Atop a hill in the town of Washington is Averill Farm, a king of the mountain when it comes to apples, and a microcosm of trends in Connecticut apple orchards.Like so many other orchards with a retail farm stand, is growing steadily as more and more consumers seek out freshly picked, fruit. At the same time,

 Averill Farm is adding newly developed varieties while increasing the selection of antique "heirloom" varieties, which also have a growing following.It's the old and the new, and, along with them, all the familiar orchard apples such as Macoun, McIntosh and Golden Delicious.

"It's an odd thing that is going on," says Rick Macsuga, marketing director at the state Department of Agriculture. Moreover, he says, it is working, drawing more consumers to the farms.The hot new apple is Honeycrisp — crisp, sweet and juicy. The variety does not produce high yields per tree, and because it is comparatively new, many trees are still young and not producing heavily anyway. Most growers sold out weeks ago.There's been unbelievable demand for them," Macsuga says.Customers, meanwhile, love the choices, love to experiment and become ever more venturesome in trying different varieties.

Susan and Sam Averill grow 87 varieties of apples on their 27-acre orchard, part of a 250-acre property that has been in the family since 1746. In recent years they've added Honeycrisp and other newer varieties, while also increasing their heirloom varieties, such as Roxbury Russet and Baldwin.People say, 'I've never heard of these apples.' Then they try them and say, 'This is great. Why can't we get this at the store?' The stores still have a very limited range of apples. I'm amazed they haven't picked up on it," Averill says.One supermarket staple, the comparatively bland Red Delicious, is falling from favor at the farm stand, Averill says.

One reason mass marketers don't carry some varieties of apple is because they can suffer from repeated handling or long-distance hauling.A yellow apple variety called Honeygold is a good example, Averill says.It bruises really easily," he says. "You wouldn't want to be shipping it across country. It can bruise on the tree just with the wind. But here in the farm stand, people are very happy to get it." Not 10 feet away, as he spoke, was a wooden box of unblemished Honeygolds.

Then there are the old varieties, like Baldwin, a New England antique dating to about 1740 that once was a hugely popular apple in Connecticut. It is a hard, tart apple, great for cider and a excellent baking apple, and it is gathering more interest again in the 21st century.Everybody has their favorites," Averill says. "There are the people who won't bake a pie unless they have their Baldwin apples or their Northern Spies."Baldwins are grown at Belltown Hill Orchards in Glastonbury, too, along with other antiques like Stayman and Northern Spy. Even younger customers will seek out antiques, manager Donna Preli says, sometimes "because they remember their parents talking about them."

At Rogers Orchards in Southington, president John N. Rogers — the seventh generation of Rogers at the business, which will be 200 years old next year — added more Baldwins in recent years for the same reasons. "It's in a lot of the old family recipes," he says.Macsuga says growers are reporting that the movement to buy locally produced foods is helping sales at Connecticut farm stands. "It's made a huge difference," he says.People want to know where their food comes from," says Rogers. "They recognize that environmentally they can make a wiser choice by buying locally, rather than buy apples from parts of the country or world."