The Tremblay orchard, a story of family and passion since 1945
It was in the spring of 1944 that Armand and Berthe settled on the land of Rang de la Montagne. At that time, the land was mainly used for raising sheep and growing a few fruit trees. They had to work the soil in order to expand and continue the apple plantation which, at that time, only had around 800 trees on 10 hectares.
Towards the end of the 1950s, the installation of a small roadside kiosk allowed the family to make a return on their investment.
In 1965 the orchard now had around 2000 apple trees. The construction of a refrigerated warehouse meets the growing need to offer better customer service.
It was in 1976 that Armand and Berthe decided to retire and sold their orchard to their eldest son, Pierre.
Pierre, for his part, followed a very common educational path and obtained his carpenter diploma in 1961, a profession he practiced for 13 years until the orchard came back to him.
It was in 1965 that he married Carmelle Théberge, a native of Abitibi. From this union four children were born: Luc, Gaétan, Stéphane and Caroline.
Pierre always continued work on the orchard with the same perspective as that of his father, thus expanding the orchard from year to year, constantly innovating and using new techniques in the field of apple growing. The orchard then covers 29.3 hectares. Each year, more apple trees are planted following technological advances and semi-dwarf and dwarf apple trees are also introduced.
In 1978, processed products appeared in the orchard, cooked by Carmelle and Céline. Customers can then enjoy fresh apple pies and apple jelly.
In 1990, they built the buildings that you can find on the farm today and which allow us to better serve our customers. Over the years, several homemade products were added to the menu and a production kitchen was then set up in order to increase production and satisfy customers.
In 1994, a major frost affected the apple trees and nearly 60% were lost. Not giving up, the family began replanting in the following years to replace the dead apple trees.
In the years that followed, Luc, being very involved on the family farm, began to introduce new plantations such as strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, pears and plums.
It was in 2007 that Carmelle and Pierre finally transferred their orchard to two of their sons, Luc and Stéphane.
Today and for several years, the orchard has been part of a technical support club to reduce the use of pesticides. Starting in 2017, we will use the mating disruption technique to combat certain invaders. These ecological alternatives will allow us to develop a more eco-responsible culture.
Luc and Stéphane, in turn, constantly innovating, work together to ensure that we can welcome you to a magnificent orchard offering 6 varieties of fruit, a multitude of farm products and, of course, an experience memorable picking. Since 2015, we have also welcomed you to our brand new kiosk offering fresh vegetables and products from Quebec all year round.
The estate is now an agrotourism business where fruits occupy pride of place.