What is now Prairie Sky Orchard was built from the ground up in the early 1990s from an empty 5-acre lot in Union, IL, located 50 miles northwest of Chicago. After we moved into our newly built home, we had a desire to plant "something." Our three children pulled their money together and found they only had $8. It was finally decided we would plant pumpkins seeds.

We planted those $8 of seeds in the spring, and by fall they grew into a few hundred pumpkins. Unsure what to do with such a large harvest, the children placed the pumpkins near the road for sale. Surprisingly, we were sold out by the weekend! Sensing there was an interest, we purchased more pumpkins from a local farmer and quickly sold those pumpkins the following weekend! We realized we had a great location and may be onto something.

The following year we got a little more adventurous, so we planted even more pumpkins. Signs were created and placed along the road to provide greater visibility and direction to our new venture. As people discovered us, many also asked where the apples were. We found out that the shape and color of our signs looked more like apples than pumpkins.

Prompted by this unintentional interest in apples, we learned what we could about growing apple trees. In 1996 we planted our first 100 dwarf apple trees. Since then we have planted 900 additional trees and now have 1000 dwarf trees of varieties including Honey Crisp, Galas, Cortlands, Jonagolds, and Golden Delicious.

A few years later, we added a pole barn to the property. We started selling Amish jams and jellies out of the barn, and people liked our products. Since then we have expanded our selection to now include a variety of gourmet foods and autumn decorations.

In 1992, we expanded our product selection even further by adding raspberry plants to provide additional pick-your-own opportunities.

Today, we continue what those $8 in pumpkins seeds created. We are thankful for those who continue to make Prairie Sky Orchard a part of their family fall events.