Author Bio

Perry Kirkham received his BS from Purdue in Biology/Chemistry Education. After 5 years as a teacher he returned to school to get his Ph.D. in immunology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. After research positions at various places around the world, he returned to Lafayette in 2007 to work at Purdue. With his wife and three daughters, Perry moved onto his family farm in rural Lafayette where his brother, father, and himself planted the beginnings of what was to become Wea Creek Orchard. With a learning curve as steep as an elevator shaft, they muddled their way through all the common orchard maintenance and harvesting mistakes to where they now feel that their learning curve is just as steep, but now the depth of the Grand Canyon. While learning, they have been committed to doing things correctly and safely, taking all the advice they can get from the experts at Purdue Extension and the wonderful group of orchardists around the state.