These days, everyone automatically correlates Northern Michigan to cherries. Not only is the area the number one cherry-producing capital of the world, but the nationally famous Cherry Festival is celebrated throughout the region every year. North Star Organics is proud to be part of this famous legacy, bringing delicious and fresh produce to people all over the state and country.
The Kobernik family brings their farming history and passion for cherries into everything they do. North Star Organics allows you to take a piece of that pride home with you.
This season is looking much better than the past 3 years! Our thanks for your patience. We have a good crop of certified organic sweet and tart cherries this summer – this will be our 23rd year certified organic! Yup, before organic was cool.
Our thanks,
The Kobernik’s
Sigh…straight to the point…we have healthy trees; we have numerous leaves, and we have NO cherries. March brought several days of much too warm of temperatures then April brought days and days of freezing temperatures [talk to us about climate change!]. Out of 36 years in cherries, never had three back-to-back years of crop failure that was out of our control.
There will be no machine harvest [no organic frozen IQF or dried cherries] and no U Pick available to our glorious customers.
Some may think we ‘have the summer off”. Quite the contrary, we have received and spread our semi load of custom blended compost, the orchard floor needs constant attention, young trees are pruned, rose chafers hand picked off by the thousands, the sprayer sprays, old trees removed, pollinator habitat renewed and so much more. The work and expenses truck right along and so do we. We will be here next year with the optimism expressed in our 2020-year post.
Gratefully we, our family and nearest friends all endured and survived COVID-19 and our sympathies for those who faced greater pandemic challenges.
The Kobernik’s
First, we sincerely hope all of you are safe and well.
North Star’s great news: We will have U-Pick this year!
Details will follow in the next several days. Tentatively we are looking at opening for Sweet/tart cherries to be ready Wednesday, July 22nd.
North Star’s not so great news: we do not have enough tart cherries on our trees to warrant large scale harvest, that will mean there will be no IQF tart cherries and no dried cherries for another long year.
Again, more details to come!
The Kobernik’s
“The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn’t still be a farmer.”
We’re sad to announce that North Star Organics did not harvest the entire crop this year. Cherry farmers are faced with many tough decisions, and this season was particularly challenging for us. We take pride in providing high quality products, and the fruit this year was not able to meet our standards.
We will have frozen organic tart cherries in August 2020 and dried organic cherries in September 2020.
AND we will now enter our 21st year organic and 35th year growing those cherries with renewed fortitude. Our thanks to all those who have offered such support and encouragement.
Organically yours,
Alan & Cheryl Kobernik
CHRISTOPHER BAKER ON NORTHSTAR ORGANICS
Famous film and video producer, Christopher Baker, was inspired by the Kobernik’s cherry farm when he visited. He created this montage of footage to celebrate the region’s favorite fruit and the pride and joy the Kobernik’s take in running their orchard.
Sadly, we do not have any products available to purchase at this time.
Check back with us in August 2022 for frozen organic tart cherries and September 2022 for dried organic cherries!
We are organically grown on a small family farm on a peaceful hillside in picturesque Northern Michigan. We are proudly raised for you by Alan, Cheryl, Emily and Eric and committed family and friends. They meticulously tend our soil, carefully prune our limbs, vigilantly defend us from harm and ultimately harvest us. Our stewards carefully oversee us being washed, sorted, pitted, packed and dried. We are very proud of our farm family that is committed to responsible and just decisions in all aspects of their lives. We find their commitment is the only way for all to thrive. Please enjoy us and thanks for supporting organic farms.
Family owned and operated 40 acre cherry orchard in Northern Michigan. 100% Certified organic for 20 years. Tart and sweet cherries: fresh, frozen, and dried available.
Committed to producing grade A quality fresh, frozen and dried cherries. Sweet and Montmorency Tart Cherry U-Pick in the month of July - call or visit our U-Pick Page for dates and availability.
We are verified by The Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program, an innovative, proactive program that helps farms of all sizes and all commodities voluntarily prevent or minimize agricultural pollution risks.
Raise your hand high if you notice these curves and the sign of a farmer taking their wares to a processor!
It's our sign that cherry harvest IS ON!!!! 🍒🍒
🙋♀️
I just want to stand there with a bucket and swimsuit lol!!
Check out Friday's @tcrecordeagle article on cherry growing in Northern Michigan.
www.record-eagle.com/news/these-cherry-farmers-are-having-best-season-in-years---but-no-ones-buyi...
Would love to read it but you need to subscribe to Record Eagle to see it. Love our area Cherry farms 🍒❤️
In case you needed another good highlight to your farm and the struggle with Turkey imports. www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRS6pxN5/?k=1 I’m sorry this is happening and I’m so grateful you had a buyer. Keep up the great work. We support you!!! I hope more choose to support local farms. I hope to visit you next year to pick cherries. Thank you for all you do.
