Winter on the Farm

Even though the snow is falling here in Northern Michigan, the farm is still busy as can be. From slowly emptying out our apple coolers to preparing the farm equipment for storage, the last couple months have been a whirlwind for everyone on the farm.

As many of you know, this was a bountiful year for apples. Farming is interesting because every year offers a new set of challenges. This year, the challenges have revolved around moving this extremely large crop from the trees to our apple coolers,  and finally to consumers across the country. Our apple packing barn has been busy as can be trying to pack the rest of the apples into either boxes for wholesale orders or baskets for sales in the market.

Last week, everyone in the market was busy filling orders for Christmas packages and apple gift packs to be shipped out to lucky recipients all over the world. Monday proved to be one of our busiest shipping days yet, but as always, the King Orchards crew came through and got out all the last minute apple and gift packs just in time for Christmas!

While everyone on the farm was busy packing apples, John, Betsy, Jim, and Rose along with a group of employees were at the Fruit and Vegetable Expo in Grand Rapids. There are farmers and wholesalers from all over the world that come out every year to either sell their products or find new products and equipment for their own stores and farms. King Orchards came with a big crew this year. We had a booth at the show that was primarily focused on our Cherry Juice Concentrate. While Bob, our salesman, worked the booth, the rest of the crew was attending educational conferences and workshops focused around farming. Along with this expo, we will also be having a booth at the Living Well Expo in Grand Rapids January 10th & 11th, the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention in Hershey, Pennsylvania January 28th-30th, and the Troyer Cheese Food Show on April 9th in Dalton, Ohio and possibly more to come.

Other guys on the farm have been busy prepping equipment for winter storage and fixing odds and ends that there was not necessarily time for during the harvest season. There is always a huge list of tasks that seems to add up throughout the harvest season that we come back to during the winter months. Along with tackling this list, I have been noticing a pungent odor in the air which indicates Casey is out spreading turkey litter for fertilizer in the orchard. Jim has his crew out trimming trees which is just the beginning of the winter-long project. We hand trim the trees in our orchard in preparation for new growth in the spring. This is one of the many things we do to ensure we are growing the highest quality fruit.

As you can see, King Orchards is keeping busy throughout the winter. Even with the blanket of snow covering the orchard, it always seems as though cherry season is right around the corner and that winter is never long enough to prepare for the busy harvest season to come.