This Week on the Farm

Shaking and Pitting Cherries
Friday, August 8th

Today was busy with pitting Balaton tart cherries. They are just beautiful and we are pleased with the quality. I’m excited about the Balaton cherries I pitted and sent to a customer in New Jersey. She got two of the 9lb. boxes of fresh-pitted Balatons. She said they arrived in great shape and has ordered six more boxes! Sounds good, give us a call to place your order.

Today was also our first day of harvesting cherries here at the home farm. Jim and Tad each drive ½ of the harvest machine. (The Coe is a two-piece machine that works together to shake and catch the fruit.) Jack, Julie and Heather are on the fork lifts (remember, these are the old converted Chevy trucks that haul the fruit). David and Frank follow the harvest machine to pull leaves and sticks out of the tanks that the conveyer belt dumps the cherries into. It was a big day and everyone is tired. The speed of our harvest is determined by how many cherries the cannery can can in 24 hours. The cannery divides it’s capacity by the number of farmers. Our quota since it is late in the season and some farmers are done is “green light” which means bring all we can. We love this and hope nothing breaks to slow us down.

The other big news today is the cooler at the 31 Market is finally turned on. This cooler is about the size of my fruitstand and it’s just in time for peaches. We will see some peaches starting around August 13th or so. Ginger Gold apples (oh do we love this apple!) will be ready around the 1st of September. I’m getting ready for a wonderful apple crop. Let me send you a box of Ginger Gold apples. Call and order today, 1-877-937-5464.

The Montmorency cherry harvest is fast and furious right now, and Betsy is busy running the pitter. Heather usually helps out with this update, but she has been pressed into service driving forklift on the shaking crew, so the update has fallen to me this week.

Speaking of the pitter, don't forget you can buy fresh tart cherries, both Balaton and Montmorency at the fruit stand and have them pitted right there so they are all ready to cook with. Jim is shaking "J block" near Kewadin today, and the cherries are spectacular - they are consistently grading out at 98 at the processor -- top quality! I have been out a few times watching and photographing the harvest, and the size and color on the tarts this year is very good.

Other news:

• Balaton Cherries:
  Picking started today, and again, we are seeing surprising quality. They are big, so big that they are sticking in the pitter, which Betsy says is a good sign and just the kind of problem she is happy to have. Balaton is the European-style Morello cherry from Hungary. Morello cherries are very popular in Europe and are darker and sweeter than our American Montmorency tart pie cherries. They are excellent for cooking, and are sweet and durable so they are excellent for fresh-eating as well. They are in both markets right now, and available for mail order as well, so don't miss out on this gourmet cherry variety.

• Hudson Dark Sweet Cherries:
  It was not the biggest crop this year in northern Michigan for dark sweet cherries, but the Hudson variety is coming in now and they are big and sweet. Hudson is a later ripening variety, and it came through the bad spring weather in good shape. They are not as dark in color as the earlier varieties, but don't let that put you off. They are big and fat and very sweet. Hudson's are being picked today at our Cresswell Road farm and are coming in to both King Orchard markets, quarts and lugs. For first time visitors, we are on US-31 north of Elk Rapids and on M-88 east of central Lake. Hudson cherries are also available for mail order.

• Sweet Corn:
  You can't have summer in northern Michigan without John's sweet corn and there is a great crop this year. The first ears will be in both markets within 48 hours.

The hot, humid weather and rain has given the fungus a boost and John is working hard to keep ahead of it. Five of his customized forklifts are in peak operating condition this year for hauling cherries out of the orchard, and the shaker is performing well. This is a big relief as it is a bad time for having equipment failures or shortages. When the cherries are ripe they won't wait for equipment repairs or replacements!

This week a new cooler in being installed at the Cresswell market, and that will make it easier and more efficient to keep the fruit available and at peak quality there. King Orchard has a strong commitment to freshness. Last year I took a group of agriculture tourism people from Washington state on a week long tour of dozens of Michigan orchards, and they said the best quality fruit they tasted was at King's.

Betsy should be back doing the update here next week. The best cherries of the season are available right now, so come on out! If you see someone with a camera, that will be me.

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