It is here that a quaker from Philadelphia, Samuel Stokes brought the first apple saplings in 1916, marking the beginning of the revolutionization of the local economy establishing it as a apple producing region. Prior to him, locals preferred growing grains closer to the river beds . The few apples that grew in the area were non descript and lack lustre.
Stokes transformed the hilly terraced slopes into spaces viable for growing apple trees, introduced the Red Delicious variety of apples and convinced locals to adopt apple cultivation.
Today the Stoke Heritage Apple Orchard produces the Best of the Himachali Delicious apples – with exotic names like the Honey Crisp, Crimson, Royal Gala, FullFort etc. – most of which are exported out of the country.
Thanedar is a sleepy slow moving town with nothing to boast of except its beautiful views, cool temperatures and apple orchards. Orchards abound where ever you see in the area and the town’s pace moves with the apple seasons.
The trees begin to flower in March April – when the area turns beautiful in delicate white blossoms . add picture Bees make an entrance and many home owners cultivate these for their Honey. Often during the season enterprising folks set up boxes (where they cultivate bees), by the roadside and sell the honey made
Around May, the blooms start to turn into fruit. This is when the trees are covered with sturdy white mesh to protect the delicate branches and new fruit from the hail which often accompanies the rains in the region.
Harvesting begins late August- September. Rather than employing locals many orchard owners get Nepali daily wagers for the harvesting. Once all apples are taken from the trees their leaves are sprayed with fertilizers to promote growth for the next season. As there are no fruits left on the trees at this time the fertilizer food goes straight to the tree roots where it is stored for future use in the next season. Come winters and the trees turn bare. Dead wood get pruned off. Come spring new leaves begin to come out. The stored food in the roots promotes this growth and the cycle continues.
Once Harvested the apples go to a sorting house where they are graded on size, clarity of skin, shape, wellness etc. Blemished apples are kept aside to be pulped into apple juice/ jams.
The sorting we saw was done manually where the sorted apples were put in different trays where they rolled over these black brushes (they said horsehair brushes). In the course of rolling over these the apples obtained their natural sheen and in the end they were packed in boxes by grade- ready to be shipped off.
The young of most of the apple orchard owners have moved out of the area – the orchards are managed by middle aged- to senior parents who remain (by choice) or a hired manager. Most locals have their own small tracts of land where they grow vegetables, apple trees etc. The bigger orchards export their apples out of the country or send them to other towns- the locals usually sell off their produce to local areas.
Besides apples there are cherry trees, peach and apricot as well tho’ lesser in number. A few orchardeers are shifting to include cherry trees in their orchards as cherry gets harvested during the summer months- thus they would have a source of income round the year.
A few trees bore two strains of apples- the red delicious as well as the golden apples – which were grafted onto them. (image is on top of the post with the golden apples grafted on red delicious trees)
A few locals breed sheep for their wool which is sheared once an year stored and sold off to those who make wool out of it. One sheep usually gives birth to just one lamb at a go- her gestation is for 6 months and she can breed till 9 years of her 9-10 years of live. Mostly once her breeding years are over she is sold off to butchers- a few may retain them for sentimental attachment but that would be rare.
Close to Thanedar is the Kotgarh area – also part of the apple cultivation belt.
There is a 3 kms walk that goes from Thanedar to Kotgarh’s St. Mary’s Church, which meanders through the Thanedar village, dense forests with pines and apple orchards. It is not motorable has a gradual downwards incline and is a pleasant way to spend 60-90 minutes walking at a leisurely pace.
Koftgar’s claim to fame besides its apples is the Army settlements area. In 1872 the Gorkhas controlled most of the area. The locals sick of their tyranny appealed to the East India company Officials to help them overthrow the Gorkhas. Litlle did they know that the British would succeed in removing the Gorkhas but instead would claim and rule them themselves for the next 100 years.
Anyway – that is history – but the church they built – St. Mary’s church still remains (of course with renovations time and again (wonder how much of the original structure is retained) but they say that the stained glass is from those times.
Today there is a congregation of just 90 families in the area – of which only the seniors remain and come faithfully. Many are in their 90’s but due to the active lifestyles they maintain, doing most of their work themselves, the pristine air of the region and a healthy diet the life span of 90+ is more of a norm here rather than an oddity.
Not much to see – there is a small Tani Jubber Lake , a Hatu’s peak with a Devi’s temple on it and the orchards. It is a common spot for visitors to Spiti and beyond to stay a day or so to acclimatize to the high altitudes.
A Great place to stay in the Banjara Hotel at Thanedar- they have a great cook (at least while we were there) and his Himachali and regular dishes were quite delicious. The rooms are comfortable, the host extremely genial – (a retired Chairman of HPMC) The view of the valley from most of the property is stunning with the daily sunsets seemingly being orchestrated for your personal pleasure.
A good reliable place to pick up the jams, chutneys and honey (seasonal) by the locals