Al Barney

At 89, Easton man is alive and picking
TONY SPINELLI tspinelli@ctpost.com
Article Last Updated: 09/25/2007 11:16:49 PM EDT

Al Barney stands atop a cart in the middle of Lakeview Orchards and talks about apples with a real fondness.

"Apples have good fiber, and vitamins," he says. "They're the best thing for you. They have a lot of juices that are good for your stomach." At nearly 89 years old, Barney knows his apples. His muscular, tanned hands have been working these orchards off Route 59 in Easton since his father bought them in the 1920s.

He is a living legend in this town rich in agricultural history, some say, because he continues to buck the trend of turning farmland into subdivisions.

"He's amazing. And he does it all himself," says Dolly Curtis, a town resident and cable television public access program host who regularly buys fruit from

APPLE PICKING VIDEO
Al Barney picks apples from his Lakeview Farm in Easton!
Barney.

In an era in which pick-your-own dominates, Lakeview Orchards is a throwback. You won't be carrying a bag and stretching on tiptoes for apples here.

"This is me picking them," Barney says as he twists a big Ida Red from its stem and drops it into a metal bucket hanging from his neck. When he's filled the container, Barney empties it into a wooden bin on his apple-picking cart, which he created himself. The apples drop with a thud, not unlike the sound of little bowling balls hitting the floor.

This day the air is rich with the scent of ripe apples.

"I don't even notice the smell of the apples any more because I'm around it all the time," Barney says. "But I guess it does smell pretty good."

He points to an old Ford
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Model A pickup truck and talks about how he used it for trips to Bridgeport to deliver apples to grocery stores until the 1950s.

That's when he opened his own farm market at Lakeview Orchards.

"My prices are cheaper than a grocery store, pound for pound," Barney says, explaining he doesn't sell by the pound, like a store does.

Rather, he sells apples in 8-quart, 16-quart and larger containers.

"It works out to about 99 cents a pound," Barney says. "That's cheaper than the store. And my apples are fresh."

Lakeview also features peaches and pears, in their seasons, not to mention vegetables and melons, all for sale in his farm store on Stepney Road in Monroe, just over the line from Easton. People look forward to visiting local orchards and fruit stands during the appropriate seasons, says Derek Buckley, Easton's town clerk. "It's nice to bring the kids and enjoy yourself."

In Barney's orchard, many of the trees are 16 feet tall, which is the genesis for his apple-picking contraption: a special wagon he built that is equipped with a lift. It's gasoline-powered and rolls up and down the rows of neatly spaced trees.

"That's why I don't hire anyone to help me. I don't want anyone falling off of here and getting hurt," Barney says.

He does, however, get a hand from his son, David, and daughter, Joan.

His wife, Dorothy, helped until an injury forced her to stop. Barney, himself, has had a bump in the road of health, as well, surviving a heart operation that he says extended his life.

What keeps Barney going, he says, is just that the orchards give him something to do. And he's one of those people who's always doing something.

"In the winter, I like to build machines," he says, pointing out that his apple picker is one of them. "I'm not the type to enjoy a vacation trip." While Lakeview Orchards is in Easton, its farm store is at 76 Stepney Road in Monroe.

Courtesy: The Connecticut Post