Radhe Radhe! Today's blog is going to be incredible cause I am here to share the real diamonds of Himachal which are Apples. For some of you it may be ordinary but for people of Himachal it's a gift by nature. The main Horticulture crop here at Himachal is Apple and its also called as the Apple capital of India or as Apple state.

The History

The land of Himachal is a fertile and people use to grow different varieties of fruit but not on a large scale it was only in 1916 when an American bought apples to India from USA and planted it in Shimla region. Variety he bought was red delicious and at first he just wanted to know that would Apple be successful here, and it was a big hit and after that people of Himachal started to grow apple on a large scale so that they can trade worldwide. Varieties of Apple are now grown in Himachal such as golden apples Royal delicious and Green apples. Time the farming of Apple started all over Himachal and some of the very famous district are Shimla Kinnaur and Kullu. Apple's has played a very economical role in Himachal and till date people are dependent on the production of Apple for their survival.

Red Delicious Apple

Journey Towards The Farm

Now let me take you to my farm which is situated at altitude of 2300 metres at Kharshal in Jubbal in the lap of Himalayas. Is area is famous for its Apple orchids and the Jubbal palace. The road toward my farm is not completed yet and it is a at a distance of around 4 km from my home. Sometimes I walk here and sometimes I prefer to use my vehicle and walking takes around 40 minutes.

Road Towards The Farm

In the picture below you can see the condition of the road that leads to my farm and also this roads connect many backward villages to the main town or city. Is said that people have explode Himachal and visited every place but still there are lots of place where you can't reach by vehicle and all those areas are not explode yet and I think it's a good thing cause the beauty of the Himachal is still intact and lots of its area is untouchable which makes it even more valuable.

The Village Kharshal

After covering the distance of 4 km this was the view in front of me and the area is known as Kharshal. You can see the evergreen forest around it and its beauty is incomparable and its really surreal. If you play little more attention to the picture you will say white colour net over the trees and it is called hail net used hilly area all over Himachal Pradesh to protect the Apples from the hail and the bird. Also in this mountain there is a small village and nearly 40 homes and honestly these people are so wellcoming loving and the hospitality is top notch.

Now let me take you towards my apple orchids, there is a narrow trail that you have to pass in order to reach here and in the picture above you can see that the path is totally covered with green grass and its so narrow. You have to take each and every step very carefully in order to move forward without falling. Most of the Apple season is around monsoon and greenery is everywhere and there comes the fear of snakes. Luckily on one is harmed this season or previously but for someone who belongs to the plane it's literally difficult to walk here carefully. The picture above shows my apple farm and infant of it days I huge mountain covered with evergreen trees and a thick forest with support manu wild life.

Narrow Trail Towards The Farm

Red Delicious Apple Tree

This is a fully grown apple tree of variety red delicious, huge and you can see that's it completely covered with lots of Apple. In a single apple tree you will find around 80 to 90 apples and depending upon the variety you get the prices.

The Season Of Harvest

The season of harvest has officially started here and kudos to the people coming from Nepal to work here at the farms cause without them its nearly impossible for us to plug apples and to carry those huge bags of Apple from the farm to the main road. Depending upon the altitude in Himachal the Apple season starts and mostly the low height Apple come early and they get better rates later the Apple from high altitude came and also they get better rates but peoples who have their farm in the middle belt don't get good rates cause at that time the market is full from apples and its really difficult to get high prices for a better quality Apple.

That's not just it, the amount of care and the protection these apples need is on another level and you have to take a very good care of them so that you can get a high yield and that to of better quality. I think people in Himachal loves to visit there farm if I need they don't have any work because it's really help you to come down and they also keep a check on the condition of the Apple trees.

Ramu Bhai From Nepal,Harvesting Apple

Here is a picture of Ramu bhai who came here from Nepal to earns of money and to help us to harvest apple. There is a group of six people who come from Nepal to us each and every year and they are literally a family to us. Without them you can't imagine harvesting Apple season and its a total nightmare. They work really really hard and they are very responsible towards their duty and at the end they really are good income.

Transportation Of Apples

Harvesting is not a easy process firstly we have to pluk the apples and then we have to carry them from the farm to the main road where they are packed properly. Also we have trucks and pick up available to transport them from place a to place be cause we can't put them everywhere so we need to pluck Apple from every farm and to take them in a single place for packing. Picture above shows how they are transported in a truck and during monsoon the condition of road is not that good but still harvesting of Apple is on necessity and it should be plucked on time,no matter the condition in general people of Himachal really works very hard to grow apple and two black them and to take them to the main market. Really difficult job but people at Himachal are doing get from ages and they are really good at it and they love doing it. Apple that reaches at your home is grown and harvested and packed with love and lots of hard work.

After harvesting of apples they are sold in locally and internationally as well. You have markets in Himachal which we call local mandi's or the big fruit markets and this Mondays are situated in different regions in Himachal such as Solan Shimla and parwanoo. Some people sell it at Delhi which is largest Asia's food market and their early get good price. Some very high quality Apple or the good varieties such as Gala and red delicious are also exported to Dubai Qatar Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh. These days it has become easier for people to sell them to supermarkets also another platform such as Amazon fresh and blinkit. This is how the apples from Himachal are transported everywhere in the world.

This is all for today's blog and hope you guys really enjoyed it. For the records all the pictures are taken by me with my iPhone 16 Pro and I hope you guys really enjoy looking at them and you can sence the freshness of the Himachal apple.

So much for reading. Radhe Radhe.