The Apple Policeman of VonThun's orchard is on a mission to make sure every apple that's picked gets paid for. Watch video
MONMOUTH JUNCTION -- You've heard of Johnny Appleseed.
You know the story of Adam and Eve.
You probably never heard of the Apple Policeman of VonThun's, though.
Meet David Robinson. He's the 74-year-old, 5-foot-8 man who patrols the mean rows of the VonThun's Country Farm in Monmouth Junction. He upholds one and only one commandment: Thou shalt not eat apples at the apple orchard.
If you pick it, you shall pay for it.
"There's a lot of people coming through," Robinson says, while monitoring the orchard on a recent Sunday afternoon. "If each one of them grabbed an apple and ate it and threw it on the ground, you know, it's not fair."
He makes his way slowly down an aisle of suncrisp apples, first scanning left then right. Robinson says hello to nearly everyone he passes.
Everything looks good until...
"Uh, miss, you can't eat the apples," he says with a firm voice. "You're not allowed to eat the apples."
The accused looks up slowly with a mix of shock and childish embarrassment. "Sorry," she whispers.
"It's okay, I know you won't do it again," Robinson says.
Robinson has been "policing" the orchard for three years. He began working at the farm as a way to keep busy in his retirement. He says it wasn't long before he started referring to himself as "The Policeman."
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He says he knows the idea of an apple policeman might seem harsh. He understands the need to taste-test unique varieties, but Richardson says the orchard at VonThun's isn't big enough for taste testing all season.
VonThun's "have their men come on and plant the trees and grow apples," he says. "It's not fair for (apple eaters) to do that."
This part-time job is the latest chapter in a career Robinson describes as diversified. He served in the Army and fought in the Vietnam War, where as a Specialist 4th Class corporal he guarded tanks.
David Robinson helps Anderson Campus haul his family's apples at VonThun's Country Farm Market. (Photo by Adya Beasley | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) With his wife of 46 years, Peggy, he raised two daughters. They now have four grandchildren.
He's worked in floor covering, and later delivering auto parts; and still, the veteran says, becoming an apple-picking monitor took some getting used. He had to find the right balance of authority and sympathy.
"I got more natural with it because the people, they're out for a good time. They're out with their kids and enjoying it," he says. "So basically, I joke around with them about eating the apples."
And sometimes he just turns a blind eye, like on a rule-breaker who confesses on the way out of the farm that she ate an apple. "It was one little tinny apple," she says, laughing.
"I was shocked when I found out that you were doing that," the Apple Policeman says with a faux stern voice.
Robinson says he can't take monitoring the orchard too seriously.
"When you get to be my age and you can still get out and move around and walk around -- a lot of people are not that lucky," Robinson says. "Being able to walk around in an orchard is pretty good."
Adya Beasley may be reached at abeasley@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @adyabeasley. Find NJ.com on Facebook.