open.

“Fortunately, we can pick and have great cold storage and big coolers, so we can continue to have caramel apples and other products then,” she said.

Hooting for the Honeycrisp Hootenanny

For the past several years, Jessica said Ecker’s has hosted the Honeycrisp Hootenanny – the party to end all parties. 

This year’s event – which is ’70s-themed –  Jessica said, runs from noon to 10 p.m. and includes two stages of music, eight food trucks, an artisan fair, face painting, Hammerschlagen and lots of Honeycrisp apples, along with brews from featured breweries.

“It’s a good old farm party with music all day,” she said. “This is a day to relax on the farm as we celebrate the harvest winding down.”

Jessica said the event typically sells out to the tune of 3,000 tickets, serving as the one event the farm hosts annually that requires a ticket to enter.

Though the event calls it a night for attendees at 10 p.m., Jessica said it reopens the next day to host a Post-Hoot Recovery.

Jessica said that day features an authentic Asian food truck alongside a 3:25 p.m. Green Bay Packers game – hopefully accompanied by beautiful autumn weather.

To learn even more about Ecker’s Apple Farm, head to eckersapplefarm.com.