Orchard Talk

U-pick is now in full swing here at the orchard. We opened up apricot picking this morning and they are delicious! We just started on a few trees today, but we will be picking for the next month or so. This is one of my favorite fruits here so don’t miss the early season this year!

Sweet cherries are still going. Even with the challenges cherries have had this year, people have been coming back with some very nice looking fruit and seem content with their picking experience. It does take a little extra sorting with the splits they have gotten from the rain, but the good ones taste amazing as ever.

Raspberries are also still being picked. We just have u-pick on these, but it’s normally quick and easy. I went out and picked a few today to sample in the market and they are looking great. There are tons out there. The patch we have is ever-bearing which means they will be around all summer, so make sure to grab a few while you’re visiting the orchard.
-Courtney

I have been riding through the sweet cherries this afternoon trying to get together a plan to manage u-pick. The crop is very short. The early May frost damaged almost all of the blossoms in the larger sweet cherry block that slopes to the West. There are a few black sweets (Cavaliers) that survived but 95% of the trees in this block have no fruit at all. The light sweet cherries in this block also froze out. The second sweet cherry block is North of the farm house and slopes to the East. This block came through the frost in much better shape. While the trees in the lowest rows are pretty bare there is a good crop of dark sweets (Ulsters) and some light sweets in trees that are higher up the hill. Along with the reduced crop we have recorded rain on 15 of the last 24 days. As sweet cherries ripen, rain can cause cracking, and there are are a great many cracks in the cherries we do have.
We are also dealing with a crop that is two weeks ahead of normal. This means that many customers will be looking to pick after we have already finished. We are putting out the word right now that U-pick is open until the cherries are gone, but that could be in 10-14 days. I wish we could notify all of the customers about the early crop, but because the crop is so small we will run out anyway and so some customers will not be able to pick. We do have sweets on a leased farm South of Elk Rapids and we will be picking those to sell in the market and we hope to have cherries in the stand for people who wanted to pick but missed the early, small crop. The sweet cherry trees at our US31 market have some cherries on them too so we will be open there for u-pick  while they last. The trees at the US31 market were planted in 2003 and they have not produced much so far but we hope that block bears large crops starting next year.
When there are cracks in the cherries u-pick is a great option because the customer can pick and sort cherries as they go. Commercial cherry canners are not able to use cherries that have a high percent of cracks. So we really are looking forward to getting u-pickers out there, but I want to forewarn customers that it will be more work to get good cherries. On the plus side the small crop and unending rain have created many HUGE beautiful cherries that will taste very very good!
On the tart cherry side of our operation the news is not any better. We have 40 acres of tarts with nothing on the trees. We will not be able to have any u-pick in tarts this year. We will have available our own frozen pitted tarts.
In the big picture we have a good crop of tarts on 2 lease farms so we are not completely blanked. Apricots, peaches, and nectarines, have a full crop, and we will have u-pick, and they will start earlier than normal which should be good. We estimate that we have 65% percent of an apple crop, but that should work out ok because the apple crop in Michigan is less than half, so we expect good prices. We also have a crop of Balaton cherries and demand seems to be up for those. Raspberries are coming in right now too and we will have them throughout the summer and fall.

John

Hey there! It’s Megan, Betsy and John’s niece. I’m going to be taking over the blog a little, along with Courtney and a few of the other “fruit stand girls”, so stay tuned to know what’s fresh at King Orchards.

Today is our first day for U-Pick raspberries! I’m definitely excited, they’re one of my favorite fruits to eat here. They look beautiful, and taste great. Bring the family and get out here! Our raspberries should last all summer, with short 1-2 week breaks in between “batches”.

If you’re wondering about when we’re getting our own sweet cherries into the market and u-pick, John says they’ll be in full-swing for the weekend. Until then, we have some delicious cherries from Grand Rapids, MI. Be sure to come in and get them while they’re fresh! -Megan K.

Tags: Cherries, market, News, raspberries

Happy Father’s day! Strawberries over ice cream for everyone! In the market: the strawberries are beautiful and big, great time to put some in the freezer. Asparagus all gone for the season. Sweet cherries from our farmer friends in GR are getting the cherry season started. KO sweets ready maybe this week, keep watching. I found a ripe RASPBERRY!!!!

Tags: update on crop

Today strawberries in the market and last day for asparagus. Lots of call about u-pick. We will keep people posted on the blog each day. Today it looks like we will start some u-pick sweets next week. Keep watching !

Tags: u-pick

David called and reminded me to UPDATE! thanks Dave from GR. He was most interested in apricots. I’m looking for them to ripen towards the end of July. Most of the calls are questions about sweet cherries. We have some in from the Grand Rapids area now. Ours will ripen towards the end of June. It is a small crop so u-pick will be short but I will try my best to find you the fruit when you show up. Raspberries are wonderful and should be starting in the first part of July. The tart cherries are probably the most disappointing but we had a big crop last year and still have lots left in the freezer. Peaches early Aug very nice and apples to start with Gingergolds around Labor day. It will be a great season.

Tags: update on crop

Message for Betsy – Hi, it’s Meredith, Nan’s Los Angeles daughter. Just wanted you to know I stopped in yesterday on the way to the airport and grabbed a big bag of asparagus and some preserves to take home. The asparagus survived the flight quite well! This morning I enjoyed a huge helping of it sliced up in an egg white omelette with olive oil, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and fresh jalapeno peppers. Delicious. I’m going to try the soup recipe you put on the website. Thanks for the best asparagus in the country!

Tags: market

Ingredients:

8 oz. Vernor’s ginger ale
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
1 tsp. tart cherry juice concentrate

Blend well and serve in a tall glass with a straw.