Cherry Picking at Westview Orchards

There are quite a few things indigenous to Michigan and equally few activities to do in the state. It isn’t exactly New York and for someone from there, you’d think I’ve tried most of the tourist-y to-dos enumerated in blogs. I haven’t. I kind of do the same exact things whenever I visit. I’m a creature of habit so I tend to go to the same malls, the same beloved restaurants, the same provinces. Little by little though I’m able to try new things – this trips firsts consisted of attending my first traditional Indian wedding and cherry picking.

I’ve tried a bunch of fruit pickings when I was younger – apple, strawberry, grapes, even pumpkins. Wild raspberry and blueberry plants sprouted in my aunt’s old house so during lucky seasonal visits, I got to get some too. My mom and I are big cherry eaters (fruits in general actually) so it made perfect sense for us to just pick cherries to munch on especially since it was in season. Most of the cherry picking fields are up north and about 3 hours away from us but we got lucky that there was one orchard just 40 minutes away. So one sunny morning we headed to Westview Orchards which also has apple, pumpkin, strawberry and peach-picking.

My favorite midgets (nieces) tagged along and all in all we picked 22 pounds of sweet cherries. If tart ones are more your style, they have those too. Ladders were provided throughout the orchard for fruits high up the trees. We didn’t have to use any ladders though as most of the trees were all within reach. We trekked all the way down to the last few rows for the biggest and juiciest-looking cherries and stopped to fill up two 10-pound bags and my 2-pound Instagrammable box (or so I thought).

It’s interesting to note that my mom and I ate at least a pound a sitting in the following days. The cherry picking was an experience but all we apparently needed were the bags full. It helped that the orchard had year-long Apple cider and cider mill donuts that we also couldn’t resist taking home. What a productive (food) trip. Check out the photos below for a photo diary of my very Michigan experience. Check this out for more info on the orchard.