A is the grade for locally-grown apples

Ah, that first Honeycrisp. It's a mouth-watering moment apple fans look forward to every fall. Among them, Deer Lake Orchard owner Charlie Ossell.

"They don't get any better than they do right now," Ossell said after taking a bite out of a freshly-picked apple from his orchard outside of Buffalo.

The farm has 28 varieties of apples, but Honeycrisps take up about half the orchard. And Ossell says they don't get better than the batch he's got hanging on his orchard branches this fall, calling it the best crop in eight seasons.

But despite it the top-notch crop, the Ossells and other wondered if customers would make the trip to the orchard to get a bag of homegrown apples.

"We were concerned about that," Ossell said. "We wondered if people were going to have discretionary money to come to places like deer lake orchard."

So besides the apple picking, Charlie and his wife Carol are offering orchard tours, entertainment and a field of free farm fun.

"We have a crate maze. We have a petting zoo. It's free admission," Ossell added.

And according to Ossell, so far, so good.

"We're hoping people come here and buy our apples. And so far they have," Ossell said.

They've come to the oldest orchard in Wright County to get a bite of the latest in fall flavor.

Read more about Deer Lake Orchard in Buffalo

Find other apple orchards in the area

By Jeff Olsen, KARE 11 News Read Jeff's Blog

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