Trip Review: Cherry Picking

Whoops, this post is about 5 weeks late...

Big ole farm in Princeton, New Jersey!

Cherry Picking Trip Review

Background: I think it's safe to say that I love to pick my own fruit. After a ridiculously long and cold spring, the prospect of getting some fresh strawberries from a nearby farm was really exciting to me. Unfortunately, once I had done some decent research I found out that the peak of strawberry season had passed, and most of the good ones would be picked already though there would surely be more berries around. I also found out that the very brief cherry picking season would open the following weekend. This was very exciting for Jeff since he prefers cherries. I enlisted our good friends Chris and Anna who happen to have a car. On the last Saturday in June, we drove down through scenic New Jersey to Princeton.

I did my research with Pick Your Own, a very informative website with the two downsides that the font used is Comic Sans, and that farm listings for each state are organized by county rather than clickable map. The latter probably is not an issue for most people, but I grew up in a state with 5 counties, and they were groups of islands, so I could easily tell which county I was in. I found Terhune Orchards through them, and I'm glad I did!

So many cherries. The temptation to be gluttonous is overwhelming.

Terhune has 185 acres with many different crops available for pick-your-own activities: strawberries, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, apples and pumpkins. They grow a bunch of other stuff commercially too, and some of these can be bought in their farm store.

The day we were there cherries were getting picked (rapidly) and the blueberry patches just opened to the public. A decently good bluegrass band was playing. There was a bustling market scene where you could get potted herbs and veggies, fresh pulled pork sandwiches, apple cider slushies, and corn on the cob. The sun was out for the first (and last) time for many weeks. It was a pretty great day.

Chris overheard a worker telling someone they couldn't taste any of the cherries until after
they were weighed and paid for. Anna scoffed. We all were sampling the wares.
Apparently, this is ok and to be expected. (note is halfway down that page)

Approximately 3 seconds after this picture was taken there was a cherry in my mouth.

Chris and Anna picked a modest 2.5 pounds.
Chris made a snazzy cherry holster with his carabiner for the rest of our farm adventure.

Jeff and I picked a whopping 11 pounds of cherries. For reference, this would fill a small plastic trashcan like those found in dorm rooms and offices about 2/3 of the way, or it would fill a chico tote bag very nicely. My parents again worried about our relationship due to colonic activity, but there were no blowouts--gastrointestinal or emotional--from our enormous amount of cherries. How we enjoyed them is coming up in the next post.