See the Gallery below for pics of a few bears and mountain lions spotted behind the orchard this past year
Yes, it's a shock but not entirely unexpected. I've been waiting to post, and email, until it was a sure thing.
We had a sudden extreme drop in temperature the end of December (-19 degrees F) that nipped the flower buds and we had very few blooms on the trees this past month. Bruce suggested we may get enough for fruit salad...
The good news is most of the red cherry trees are doing pretty well and they will get a rest this year. Our Rainier cherry Trees are showing signs of stress and we hope they make it. Looks like we're losing our peach and plum trees. Our apple trees have really bloomed out, just a bit late this year, and we were surprised that our six sour cherry trees REALLY bloomed- so there is that!
These temperatures are not at all unusual in Montana however we are able to grow cherries because Flathead Lake usually keeps our area temps quite a bit higher in the winter. After this long cold snap we had several weeks of DEEP fog because the lake was still so warm- spooky!
A few of the orchards closest to the lake did seem to fare better and had blooms. If I hear they have enough cherries, and mail order, I will be sure to notify everyone.
Of course, as we all know, these things happen and harvests are different every year .
We thank you so much for your past orders, and for checking in this year!
This season is a reminder that it's a good idea to stock up with an extra 10 or 20 pounds to process 'just in case'. I am so glad that I canned a couple of loads of cherries at the last minute last summer.
My plan was to make cherry wine this year, out of fresh cherry juice, and serve it the following year at harvest. Dang! I have a gallon of frozen cherry juice left so I may go ahead.
This past winter I did make Pear and Apple/Pear Wine from recipes found here. Wine is a long term project as you need to wait at least six months before finding out how it worked. I have had some tastes and I think they are both going to be great. I found in making hard cider that a bit of fresh pear juice added with the main fruit ... I guess the word is... tempers the flavors or maybe even makes them a bit more complex.
I'd love to hear your recipes and outcomes if you have made fruit wines!
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