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(Each year I follow what’s going on with the Old Mission Peninsula farms owned and run by my family – my brother and his wife, Ward and Carol Johnson, my other brother and his wife, Dean and Laura Johnson, and my nephew and his wife, Nic and Mikayla Johnson. Read Nic’s notes about the farms’ integrated pest management here, and read on for this week’s update. -jb)
This week on the farm, we have a projected date for the start of cherries, there’s a lot of spraying going on, and the Johnson crew met with one of their processors.
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You just never know how the season will shape up every year, and a lot of it depends on the weather. Each spring usually brings a storm or two that threatens to take out the entire crop. That happened a couple years ago, where there just weren’t any cherries to be found.
This year, we did have a torrential storm about a week ago with high winds and hail in some spots. But from what I can tell, most of the hail was in Leelanau County, with mainly winds and rain here on the OMP.
Depending on the topography of the orchards, there are lots of cherries in some areas and no cherries in other areas. That is usually the norm from year to year. And if you have a lot of cherries, will you be able to sell them? That’s been a problem over the past few years, with excess cherries still in storage at the processors.
Fortunately, my brothers have solid relationships with a few different processors who continue to take their cherries, including Great Lakes Packing Company and Peterson Farms, located in Shelby, Michigan.
Last week, the Johnsons met with the crew from Great Lakes Packing to discuss this year’s crop. Below is a photo of Joe Send, their Logistics Manager, and Alex, their intern this year.
Great Lakes Packing, which has facilities in Hart and Kewadin, began in 1972 as a family enterprise and has grown into one of the leading processors of tart and sweet cherries. They also sell dried cherry pits, which are an excellent source of biofuel for heating homes and buildings.
Great Lakes Packing Company takes Johnson Farms’ Light Brine cherries like Napoleons, Golds and Emporer Francis, some of which are made into maraschino cherries for ice cream and other products.
As in previous years, the probing and grading of the light brine cherries will take place on the Johnson Farms cooling pad about a half-mile north of Mapleton. The cherries come into the pad in large tanks from the orchards. Read more about how the cooling pad works here.
Like other processors that work with Johnson Farms, Great Lakes Packing keeps a sharp eye on growers’ spray records to ensure they’re getting superior cherries with no rot. Right now, OMP farmers, including the Johnsons, are busy spraying the cherries with fungicides, which helps to alleviate brown rot. This is especially needed with all the rain we’ve had lately.
And the farmers are working non-stop, including during the night, when the winds die down, making it better for spraying cherries. Johnson’s also have several vineyards, from which they sell grapes to local and non-local wineries. Here’s Dean spraying the vineyard in Mapleton on Sunday morning.
The brothers are also giving me great reports on the new drone sprayer run by OMP’s former UPS guy, Kent Ackerman, who owns the drone business with his brother. The drone sprayer is extremely accurate on making sure the spray goes where it needs to go, including the tops of the cherry trees. Read more about the drone sprayer here.
So when will cherries be ripe? Because we had such a cold spring, cherries are running about a week behind schedule from last year. That means they will be harvesting dark sweets and light brines around the second week to middle of July, with tart cherries following about a week after that.
However, you will likely see cherries start to pop up on OMP farm stands in the next week or two.
Finally, this week’s farm report wouldn’t be complete without a photo of one of the Johnson cherry shakers. This photo is of a one-man shaker (see pics and video of Nic running the one-man here), and they also have a newer side-by-side shaker that I wrote about here.
When you’re out and about, be on the lookout for farm equipment on OMP roads.
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SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL NEWSPAPER: I started Old Mission Gazette in 2015 because I felt a calling to provide the Old Mission Peninsula community with local news. After decades of writing for newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, I really just wanted to write about my own community where I grew up on a cherry farm and raised my own family. So I started my own newspaper.
Because Old Mission Gazette is a "Reader Supported Newspaper" -- meaning it exists because of your financial support -- I hope you'll consider tossing a few bucks our way if I mention your event, your business, your organization or your news item, or if you simply love reading about what's happening on the OMP. In a time when local news is becoming a thing of the past, supporting an independent community newspaper is more important now than ever. Thank you so much for your support! -Jane Boursaw, Editor/Publisher, Old Mission Gazette
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