The oak, the orchard and the people who run it
Hollow Oak is a second-generation family orchard on the south slope above the Cannon River. Gene and Marit Lindqvist planted it in 1978. Their daughter Anna and her husband Tomas Reyes run it now, with Gene still on the tractor most mornings.
How it started
Gene grew up on a dairy farm two miles from here. In 1977 he and Marit bought 40 acres of worn-out corn ground at auction, mostly because of the view and partly because of the bur oak at the top of the hill — a tree older than the state, hollow at the base, big enough that Gene's kids and then his grandkids have all sat inside it. The first 400 trees went in the following spring: Haralson and Fireside, because that was what the U of M extension office told a young man to plant in Rice County in 1978.
For fifteen years it was a wholesale orchard, selling to a packer in Lakeville. The first u-pick weekend was in 1993, a hand-painted sign on Highway 3 and a card table. The cider donut machine arrived in 1994 after Marit tasted one at an orchard in Wisconsin and decided we should have that. By 2000 the wholesale contract was gone and the orchard was fully direct-to-visitor, which is the way it's been since.
Where it is now
Anna came back to the farm in 2011 after a decade doing marketing in St. Paul; Tomas, who she met at a cider conference, came with her and took over the growing side. They planted the Honeycrisp block in 2012–14, built the maze program, rebuilt the barn's upper floor into the Loft in 2019 and added the second hayride wagon the same year. Marit retired from the bakery in 2022 and now mostly tests things and tells the crew the sugar is wrong. Gene is 76 and drives the 7 am hayride that nobody rides because we aren't open yet.
Honest answers about what's on the trees
Dwarf trees, trellised
Everything planted since 2004 is on Bud 9 rootstock: small trees on a wire trellis, eight feet apart, fruiting in year three. More fruit per acre, more sun on every apple, and nothing above shoulder height for a visitor to reach for.
Integrated pest management
We scout the orchard twice a week, trap codling moth and apple maggot, and spray only when the weather models and the traps say we need to — never on a schedule. Last year that meant six applications; a wet year can mean ten. Every one is logged and we'll show you the log.
Not organic, on purpose
In Minnesota's humidity, certified organic apples would mean losing most of the crop to scab and the rest to worms. We'd rather grow good fruit carefully than sell a label. If organic matters most to you, we'll point you to two growers in the state who do it well.
Bees
Eight hives from Prairie Creek Apiary in Faribault arrive the first week of May and leave when the petals fall. Their honey is in the Bakery Barn. We don't spray during bloom, full stop.
Water and soil
Drip irrigation on every row since 2016, fed from the pond at the bottom of the hill. Alleys are mowed grass, never bare ground, and we spread the pomace from the cider press back under the trees every November.
What happens to the rest
Windfalls become cider, seconds become sauce and feed the pigs you see from the apple sling. Unpicked fruit at season's end goes to the Northfield Community Action Center food shelf — about 6,000 pounds a year.
Who you'll meet
Anna Lindqvist-Reyes
Owner · bakery, bookings, the banner
Updates the "Today at the orchard" status every morning at 7:40. Answers every group booking email herself. Will tell you which donut batch was better.
Tomas Reyes
Owner · orchard manager
Decides when each row opens by walking it with a refractometer and a pressure tester. Drives the morning hayride and over-explains rootstock. Ask him about grafting; bring a chair.
Gene & Marit Lindqvist
Founders
Planted the first trees in 1978. Gene still mows the alleys and runs the cider press on Tuesdays. Marit's donut recipe is the one we use; she is the only person allowed to change it.
Deb Hagen
Afternoon hayride · 19 seasons
Knows where the best Honeycrisp is hiding and will tell you if you ask nicely. Started as a bag-station cashier in 2008. Trains all the new drivers.
Part of Northfield
We are a Minnesota Grown member and have been since the program started. Half our fall crew are students from Carleton and St. Olaf; several have come back to run their own farms. We donate admission to every Northfield and Faribault public elementary school's fall fundraiser, sponsor 25 Title I field trips a year through the Northfield Area Foundation, and the Last Call Weekend pumpkin proceeds go to the Community Action Center.
If you want to visit outside the season — a photographer looking for blossom in May, a scout troop that wants to see the press run in November, a class that wants to watch grafting in March — email Anna. We say yes more often than not.