Orchard Talk

We are loading up the tables for the cherry festival right now. We will be at the open space in Traverse City Fri noon until 10 pm. The hours July 5- July 12 are 10 to 10. Our markets are op[en all holiday week-end with strawberries and pies. The sweet cherries are not cooperating and look as though they will not be ripe until July 6 or 7 and u-pick to start around July 8 to 10. We do have sweet cherries on the trees and the season will last about 3 weeks if it stays dry. The rain splits the cherries and shortens the crop. Tart cherries or sour pie cherries are very short and will be hard to schedule u-pick. I’m not saying we wont have it but I haven’t seen the light on how to manage the u-pick. I do plan to pit fresh tart cherries and put them into my tubs and 10 lb bags. Just keep an eye out and we will see how it goes. Apricots and peaches look great. Happy 4th!!!!!

Tags: cherry festival, michigan cherries, Our Websites, sweet cherries

It’s been raining so much lately! In the past 40 days, we’ve had rain on 24 of them. Hopefully it dries up soon, because the rain can cause the cherries to split. All of our gardens are staked out and planted, so the rain will be good for just a few more days. Guess what happens tomorrow? Strawberries are finally in the market! They were even later than we thought, but now they’re coming for sure. And next week, the Cherry Festival starts in Traverse City on the 4th of July! We have a little more work to do before we’re ready, but things are coming together. That’s about all that’s happening this week…bye for now!

Tags: Cherries, cherry festival, Our Websites, strawberries, traverse city

Hey everyone! Megan here, writing for Betsy while she’s at church. (For those of you that don’t know me, I’m John and Betsy’s niece that lives here on the farm with them.) The season really feels like it’s starting now, because of the strawberries coming in this upcoming weekend. But what I’m looking forward to is the raspberries. Uncle John says that they’re looking good and will be in in about 10 days. These ones won’t be here in 10 days, but in a couple years we will have a half-acre full of raspberries at the US-31 market! In other news, King Orchards will be going to the Traverse City Cherry Festival, July 4th-12th. See you there!

Tags: cherry festival, raspberries, strawberries, traverse city