SUMMER fitness
shape-up tip:
Antioxidant rich tart cherries contribute to accelerated post exercise recovery with a refreshing, naturally sweet and tart taste!
Welcome to King Orchards Online!
Buy Montmorency tart cherry juice, dried cherries, cherry capsules, jams and salsa in our online store. Learn more about our fruit orchards and the varieties we grow of tart and sweet cherries, apples (including the incomparable Honeycrisp apple), peaches, pears, plums, nectarines, and apricots.
Visit our Orchard Talk blog for updates on the farm, u-picking and harvesting schedule. Plan your next visit to Northern Michigan to include a visit to the orchard. Depending on the season, you can pick your own cherries, apples, peaches, apricots or raspberries.
Farm Market Hours
Both our Kewadin market on US-31 and our Central Lake market on M-88 are open daily from 9am til 6pm. We have local strawberries in the markets this week, and will have Michigan cherries available for sale for the 4th of July weekend.
About King Orchards
We are a first generation family farm. John and Betsy along with Jim and Rose King and the children make up the family. Our fruit stands and orchards are located at US-31 and Creswell Road in Kewadin (12 miles north of Elk Rapids) and 3 miles east of US-31 on M-88 (near the town of Central Lake, Michigan). We love the farming life and work hard to grow quality fruit.In addition to 130 acres of tart pie cherries, we grow 10 acres of Balaton cherries (a new tart cherry variety from Hungary), 32 acres of sweet black cherries; 95 acres of apples, including 20 acres of staked high-density plantings; 10 acres of peaches; 3 acres of pears; 2 acres of apricots; 12 acres of sweet corn; and 2 acres of garden vegetables (if we can keep Rose reigned in).
The orchard is situated on the highest ground in Antrim County. Looking west we can see Torch Lake, about 3 miles away, and Grand Traverse Bay and the Leelanau peninsula beyond that. The rolling hills and ridges here were formed by the glaciers and are called drumlins. They help to allow good cold air drainage, which is important to prevent frost damage. Our proximity to Lake Michigan's Grand Traverse Bay keeps the temperatures moderated in the spring and fall. Many people feel that the best fruit in the world is grown here in northwestern Michigan.
Tart Cherry News
If you're like us, a healthier lifestyle is high on your list of resolutions, and Montmorency tart cherries are making news again already this year for their remarkable healthful qualities. Cherries made the HealthNews.Com Dozen List of Foods for a Longer, Healthier Life. McCormick (the spice people) have also listed Cayenne and Tart Cherries as one of their Top 10 Flavor Pairings of 2009. If you've ever tried our Balaton cherry salsa or Tart Pepper Jelly, you already know cherries and peppers are a tasty combination of sweet and spicy. Please visit our online store for all your Montmorency cherry needs.
