Orchard Talk

It has been a great few weeks for us. Honeycrisp quality is excellent and demand is crazy. Galas picked more than our estimate so that is good news too. We are almost done picking. Today the pickers are wrapping up the last picking on Honeycrisp, and tomorrow they will probably finish Jonagold and Golden Delicious. The Northern Spy apples are big and beautiful and so are the Ida Reds. All of the apples taste sweeter this year due to the early season and warm weather. We have very few drops because we were so on top of picking the small crop. The processors are paying about $180.00 for a 20 bushel box of juice apples (about 4 times more than aversge) so the deer hunters are going to have price shock on deer feed apples.
With reduced apple picking we were able to do a good job with squash and pumpkins. Jim King and Josh spent a lot of time this summer getting the irrigation water wheels working and into the squash/pumpkin fields. This week we picked about sixty bins of big beautiful squash, and we ran them over the brush to get the dirt off and ready for sale.

With reduced apple volume we are doing a lot more retail to keep the cash flow up as much as possible. So on Wednesdays Rose and Betsy and sometimes an additional helper head to Alpena to direct market the apples and squash at the Alpena Livestock Auction grounds. We have been going since once a week in the fall since 1980. Jack is going to the Gaylord Farmers Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and Petoskey on Fridays. Jim’s son-in-law Mark Schiller went to Boyne City Farmers Market one Saturday but Boyne City Farmers Market doesn’t want us back this year as they want to protect their existing vendors. (from our awesome apples and marketing). Now Jack was refused entry at the Charlevoix Farmers Market too. (not to be confused with Charlevoix Apple Fest).

Looking forward we are going to continue at Gaylord, and Petoskey farmers markets while the weather and turnout allows. We are hoping for a big Saturday on October 6 at the Boyne City Harvest Festival. We haven’t done this one for a few years but it has grown and moved to downtown so we are fired up to be there. Then on October 12, 13, and 14, we will have a big crew at the Charlevoix Apple Fest. The Apple Fest has grown over the years so that we will have more than a dozen employees and family up there if we have good weather on Saturday.

If you are thinking of shipping apples this is a good year to do it. There are very few apples in the Midwest and Great Lakes Region so your friends might not get the ones they like this year. Our McIntosh, Northern Spy, Honeycrisp, and Jonagolds are exceptionally good this year too. Lynne is piling up boxes to go to UPS as I write this. She hand selects the apples for shipping so they make a very nice pack.

Tags: apple shipping, Boyne City Harvest Festival, Charlevoix Apple Fest, Charlevoix Farmers Marketet, Gaylord Farmers Market, northern spy, Petoskey Farmers Market

Hello everyone!
Even though it is winter we are still here on the farm and working hard.
The winter is progressing and so is our new building. We are very excited to see the inside of the building coming together. This week we are hoping to get the paneling put up in the offices. We can not wait to move to the new building and have some room in the old one; however we realize that it will be a little while yet.

We also still have apples in the market, including the all popular Honeycrisp Apples. There are lots of 2nd apples and snow days are perfect for making apple sauce with the kids. We have frozen cherries in the market and they are available for shipping. Call us at 1-877-937-5464 to get daily updates on what we have in the market or to order your frozen cherries.
To learn more about shipping frozen cherries watch our frozen cherry video  frozen cherry shipping

Alisha

Tags: frozen tart cherries, shipping cherryies

The markets are starting to prepare for the busy season ahead! Our cherry crop should be very good this year! We are looking at the sweet cherry crop starting around the 12th of July and the tarts around the 18th. U-Pickers will have lots of cherries to choose from so make sure you bring the family out for some orchard fun! Our pitter will be up and running for the sweet and tart cherries. We will also be shipping fresh sweet cherries and Balaton tart cherries for anyone who can’t make it to the farm this summer. Email or call us for more information on this. If you can’t wait until the season, just remember we still have frozen tart cherries available from last season!

Strawberry season is coming soon! We are looking at having strawberries in the market after June 20th! The asparagus is looking and tasting great! We will continue to have asparagus for the next 10 days or so.

We’re still in the thick of asparagus season. Stop by the M-88 or US-31 markets from 9 until 6, and pick up a pound or ten of these fresh, delicious Michigan treats.