OUR TART CHERRIES HAVE A HOME! We have secured a buyer and they have secured a processor with the intent of our cherries to be used as organic juice. They will maintain organic status throughout the process. This is a very reasonable solution to a very bad situation and we are so relieved!
We need our customers to be aware that North Star Organics will not have frozen pitted cherries or dried available this season as we have for the past decade plus! We hope to in the future.
Wonderful! I have my last batch from what we picked on Tuesday in the dehydrator now. Absolutely delicious! 🍒 Thank you again.
SUCH great news!! I made two sour cherry crisps today, and pitted and froze the rest yesterday! I adore sour cherries! I'm so happy it worked out. <3
So glad you found a solution. We wish we could have made it to your beautiful orchard this year.
Happy for you indeed! We will coordinate our visit from Syracuse, NY to Crystal Lake next year to coincide with your sour cherry picking schedule! SO DELICIOUS 😋
Very cool
Yay!
So glad you have a solution.
What happened?
Great news.
That is great news!
So thankful ❤️❤️❤️
Glad you found then a home
Made a couple of pies with your tart cherries, and saved the juice to drink later. It was all wonderful. So glad you'll be able to share even more with others! Thanks!
That is great news!
I hope they return soon.
So glad that you found them a home. Mine are all frozen and very few bad ones in the nearly 25 lbs. beautiful and yummy!
Fabulous news!
Eva Bartlett Heather Mathews
That’s great news! Where can we buy the finished product?
Hurray!
Way to persevere 💪🏼👏🏻😎👍🏼✅ proud of you 👍🏼
As a frequent buyer of tart cherry juice, I’m glad your cherries made it!
So glad for you guys!
*CLOSED FOR THE SEASON*
Thank you to everyone who came for UPick, called, DMed, and expressed their support for our farm this season.
We're so happy to see a strong community of people who love organic fruit as much as we love growing it.
We ended our UPick season yesterday (Tuesday, July 19th) after you picked the equivalent of nearly 1200 pies this year!
I made jam and lemonade concentrate from the 21lbs we got!
Gave you a shout out on tiktok I hope it helped bring to your business. We would love to see your farm stay open. If you aren’t advertising on there I would sure would give it a whirl. You can also make $. Best of luck to your farm and keep on keeping on.
Gorgeous sour cherries! My pie was delicious! 😍
It was as fun as always and I’m looking forward to next season!! 🍒
Wish I could have been there this year
Bummer we just arrived here!!
Do you deliver?
The best cherries we’ve ever picked!
Pat Putney “Do you deliver?” I’d like some cherry pie.
Yea
So glad we got ours from you! Half of our 60lbs.
Loved our visit to your farm. The tart cherries were some amazing. Glad we turned around and bought a cherry pitter made the job of pitting so much faster. We will be back next year. 💞💖🤗
🍒 Crop update!: Things are looking a little different for the rest of 2022.
Due to circumstances outside of our control, we will not have frozen or dried tart cherries in any quantity this fall 😞.
The cherries are perfectly fine, in fact, perfect - but processors have the power to refuse growers like us for a variety of reasons.
That means that until next Tuesday, July 19 will be the only opportunity for organic tart cherries until July 2023.
* Please give our cherries a home or else they will be donated or abandoned. *
Come to you pick for $3 per pound and we’re offering $4 per pound we pick and taking orders.
Call 231–352–4865 to place orders.
Thank you for your support 🍒
This makes me so so sad as Farmer's have put their lively hood into this and with lack of help farms have to find an alternative for their cherry crop.
I wish we lived close enough to come - we’d pick a bunch! So sorry to hear about the processing issue! 😢
Cannot wait to get them this weekend, so glad you are open
Do you still have tart cherries available tomorrow? We’d like to come from Midland.
Any chance you’d stay open a little longer Mon or Tues? My friend and I get out of work at 630 and it takes a half hour to get to your farm.
What was the reason the processor was refusing your cherries
So sad! We hope to see you on Monday!
Do you have sweet cherries or just tarts?
Sorry to hear about these new challeges...😒
We will be there to pick!
This is so crazy
We will be there!
This is awful
This is so sad. I am very sorry.
What time do you open?
Wish I could
Who is the processor?
Do you have a pitter?
I know Detroit is a long way, but there is a place at Eastern market called Michigan Farm to Freezer. You could try contacting them.
Oryana Community Co-op
Anna Mallien
Nicole
Cassie K Monica
Robert John Szybowicz Shannon O'rourke-Mattison
Chelsia Harper
