This week we celebrate the cherry, but I thought it would be interesting to find out who grows them!
It’s not unusual to hear about second and third generation growers, but in Antrim County the King Orchards are an unusual first generation. It began when these Flint kids would come north to vacation.
“My father and mother bought a place on Old Mission, and from there on the day school let out my mother would come north with six kids. We would spend the entire summer on Old Mission, and dad would go back and forth on the weekends,” says Jim King.
And so, summer jobs were helping out picking cherries!
“We started as kids working on farms on Old Mission. Knew we liked it.”
And that is where the love of farming began. In 1980, brother John bought a farm in Central Lake. A short time later Jim did the same. They learned quickly that there was strength in numbers.
“We joined together. Rather than independent, we felt it would be better together. From then on any farm we bought, we bought it together,” explains Jim.
They attended classes and seminars, anything they could do to learn more. They also got a lot of help from the older growers. They were very helpful to the two young guys. And Jim admits, they probably were sometimes a source of humor to the established crowd.
“Most of the farmers were very helpful. I’m sure we rolled a few eyes. Our first farm market, we had kind of a psychedelic sign that went up. I’m sure some in the community weren’t sure about that at all,” says Jim.
But they have learned to deal with the weather and pests, the fluctuation in prices. The downstate kids are an integral part of the Cherry Capital of the world.
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