Our family
Open July through October
Three generations growing in Brussels since 1937.
Hagen Family Orchard was started in 1937 by Jake Hagen. His son Kenny worked the rows beside him. Today the orchard is run by Debbie Kamp and her son Blake. Same family. Same ground. Same way of doing things.
1937
Jake Hagen plants the first peach trees.
Brussels, Illinois. The Depression was easing. The Hindenburg burned that year. Jake Hagen put peach trees in the ground in Calhoun County and bet the family on them.
The trees took. The orchard grew. Customers came. The same orchard you visit today is on the same dirt those first trees went in. We’ve added apple rows, blackberry vines, a pumpkin patch, and a bakery, but the foundation is what Jake set in 1937.
Today
Debbie and Blake Kamp run the place now.
Debbie and Blake are mother and son. They work the orchard, run the storefront, bake the weekend pies, talk to every customer who walks through the door. Most days the doors are open, you’ll find one of them at the counter.
How we do things
Three things we don’t cut corners on.
Homegrown means homegrown.
The peaches, blackberries, and apples we sell came off our trees and vines. When something on the stand isn’t ours, it came from a Calhoun-area farm we know by name.
Family welcomes family.
No admission fee. No wristbands. No engineered “experience.” Just a working orchard where grandparents, parents, and kids all find something to do.
Worth the trip.
You drove an hour to get here. We make sure the fruit is at peak, the pies are fresh, and the storefront feels like the kind of place you’ll want to drive an hour for again.
Come meet us in Brussels.
Doors are open July through October. We’re usually at the counter.