Orchard Talk

Help! We’re being overrun by cucumbers!!!

If we can’t get to the phones, it’s because we can’t make it through the mountains of pickling and slicing cukes we’ve harvested from our gardens. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to plant 5 acres

Here’s what we’re offering this week:

Veggies: Now available at both markets: good quality slicing cukes (not too fat) and pickling cukes (sand-free). Our sweet corn is here: golden fresh and sweet. We also have lots of our own zucchini and summer squash in the market, plus amazing melons, juicy tomatoes and crisp, tasty peppers direct from Bay City.

Cherries: Last chance for delicious, fresh tart cherries. Get ‘em while you can, most likely through the middle of the week. If you absolutely can’t make it by then, you’re still in luck. We’re now offering frozen pitted tart cherries and sweet cherries as well. So many ways to enjoy this Northern Michigan favorite… What’s yours?

Peaches: Our Early Glo peaches are ready for picking. These are sweet and delicious; great for eating! Just a little while longer for the Red Haven canning peaches, which we’re expecting the last week of August.

Nectarines: They should be ready around the same time as the Red Havens. So far, it’s looking like the last week of August to enjoy these.

Apricots: The apricots are delicious and firm, still going strong. Come and U-Pick or find them ready to go at the market.

Blueberries: Direct from West Olive, we’re got luscious, plump blueberries-great for eating and making desserts.

Flowers: We have big, beautiful sunflowers available to U-Pick and in our market. We also have a plethora of statice: a bright, colorful way to brighten up your home or office.

Tags: apricots, Cherries, cherry orchard, cherry picking, Crop Updates & Orchard Talk, fresh cherries, fresh tart cherries, In the Markets, nectarines, peaches, pick your own, sweet corn, traverse city, u-pick, u-pick apricots, u-pick cherries, u-pick peaches

Crop Report

Sweet Cherries:  There’s still plenty of fantastic sweet cherry picking available in both black sweet cherries and light sweet cherries (Queen Anne or Rainier cherries).

Pick your own:  $1.50 per pound
We pick: $4.50 per quart; $12.00 per 3 quarts; $30 per 8 quart flat; $36.00 per 20lb lug

Raspberries: $4.00 per pint; $7.00 for 2 pints; $24.00 per 8 pint tray (4 quarts)

Tart Cherries: We expect the tart cherries will be ready for picking by Tuesday, the 21st. It’s going to be a great year for u-pick tart cherries.

Look who we found hanging out in the sweet cherry orchard!

Gnorth the Gnome has been traveling Up North this summer, exploring all the things that make summer traveling and living in Northern Michigan great.  He’s hanging out with us here at King Orchards for a little while (if he’s still here next week, we may have to put him to work on the tart cherry shaking crew).

Take your picture with him while he’s here and enter it in Traverse Magazine’s MyNorth contest for a chance to win an “I’d rather be Up North” t-shirt.

Tags: gnorth the gnome, sweet cherries, tart cherries, traverse magazine, u-pick cherries

To encourage lots and lots of Michigan cherry picking, we are rolling back our u-pick prices to 2006! We’re calling it our Cherry U-Pick Stimulus Plan (CUSP for those of you who love your acronyms).

U-Pick Sweet Cherries: $1.50 per pound
We-Pick Sweet cherries: $4.50 per quart

We have a gorgeous crop of both sweet and tart cherries (another 7-10 days before tarts are ready), and from the looks of it, we’ll have u-pick available throughout the rest of July. Hope to see you out there!

Tags: cherry picking, crop report, sweet cherries, u-pick cherries

Bring the whole family to the orchard for a fun, affordable day trip they won’t soon forget! Our trees are all specially trimmed so the cherries are accessible, even for small children.

Pick your own tart cherries: You can pick your own tart cherries in season right from the tree and we will wash them and pit them for you. This year they are $1.00 a pound, and there is a flat $6 fee for washing and pitting (any amount) while you wait.

Still Picking Sweets: The sweet cherry picking is really great right now. You can pick dark sweet (Bing) cherries for $1.75 per pound, and light sweets (Rainier or Queen Anne) for $1.25 a pound.

Picking Raspberries: We also have raspberries ripening and turning deep red in the warm, summer sun. You can go out to the patch and pick your own for $4 a pint.

Need Directions? Visit our map page or get Google Map Directions from your location. Call us toll-free at 877-937-5464 if you have questions.

Tags: michigan tart cherries, pick tart cherries, pick your own, raspberries, u-pick cherries

We’ve been getting lots of calls this week about u-picking. For general estimates, our Harvest Calendar offers a month by month guide to what’s in season, from May blossoms through October pumpkins.

We’re still thinking sweet cherries will be ready around the 8th or 10th of July, but you might be able to pick raspberries by the 4th. We’ll keep you posted!

In the meantime, enjoy this travel video Brian Kaufman from the Detroit Free Press shot last summer, which features an interview with John King and cherry lovers & pie makers from Chicago.

Tags: michigan, raspberries, sweet cherries, u-pick cherries