Practicing Patience is required during this pre-harvest time in 2023. At the East Shore of Flathead Lake, our Montana weather teases with a rotation of warm days and cool days. Knock on wood, we have not had hail.
We understand you all will want to hear, quickly, about our upcoming harvest. In our orchard, we like to give some of our trees an extraordinary space for growth. This photo is of a special Lambert tree that survived historical winters when the entire area lost their trees. Enjoy this photo while you read our particulars.
The harvest will probably begin the last week of July. This is nearly impossible to predict. Today, June 25, 2023, from our current observations, we will guess, last week in July for our start. If you want to come to the orchard, call 406-871-5499 from July 24 until we finish around approximately August 19. Call a day, or two, before you want to visit. We will pick during mornings. 8:00 am. -1:00 pm. You must call and talk with Farmer Dan. We look forward to a fun season.
In the orchard, we need to know each tree as an individual. They begin to ripen at various speeds. Eventually, they come together to make our crop. We are seeing various phases and colors now. When growth is achieved, we stop irrigation to develop flavor. The trees tell us what to do. We work to have the best cherries we can produce.
The cherries today: “straw”, is the name for this phase. The name describes the color and growth period.
We made some New Work Here for Us
During this waiting time, we have planted the new peach trees. The blueberries are in the ground. This new work will produce fruit in the next seasons. Here is a photo of Farmer Dan with just one of our new blueberries. These plants are astonishing. We are excited about our new peaches and blueberries. There are 90 new peach trees and many blueberries.
Getmans' Orchard and Vineyard 