Local family owned orchard closes after a great crop season but continues to sell their delicious apples throughout the winter to the public and to SUNY Oswego as well. Not only do they sell apples but they also sell vibrant red cherries. Along with selling to the public and SUNY Oswego Fruit Valley Orchards also picks and produces apples for popular apple-based products brand Motts.

Although the Orchard has been around for many years it has recently been under new ownership for the Gfeller family from Northern Virginia. Owner and farmer Craig Gfeller said that he came to upstate New York to raise his family on a farm much like he did in Rochester. They purchased the land last July in 2017 and have been roaring ever since.

They’ve been able to rake in tons of families to their beautiful orchard with their U-pick program, when asked what family friendly activities they offer at the orchard Craig responded with “We offer a lot of activities here, mostly just U-pick right now,we have families that come and have picnics here, just a great way of spending the afternoon as a family.”

The crop season has been a little short this year due to the fact that not much rain had been around Oswego in the early fall months. However the orchard was still able to grow a great crop under the conditions they had. They grew and sold some of the same apples like Macintosh but also sold new apples to the orchard like Snap Dragon bred by Cornell University where Craig is an alum from.

If you would like to check out Fruit Valley Orchards you can visit their website www.fruitvalleyorchard.com or call them at 315-342-3793.  They open again next fall but continue to sell their remaining crop throughout the winter. Get the while they last!

Tomas Rodriguez was born with a medical condition called Hydrocephalus, the condition means he was born with water in his brain. Rodriguez was treated with it since birth and has had six brain surgeries.

The Spain native held 16 Madrid records in 16 different events, even breaking those broke multiple times. He was also the national record holder in the 200 IM. Rodriguez said his greatest achievement didn’t come as a win, but for his effort.

“I also achieved, something I’m proud of… the bronze medal in the open body swim, that was huge for me.” Rodriguez said.

He moved to the United States in 2017 with his family. He’s been part of a club team in Florida, the U.S. Paralympic team and as of recently the Oswego State Lakers swim team.

Rodriguez trains with teammates without disabilities. His coach Michael Holman has positive things to say about him.

“He is far more put together and on top of managing his daily life and school and other activities than athletics, he more kids I deal with, he’s on top of it.” Coach Michael Holman says.

“So, what may seem to be my disability out of the water become my ability when I dive off the block/six brain surgeries didn’t change my life, you know swimming did.” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez is training for the 2019 Can-Am Para-Swimming championships in Vancouver. He is also going to train with his club team in Florida, hoping for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.