What started in 1847 as a subsistence farm to provide for Edwin Hardy and his family is still feeding the Hardy family today. But now, Brookdale Fruit Farm enjoys a much greater bounty as one of New Hampshire’s best-known orchards and fruit producers.

“We have a real balance with the family,” said Chip Hardy of Brookdale Fruit Farm. “They’re all working together, and working with the community to make … a beautiful situation. And everything’s working together, all in balance and harmony.”

Balance and harmony is especially critical for Brookdale Fruit Farm, considering that, in addition to the 90,000 bushels of apples harvested in a year, they also produce more than 20 different vegetables, as well as blueberries, cherries, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums, raspberries and strawberries. Not to mention a variety of annual and perennial flowers. The evolution of the family farm has also led Hardy to strike a balance between generations-old traditions and modern agricultural technology, the results of which have often been revolutionary.

One of the more notable innovations is, in the 1960s, Brookdale Fruit Farm pioneered the use of controlled atmosphere storage — a large, refrigerated airtight room that provides the ability to control oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. In turn, Brookdale Fruit Farm provides crisp, delicious, farm-fresh apples from August to April. Try some of these apples, and other close to home produce, at your local Hannaford Supermarket.