I went cherry picking for the first time in my life this past weekend. Have you been? I did a lot of apple and strawberry picking as a child but never cherry picking. You cannot get any fresher than picking your own produce so off we went to Cherry Avenue Farms which is located in Niagara region.
On the farm’s website they say they are located in Lincoln, Ontario but I also see online Beamsville and Vineland as potential location. Small detail. It’s approximately a 30-40 minute drive on the QEW when coming from Oakville, assuming you don’t hit any traffic. We are lucky to be living so close to Niagara, which is known for it’s fertile soils. When I think of Niagara I think of peaches and wine… now I can add cherries to the list. Cherry picking season tends starts early July and lasts for three weeks.
Cherry Avenue Farms has been around since 1799! Can you believe that? It’s a family run farm run by the Moyer family. At time of writing this blog Canada just turned 150 years old making this farm officially older than our country. The farm opens at 8 am on Saturday so we tried to get there as early as we could (with a 10 month old) to avoid the crowds. It seems like everyone had the same idea because it was pretty busy. There were even a few tour buses full of people dying to pick cherries. They are pretty well organized at Cherry Avenue Farms so you could be in and out of there quickly if you wanted to.
Investment
They have a minimum purchase but it’s fairly reasonable: $5/adult and $3/child. You pay this at the gates and they use it towards your purchase. The cost is $2.25/lb of cherries which is cheaper than what you pay in grocery stores so how can you beat that? To fill up this box picked it is said to cost between $25-35. Ours were filled to about half full and it cost us $15. I would love to fill it up quickly but I wasn’t sure we were going to go through it fast enough. Fresh produce tends to solid quickly.
Some Really Amazing Health Claims of Cherries
Drinking tart cherry juice is very beneficial with inflammation in the body specifically in the joints, such as osteoarthritis and Gout. You want to look for tart cherry juice not from concentrate. We sold a brand at the health food store I worked at that came from a farm in the same area called Cherry Lane and I got quite a few positive reviews that it’s great for Gout relief. Tart cherries ability to combat inflammation in the body is also beneficial for post-workout soreness.
Tart cherries also were found to contain a high amount of antioxidants that are superior to that of vitamin E. Have trouble falling asleep? Tart cherry juice is believe to help increase your melatonin levels and may also improve time in bed, total sleep time and sleep efficiency.
Don’t disregard sweet cherries which are a lot more pleasant to eat. They contain high amount of fiber, vitamin C, carotenoids, and anthocyanins, each of which may help play a role in cancer prevention.
If you end up going cherry picking this season, let me know how it goes!
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/natasha-turner-nd/cherries-benefits_b_3757989.html
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/08/02/health-benefits-cherries.aspx