BEAK & SKIFF APPLE FARMS
1911-2011
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS AND STILL GROWING
Written by Candace Beak Morse, Fourth Generation
Since 1911, Five Generations of the Beak & Skiff families have worked on the farm, growing apples and growing the business for the next generation.
The First Generation
Charles Andrew Beak and his wife, Maude, purchased their farm on Route 20 in LaFayette in 1904. Along with four children, they raised cows and chickens, producing butter and eggs, which they delivered by wagon to nearby towns and to the Regional Market in Syracuse. It was at the market that Andrew met George Skiff, a prosperous onion and dairy farmer from north of the city. A mutual trust grew between the two men who were both looking for ways to enter into the burgeoning business of growing apples. In 1911, they joined forces and planted the first apple trees on 100 acres across from Andrew's farmhouse. Not sure which varieties would thrive in the heavy clay soil and hilly terrain, they planted several different types of apple trees, with some cherry and pear trees thrown in for good measure. The apple trees did well and the orchard was soon flourishing. Also flourishing was George and Andrew's business relationship, which became Beak & Skiff Apple Farms.
The next year, 1912, a bill of sale from J.B. Morey Nurseries in Dansville, New York, shows 149 trees representing 16 apple varieties were purchased for plating that spring, at a cost of 25 cents per tree. This orchard included Rhode Island Greenings, Pound Sweets, Ben Davis, Twenty Ounce, and Yellow Transparent varieties. The only varieties on the list that are still grown at Beak & Skiff today are Northern Spy and Wealthy apples.
The Second Generation
Andrew and Maude's oldest son, Charles Nelson Beak, known to all as Charlie, came to the farm with his parents as a small child, and lived and worked there throughout his life. Seymour Skiff, George's son, gave up the onion business entirely for apples. As young family men throughout the twenties and thirties, they labored through the orchard cycle each year, a cycle which was at once as predictable as the seasons and as unpredictable as the weather. An entry in Andrew's journal illustrates how suddenly the weather could change everything: Mon., May 18, 1936. The men came this morning. Done a little trimming. The Boys looking over the orchard. They cannot see any apples in sight, all damaged by the Freeze Friday night. We are in the worst shape we ever was in. But as every year does, 1936 passed into history and the farm endured. There were many good years, too, when the blossoms would hum with bees in the spring and the trees would be loaded with perfect red fruit in the fall Planted in 1911, this Duchess of Oldenburg tree had 18 perfect apples by September of 1914. The boy in the picture is Charles Nelson Beak, age 14.
The Third Generation
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Marshall, Dick and Ronnie circa 1960s |
A much more disruptive force than even the most catastrophic weather hit the farm in the 1940's when America entered World War II. Charlie and Seymour both sent their sons off to war. Ronnie and Dick Beak, Charlie's sons, fought in Europe, and Seymour's son, Marshall, served in the Philippines.
A letter Charlie sent to his son, Ronnie, in 1943, summed up the feelings on the home front:
Sept. 29, 1943 - 8:00 pm Wednesday. Dear Son Ronnie, I am proud to know you are being a good soldier. Don't worry about what will happen after the war. I live for the time my boys come home to stay. There is plenty of opportunity for you here on the farm." |
The Fourth Generation
Like so many returning veterans, Ronnie, Dick and Marshall made their family their number one priority and before long the baby boom was in full swing at Beak & Skiff. An abundance of daughters and a shortage of sons led to the inclusion of sons-in-law when the fourth generation was recruited to run the farm. On the Skiff side, son-in-law Mark Fleckenstein along with Marshall's eldest daughter, Lynn, and David Pittard, husband of Marshall's second daughter, Robin, became part of the management team. Ronnie Beak's daughter, Candy, with her husband Steve Morse, joined the business as did Dick's son, Tim, and daughter Jackie. Candy's sister, Charlene Stack, became an invaluable help during the busy fall season as did many members of each generation throughout the years. Some Members of the Fourth Generation: Candy Beak Morse, Jackie Beak-Tubbs, Steve Morse, Lynn Fleckenstein, Tim Beak, Mark Fleckenstein.
Although the wholesale business continued to be important to this generation, when Beak & Skiff's U-Pick orchard opened in 1975, the value of retail sales to the farm was quickly recognized. The next year, an old dairy barn was converted to a farm market and the retail operation has been expanding ever since. In 2001, a winery was added, producing hard cider and apple wine and in 2009, a distillery making apple vodka was completed.
Apple cider, first produced in small quantities at the farm market grew into an important value added product at Beak & Skiff. Customers loved the fresh sweet cider they purchased at the farm and soon were asking for it at their local supermarket. In 1979, Beak and Skiff launched a wholesale cider business, now producing thousands of gallons of cider year round.
The Fifth Generation
Now, one hundred years from the time those first apple trees were planted, the great-great-grandsons of Andrew Beak and George Skiff are actively involved in the farm. Peter Fleckenstein, son of Mark and Lynn, and Richard Beak, Tim Beak's son, both work full time at Beak & Skiff. These two young men, like all generations before them, are working hard to sustain the land, raise the best apples, produce the finest apple products, and provide the highest quality service to every customer. Much has changed at Beak & Skiff throughout the years but there has always been an unchanging and constant goal, to ensure that the farm endures for generations to come.
The Employees of Beak & Skiff
No business can survive for 100 years without the help of good employees, and Beak & Skiff has been blessed with some of the best. There is one man, Stanley Gardner, who exemplifies the hard work and dedication that all of these workers have shown throughout the years. Stan began working for the company in 1947 and has worked alongside all five generations of the Beak & Skiff families, doing whatever needed to be done on the farm. Although officially retired, he helps out with advice and counsel when needed and is still considered an invaluable part of the Beak & Skiff workforce.