MEET US

Gregory Heller

“I have made a commitment to not let my fore-fathers down because I’m sure Isaac, Wesley, Absalom, and Hoyt are all watching over me.”

Gregory Hoyt Heller, born March 3, 1969; is the 6th generation on the family farm and 3rd generation in growing fruit. Greg began operating a forklift at the young age of 9. By age 12, he was spraying trees for his dad on a Massey Ferguson tractor. When he was 15, he would dream of buying the Strausser property on Cherry Road (Nescopeck Twp.) to grow another orchard. At the age of 16, he started making cider, pruning trees, and planting trees by hand. By the age of 20, he built a pole shed, repainted the old barn several times, replaced the cider press, installed drip irrigation, installed a restroom and an office, planted a pear orchard, and planted/re-planted different varieties of apples. By the age of 35, among countless jobs, Greg planted a peach orchard and built a packing house. He and his wife, Andrea, work as a team to keep the business running successfully. At age 32, Greg obtained that Strausser property he always dreamed of farming and successfully grows fruit on the land.

Andrea Heller

Andrea Heller is the heart and backbone of Heller Orchard, working alongside her husband, Greg Heller, who owns and operates the family-run business. The two were married in 2016, and shortly after, Andrea left her managerial position at Geisinger to fully dedicate herself to the orchard. Since then, she’s become an indispensable part of daily operations—doing everything from running a forklift and packing fruit to handling deliveries, managing the office, and overseeing the store. With her hands-on approach and tireless work ethic, Andrea plays a key role in keeping Heller Orchard thriving year-round.

Ruth Heller

Ruth Boran Heller, born May 24, 1937, died June 30, 2019; was the friendly face that customers adored for more than forty years. Ruth was a dedicated, hard-working woman who raised four children (Janet, Nancy, Virginia, and Greg). She would manage the retail store daily from 9 to 5, feed her family at 6:00 pm, then grade apples with her husband Quentin from 7:00 pm to 9:00 or 10:00 pm!

Quentin Heller

Quentin Heller, born May 27, 1928, died December 24, 2021; was the fifth generation on the family farm and second generation in growing fruit. He was a 1946 graduate of Nescopeck High School, and a 1950 graduate of Franklin & Marshall College (history major). In 1954, he traveled to England to visit a college friend. There he explored different orchards and learned about dwarf apple trees. He toured the East Malling Research Station http://www.emr.ac.uk/about-us/. At this time, dwarf trees could not be obtained in the United States, they were only available in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. When Quentin got back home from his travel abroad, he wrote a letter to Mr. Prescott, a researcher, in hopes of getting a dwarf tree root stock. He started to educate himself on dwarf tree root stock and reached out to Penn State Extension Pomologist, Marshall Ritter, in 1954. Quentin got a root stock (just a shoop) that he harvested additional root stock from and gave it to Penn State Extension.

Quentin started with an orchard of approximately 40 trees per acre and ended his plantings at approximately 300 trees per acre.

Hoyt Heller

Hoyt Heller was the first generation of Hellers to grow fruit. He started Heller Orchards in 1919 after finishing his service in the military. He started his production at approximately 40 trees per acre.

Kelsey Heller

Greg's oldest daughter, Kelsey, has helped around the orchard her entire childhood. She is now in college working on her degree in Elementary Education!

Kayden Kratz

Andrea's son, Kayden, has been a huge help around the orchard for most of his childhood, especially at the Scranton farmers market and during festivals. He will be graduating high school in 2026!

Riley Heller

Riley, Greg's youngest daughter, has also worked on the orchard her entire childhood. She is in college working toward her degree in Sonography! She still helps at the orchard on weekends and breaks.

Monika Mainiero

Monika, Andrea's daughter, has helped for many years with the Apple Festival. This past year, she decided to work full time at the orchard helping with the store, farmers market, and event planning.

Store Staff

Where would we be without our incredible store staff? Their friendly faces, hard work, and dedication keep everything running smoothly and make every visit to our orchard feel like home.

EMMA

MICHELLE

MYLA

Market Staff

We couldn’t do it without our amazing seasonal farmers market staff—their energy, enthusiasm, and hard work bring the orchard to the community and make every market day a success.

JEFF

CONNIE

Pete

Pete, Born March 15, 2010; welcomed customers since he was a pup. He gave paw for treats and would have kissed you to death if you let him. His favorite apple was McIntosh but he was not too fond of cherries, peaches or pears. He did however like a donut peach from time to time.

Bella

Bella followed in Pete's footsteps after he passed to be the friendly, furry face to welcome customers in the door. Bella was a bit of a wild one compared to Pete; she would jump all over you to give you a kiss on the cheek. She wasn't one for stealing apples but, as you can tell in the photo, she loved her ice cream dates!

Lily

Lilly is a chunky Red Fox Lab who takes after the Boxers who came before her. Lilly came into the Heller family in 2024 and loves to come visit the customers in the store. She rarely ever barks, only if she sees a cat down the street. Her favorite thing to do is sneak out of the yard to visit the neighborhood kids at the park or stop into church on Sunday mornings. She will give you a kiss when asked, but she would rather walk around the store to steal any variety of apple!