Drive about 30 minutes south of Harrisonburg,  through Broadway, and into Timberville – across northern Rockingham County’s quaint towns,  long stretches of farm fields,  and small pockets of urban business – and you will eventually come across a tucked away, family-owned and operated business. This is Showalter’s Orchard &  Greenhouse, one of the oldest of its kind in the Shenandoah Valley.  

Upon pulling into its gravel driveway, you may be surprised; there appear to be only a couple of buildings – a cidery and a small shop with fresh goods from the orchard and other local operations – a gravel parking lot with stacks of pallets and crates, and some houses across the driveway.  

But the charm of Showalter’s is exactly this. Its wholesome, homegrown roots make for a genuinely welcoming experience as if you are walking into your grandparents’ garden as opposed to a business. 

The immensity of the orchard doesn’t reveal itself until you take a look around and realize that, surrounding the little hill on which you are standing, there is 60 acres worth of apple trees.  

Walk up the path to where you can pick your own apples – whatever is in season at that moment –  and you’ll be taken aback. In front of you lies a beautiful view – the Shenandoah  Valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance and apple trees as far as the eye can see, broken up by a small dirt and gravel path. Puppies are often roaming the paths, as are workers harvesting apples and fertilizing varieties that are not yet ready to harvest.  You can walk down the path of whatever variety is being harvested and pick your own fresh apples, buying by volume or bushels, or pick hand-selected ones from the shop At the heart of Showalter’s lies three generations worth of a family building and maintaining a business since 1965  with the goal of creating a legacy of local excellence.  Now, they harvest over 30 varieties of apples and two varieties of peaches as well as produce their own cider goods including apple cider, apple cider donuts, sparkling cider, and over ten varieties of small-batch hard cider. They also offer wedding services in their “Greenhouse” venue, farm stays in one of the houses on the property, and host a number of seasonal celebrations and events.  

By keeping family tradition, values, and sustainability at their core, the Showalter’s have built a successful local operation that serves a variety of other local businesses with produce and cider goods, including the EMU cafeteria. The value of purchasing from local businesses like Showalter’s can be immense, especially with regard to environmental sustainability, the fertility of the local economy,  and the consumption of products that is fresh and in season. Bruce Emmerson, EMU’s dining hall director, remarked that “It is very different from buying from a larger production company.  We do most of our ordering online. With Showalter’s, I call the cell phone of one of their employees and place the order over the phone.”  

With upsides, there are also downsides, and a primary downside in purchasing from local sources is inconsistency in price, shipping, and delivery.  

Emmerson claimed that he likes, “buying local whenever possible but it does have its challenges.  Quite often the prices are not cheaper and we can’t always count on deliveries and they don’t always deliver the quantity we order.”  

In regards to Showalter’s operation, Emmerson said, “They are very vague on when the deliveries will actually show up so I order a week before I think we will need them. They are definitely less expensive than the other apples that mostly come from Washington State, but a percentage of them are blemished and nobody will take an apple that isn’t perfect so we have 25 percent that we try to use in desserts or [toss] in the compost. So, although the original price is less, after waste it is about the same.”  

Local sources are also at the mercy of harvest times, which for apples is usually from Aug. to Nov., so after that period the quality and quantity of apples is reduced.  

Even so, the benefits of local purchasing are still evident – with EMU having used Showalter’s for twelve years and counting – and,  per Emmerson, “You can’t beat the taste of a fresh local apple!”