Our cherries are ready but this year we don't have a buyer. We belong to a cooperative that agreed to an exclusive with the Monson Fruit Company.
But it's only "exclusive" if Monson wants the fruit. They can decide at the last minute that they don't need it, usually the week before harvest, and leave the entire Flathead Valley scrambling to find buyers at the last minute.
And they do. Two out of five years we've had the orchard this has happened to us - 10,000 pounds of fruit fell to the ground. But we're actually on the lucky side - we only have 150 trees. Some folks have almost 2,000.
So this will be the year everyone gets a bottle of my famous cherry vodka for Christmas. And next year, we've decided to go organic - better prices, more buyers.
mmmm...vodka...
Posted by: Alison | July 25, 2009 at 12:34 AM
What did the cooperative get out of the agreement? Sounds like nothing!
Posted by: Carol | July 24, 2009 at 07:00 PM
I hope I'm on your Christmas list!! ;-)
Posted by: Lori Baillie | July 24, 2009 at 03:19 PM