Ambrosia Orchard is built on family history, apples, and mead.

For more about a decade, husband and wife duo Edison Bender and Blanca Rosa have been selling fruit from Edison’s family’s orchard farm at farmers’ markets in southeast Indiana.

In 2018, they decided they wanted to plant an orchard of their own and make it into something even bigger. With two goals, they created Ambrosia Orchard, a community hub for socializing and drinking and a way to save a 140-year-old barn of sentimental value at risk of being gone forever.

Ambrosia Orchard (aside from being an orchard where they grow fruit trees) is also a cidery and meadery complete with a tasting room, a dining room, and the Big Red Barn, their gift shop that sells locally produced goods. The property is completely family-friendly with the ultimate goal of being an agritourism hub for the southeast Fort Wayne community.

Edison and Blanca have planted heritage and unique cider apple trees, modern eating apples, and Asian pears to use in their spiked ciders and meads (honey wines). So far, they have planted around 500 trees of 25 different varieties.

Ambrosia Orchard also sources their honey and other ingredients from local vendors as much as possible. They strive to ensure everything is Hoosier produced as well as Hoosier loved.

So far, Ambrosia Orchard has exceeded all of Blanca’s and Edison’s expectations. They hope to continue to be able to give back to their community and dedicated employees as the orchard continues to grow.