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Harry and Jackie Hoch and family moved back to their orchard south of Nodine in the summer of 1997 and have been aggressively replanting the old orchard. Hoch orchard has been in the Hoch family since the early 1950's. Harry Hoch received an Associate degree in Horticulture in 1985 and managed Hoch orchard through 1989. In 1990 Harry and family moved to the Twin Cities so Jackie could complete an internship in Medical Technology. Harry worked as a Research Plot Coordinator at the University of Minnesota's Horticultural Research Center. While working for the University Harry received a Bachelor's degree in Integrated Pest Management and a Master's degree in Technical Communications and Sustainable Agriculture, Jackie completed her internship and Bachelor's degree in Medical Technology and continued to work at Hennepin County Medical Center.
Today Jackie works as a Laboratory Manager at Gundersen Lutheran and Harry does some consulting and part time work for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Our two daughters, Angie and Missy, help out on the farm and spend a lot of time helping with sales at the farmer's markets. Both go to school in LaCrescent. Last but not least is Harry's mother Jackie Senior, better know as Grandma. Jackie Senior spends the summer months on the farm helping coordinate our busy family and supervising the maintenance of her many flower gardens. Grandma doesn't pick apples very much anymore but we can't keep her out of the shed when its time to clean and grade the apples. We have three generations working together on our farm to bring you the best quality earth friendly food that we can produce. |