The King Orchards bakery is fired up for the season and turning out fresh homemade pies, cookies, muffins and donuts.

Strawberry season should be starting soon. We’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, we’ve put together our top ten list of ways to enjoy fresh Michigan asparagus. Feel free to comment below to share your own tips and recipe ideas.

Top 10 Ways to Eat Asparagus

1. Grilled with sea salt

2. Soup

3. Sauteed in Soy Sauce

4. Baked/Broiled in Olive Oil

5. Boiled

6. Quiche

7. Pickled

8. Scrambled Eggs

9. Casserole

10. Raw!

Tags: fruitstand update, Michigan asparagus

Please bear with me and today’s overly-alliterated blog post. When Lexi (Bakin’ Girl) was a baby, one of the first books we read to her was The Berenstain Bears “B” Book. We read that book a lot. So much so that now, whenever I encounter more than one “B” word strung together, I start reciting (usually just in my head), Big Brown Bear. Big Brown Bear. Blue Bull. Big Brown Bear. Blue Bull. Beautiful Baboon… right on through to “and that’s what broke baby bird’s balloon.”

This morning’s Baker’s Birthday Blueberry Pancakes (by Barb) Breakfast Celebration, the realization that I’m the mother of a 22 year old, and the fact that Derek actually did find a baby bird at the market this morning, may have combined to send me just a bit over the edge brink of blogging sanity. Not that I had that far to go.

Mixed in with all this silliness are some great pics of the Kewadin market and bakery, including fresh baked pies, lots of fruits and vegetables now in season, and the fun and friendly crew I’m fortunate to work with here at King Orchards.

Cheers!
Patty

We’re rockin’ a Red Haven peach sale this week, a plethora of pickling cukes, and veggie varieties galore.  Stop by for u-pick or we-pick canning peaches and nectarines, palate-pleasing pies and cookies.

Friday’s scenes from King Orchards US-31 and M-88 farm markets:

King Orchards’ Get ‘Em While It’s Hot Peach Sale going on now! Due to the extended hot weather, we have a lot of peaches ripening all at one time, so we’re having a big sale on Red Haven peaches – only $15 per 1/2 bushel. This pricing is good through Sunday August 15th, so get your canners ready and come on over to the M-88 or US-31 markets for some wonderfully flavorful, juicy Michigan peaches.

PICKLES ARE IN!

Tags: market, pickles, vegetables

There are so many vegetables in the market this time of year. It’s heaven for a vegetarian like me! We get some of our vegetables from Bay City, MI, but many of them come locally or from our farm as well.  Some of the best things we have right now are the zucchini, summer squash, and potatoes. They’re all cheap, and easy to make for a healthy meal! Right now we’re selling sweet corn from bay city, but in a few days we should be seeing our own in the market. Here’s a little price guide for the veggies, although some prices change time to time, depending on the size of them…

Summer Vegetables

Corn (Bay City) — .45/ear, 5.00/dozen

Potatoes (White) — 1.00/quart, 2.00/5lb bag

Potatoes (Red) — 1.50/quart, 3.00/5lb bag

Cucumbers — .75/slicing cuc, 2.75/quart of picklers

Summer Squash & Zucchini — .75/each

Onions — .60

Tomatoes — 1.99/lb

Green & Wax Beans — 2.00/1lb bag

Things have been so busy in the market! Our sweet cherry u-pick crop has been small, but it’s lasted through the 4th of July weekend, which is very good. We are expecting it to end by Sunday, June 11th however, so be sure to get out here while you can! Picking is a bit of a challenge if you compare to past years, because of how spaced out the cherries are on the branches. They are delicious though! Betsy is calling this year the “doing, not getting year”, because it’s more about going out and having fun than getting as many cherries as you can in your bucket.

In other news, the raspberries are looking great for this weekend. Our raspberries are “everbearing”, which means that raspberries ripen in batches all summer long. It’s so fun and easy to go out there and pick them, I highly recommend giving it a try.

If picking off of bushes isn’t your idea of u-pick fun,  Apricots may be for you. We’re planning to have apricots ready for picking this weekend, although they will still be quite firm. Hard apricots are perfect for traveling though, so if you’re passing through the area, be sure to take some home with you!

Be sure to stay tuned for the latest U-pick, Market, and general updates on the blog and our facebook!