Welcome To
U-pick at Peter's Orchard
Not opening for 2024 season
APRIL 26 2024
Unfortunately, our beloved family-owned orchard will not be open for picking this year.
The unusually warm December and January caused the trees to emerge from dormancy prematurely, but temperatures then plummeted suddenly to -29 degrees.
Our cherry, apricot. and peach trees were hit the hardest - they are sensitive to extreme temperature swings. It was heartbreaking to walk through the orchard and see the empty, barren branches, with hardly any signs of life.
We've nurtured these trees for decades, but Mother Nature can be cruel. When spring rolled around, only a handful of trees produced a meager amount of blossoms.
We have no choice but to close for the season. Our regular customers will be disappointed, as picking fruit is a beloved family tradition. But we could not open in good conscience, knowing we had so little to offer.
The silver lining is that the trees are resilient, and with some TLC and warmer weather next year, we're hopeful for a bountiful harvest. This is just a temporary setback, and we look forward to welcoming back families in the years to come. For now, we'll focus on recovery and making sure our trees bounce back stronger than ever.
Please note:
While we do not have an entrance fee, out of respect for our operation and all the hard work involved in caring for and maintaining the orchard, we strongly encourage a minimum purchase of $5 per person visiting our u-pick farm (children 12 years and younger excluded). Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Our fruit picking season usually starts with the ripening of the sweet cherry 'Chelan', our earliest variety. The Chelan will be followed by another early variety, Santina, and then others. Santina are beautiful heart shaped cherries which are easy to pick; they also pack nicely. Small baskets of fresh hand - picked cherries make a lovely gift to friends and family (trust us, we've had lots of experience on this front!).
Did you know that cherries are part of the 'Rosaceae' family and that its cousins include apricots, almonds, peaches and plums? So many different textures and flavours in the lovely Okanagan open air environment, nature's bounty at its finest.
We are open 7 days a week from 7:00 till 18:00 during growing season for your picking pleasure. Also, fresh picked fruit will be available daily at our Farm Stand at our orchard.
To better serve our customers, this year (2020) we are making a few changes.
We haven't had much luck growing nice edible nectarines as they would develop cracks and moulds. As a result, we have decided to remove our nectarine trees and replace them with varieties of cherry and peach trees. These new fruit trees will take couple of years to bear fruit; in the meantime we hope you enjoy what we have at present.
Also, we are providing more parking space, as this has become somewhat problematic. Additional space is being made at the front of the property.
Our goal is always to serve our customers as best we can. We hope our changes will make your fruit picking experience more comfortable and enjoyable.
Thank you for your support. We look forward to seeing you this summer.
PEACHES
With over 700 varieties peaches are among top five most popular fruit that is grown in British Columbia where it was introduced around 1890. With low calories they are good source of Vitamins A, B and C. In China it is considered fruit of longevity, health and good luck.
