-Submitted photo
There are 25 apple varieties planted at both the Urbandale and Granger locations of the Iowa Orchard, with around 4,000 trees planted in Urbandale and an additional 10,000 trees in Granger.

URBANDALE — Nestled between housing developments in a central Iowa suburb sits a nearly 50-year-old apple orchard and pumpkin patch that has welcomed generations of families to the farm.

In 1939, Winton Etchen was just 16 years old when he planted 50 apple trees in northern Iowa in the hopes of establishing an apple orchard.

But in 1960, he and his wife Dorothy moved to Des Moines. They planted apple trees across four acres in what would become the booming ‘burb of Urbandale, which has grown to include a wildly popular pie bakery and pumpkin patch.

“Back then, it was all gravel roads. It was very different and far away from anything,” said current owner Bryan Etchen.

After more than 30 years of greeting guests and baking pies, the Etchens’ youngest son Bryan became part owner of the family’s business, and in 2000, he took over.

“At our Urbandale location, we have the largest pumpkin display in central Iowa. We typically have thousands of beautiful pumpkins that are high quality with nice stems, along with a variety of gourds, squash and fall decorations,” Etchen said. “I had an amazing relationship with two families in Algona who are my exclusive pumpkin growers for 25 to 30 years. They passed their business on to neighbors who have been growing beautiful pumpkins.”

Best known for their apple orchard and pie bakery, however, fans of Iowa Orchard’s pies love the flaky pie crust. There are 25 apple varieties planted at both the Urbandale and Granger locations, with around 4,000 trees planted in Urbandale and an additional 10,000 trees in Granger.

“Our pies and our apples, those are the two things we’re most known for. We won first place from the fruit and vegetable growers show for our apple cider,” Etchen said. “We get a beautiful apple off our trees. Most people think of an apple tree as big, round and tall. That’s not how good quality apples are grown anymore. We plant a tree every three feet on a trellis. It looks like a vineyard here. It helps the trees grow bigger fruit. We also have fewer inputs with sprays and chemicals.”

Iowa Orchard sells more than 35 pies, cobblers and hot cider donuts daily from its on-site bakery. All pies are hand-made with real fruit.

“We are big pie makers. If you Google gooseberry pie for anywhere in the country, we pop up first. We get calls from as far away as New York and L.A. wanting us to ship them our gooseberry pie,” Etchen said. “People tell us we should start shipping our pies.”

Open year-round except for Mondays up until a few days before Thanksgiving, Iowa Orchard’s bakery averages 15,000 pies each year — by hand.

“That’s a lot of pies. We have a lot of corporate orders for Thanksgiving pies — one client orders 500 pies. It’s a lot to do by hand. Around 75 percent of our pie orders are fulfilled in the fall,” Etchen said. “We hand roll our pie crusts. At the store, you can tell if a pie crust is from a dough sheet as it has granulated sugar on top with an egg wash. That’s not a quality crust.”

Some of the most popular pies include Dutch crumb apple, a two-crust apple, cherry, peach and a strawberry-rhubarb.

“We only use tree-ripened peaches for those pies. When we get into the busier fall season, we see more orders for pumpkin and pecan. My favorite is a chocolate-pecan. That pie is amazing.

“We also make an amazing chocolate French silk — it’s a staple and people love it,” Etchen said.

Some of the pies people may not know Iowa Orchard bakes include black raspberry, apple-pecan and gooseberry.

“Apple-pecan is my least favorite pie. People request it all the time though. Gooseberry is really popular, very tart like rhubarb. We’ve been told our French silk pie is the best most people have ever had,” Etchen said.

Guests to the Urbandale apple orchard enjoy going on hayrack rides and visiting the family fun zone, where there’s a giant corn box and jumping pillow, hay slides, and giant Legos.

In 2000, Iowa Orchard opened a second location in Granger along Iowa Highway 141, where visitors enjoy picking their own apples across a seven-acre orchard, as well as strawberries growing on five acres.

“We had a storm knock over 10,000 trees, so we had to replant in 2010. That knocked our production levels down a little bit for three or four years. Then the financial crash of 2008 made things even more interesting. We planted the strawberries in 2013 and it became one of the largest strawberry ‘u-pick’ patches in the state, if not the largest. We have visitors come from all over to both locations. Most are probably from the central Iowa area, but we’ve seen people from quite a ways away,” Etchen said. “The u-pick strawberry patch has become so popular that we have to take appointments. It really peaked during COVID as people wanted to get outside.”

During the summer, Iowa Orchard also has a presence at farmers markets, including the downtown Des Moines market and Valley Junction’s farmers market. They also have had a booth at the Iowa State Fair since 2012, donating 5% of their net fair sales to the Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.

Iowa Orchard also invites students from other countries to participate in an internship for the growing season. They experience a slice of Iowa agriculture, learn modern farming techniques and get a better grasp of another language while working with customers.

Aside from a few dedicated bakers, Iowa Orchard remains a family-run agriculture business.

Etchen’s wife, Anastasiia, is the main horticulturist for the business, and his sister, Kyla Rodgers, helps out in the fall.