EGG HARBOR, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Cherry season has come a little earlier than expected.
“The cherries are looking good. They’re red. When we first start the season, we always want to pick the reddest fruit,” said Dave Schartner, Schartner’s Farm Market Owner.
Schartner said the warm weather put them ahead of schedule.
“Three weeks ago, we said the 20th. So, we had to update that, because things just came quicker than expected,” he said.
The cherry season at Schartner’s started Friday.
Denise Murphy and her family are first-time pickers from Indiana.
“They are exquisite. I don’t know if this an exceptional crop. I don’t have a frame of reference for it. But to me, it’s amazing,” said Denise Murphy, Carmel, Indiana.
Dave Shavlik says he was surprised by what he saw when he came to pick.
“They are beautiful. A lot of them pretty big, some a little bit small, not a lot of bruising on them.”
Pickers had little trouble filling their pails.
“We wanted to get an early start, pick some cherries. And they have a pitter. That’s a big plus. I like the pitter,” said Shavlik.
The pitter automatically takes the seeds out of the cherries, spitting out the fruit into the container below. Susanne Crowell and her daughter are sold.
“So much easier. Because taking them out one at a time, for three dollars, to get it all done at once, sweet,” said Susanne Crowell, Green Bay.
Door County is one of the biggest cherry producing regions in the country.
On average, the 2,500 acres of orchards produce about 8-12 million pounds of fruit each year.
