A Note From Annette & Randy:

As of October 4, 2012, This has been a very very challenging year!!! We do still have fruit at Fruit Acres Farms.

Farm Market Report: Fruit Acres Farm Market is now open with Local Sweet Honeycrisp Apples ($39.99 25 pound half bushel), We have Red & Golden Delicious grown on our own farm, Local Jonagold Apples , Local Empire Apples, all $24.99 half bushel. Our Own super Sweet Cider, not all cider tastes the same. Fresh Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts on the stalk, Vine Ripe Tomatoes, Red Raspberries (on weekends), Fresh Okra ($1.49 pound), Cucumbers, Sweet Niagara & Delaware Grapes (with seeds), assortment of hot and mild Peppers, Eggplant, Zuchini, Yellow Squash, Red New potatoes Cherry, Grape, Yellow & Roma tomatoes, Fall Squash, Beets, and Hardy Mum plants, all from local growers.

Fall is here at Fruit Acres Farm Market. We have lots of Fresh Local Apples, Pie Pumpkins ($.99 each), Beautiful Decorative gourds (3 for $1.25), Mini Indian Corn, Mini Hay Bales, Local Fall Squash ($.79 pound, you can keep for months), Beautiful Hardy Mums (3 for $12.99), and Big Pumpkins from $2.99 each. Sorry Concord Grapes are done for this year. Fruit is ripening about 2-3 weeks early this year.

U-Pick Report: Fruit Acres Farms U-Pick will not be Open for Any U-Pick fruit this year. We will not have U-Pick for Black Sweet Cherries, Sour Cherries, Plums, Peaches, or Apples. The precous little fruit that is left is mostly in the tops of the trees so it is easier for us to pick the fruit and sell it to you at the farm market. We are really sorry. This is the first time since we started the U-Pick that we have cancelled any season for U-Pick.

This is how the severe freeze happened!! In all of Michigan and surrounding states, Spring came 6 weeks early and made everything start blooming in March instead of late April like usual. Then we had a cold April including 15 severe freezes. In a normal year we would not have had as much damage because the trees would still not have bloomed, making them so vulnerable to spring freezes. We did have some loss of fruit during April but on our highest sites we still had a full crop of fruit until April 27. That morning it stayed under 24 degrees for over 4 hours. The fruit on the tree was so frozen, the cell walls ruptured. That was the worst freeze all spring and it affected everything but the highest orchards and the tops of the trees. This is your science lesson for today, Cold air drops into low spots, warm air rises to the top of the cold air. That is why the best fruit orchards are on the hills, like our farm is. Some of the fruit quality has been affected by the freeze. So there are going to peaches, plums & apples that are not as pretty as usual. This freeze has affected the fruit growing areas in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania. So check with any U-Pick orchard you think about visiting and make sure they have fruit on the trees for picking if that is what you want to do. There are some U-Pick farms opening with no fruit on the trees. Personally I think you should still come to visit Fruit Acres Farm Market this year to get some great fruit from our own farm. There will be plenty of local vegetables for sale (they were not planted yet during the freezes in April).

Gas in Michigan is $3.77 per gallon

 

 

Fruit Acres Farms

Fruit Acres Farms is a 230 acre fruit farm owned by the same family since 1846. The current owners, Randy and Annette, are the 5th generation to operate the orchard. We grow Big black Sweet Cherries, Sour Pie Cherries, and Crisp Juicy Flavorful Apples. Our specialty is Sweet, Juicy, Luscous Peaches fresh picked and sold for 10 weeks from Mid-July thru September. Check Harvest Times for this year's ripening schedule.