Loyal customers flock to organic Fat Robin Orchard

FINLEY POINT — While many of the area’s large cherry producers spent the weekend in deadlock, not all farms were sitting idle at the onset of this year’s harvest season.

Only a couple hundred yards uphill from the Flathead Cherry Growers’ packing plant, cherries were flying off of trees and into the hands (and mouths) of eager consumers at Fat Robin Orchard, owned by Lise Rousseau Silva and her husband Albert Silva.

The orchard is one of just four organic cherry orchards in the Flathead region, and operates independently from the local growers’ cooperative.

Saturday marked the much-anticipated start of the harvest, as members of the public could finally make the pilgrimage to the farm’s scenic grounds overlooking the lake for first dibs on boughs teeming with ripe fruit. Some limbs were so laden with cherries that they drooped to the ground.

“The crop size (this year) is good. This oddball rain isn’t necessarily a good thing, causing some splitting,” said Albert.

Dayle Halverson and her family made the 9.5-hour drive from their home in Portland, Ore. to be among the first to have at this year’s bounty. For the Halversons, who have been making the trek for years, the annual trip to Fat Robin Orchards is about more than just a quest to pick world-class cherries.

Halverson voiced the importance of having her three kids develop a connection to the source of their food. She also alluded to a strong “nostalgic” element to the calming yearly ritual, which will net them approximately 50 pounds of fruit. “You do something every year and it becomes a tradition,” she explained.

“Finding an organic source is what keeps us coming back,” Halverson said. “We know we’re taking home a good product.”

The Halversons aren’t alone in their love for the orchard. Pat Anderson from Lakeside was another visitor who raved about the allure of the organic farm.

“It’s a great multi-generational activity,” said Anderson, who was joined by her daughter and mother to pick.

And of course, the cherries, themselves, have a lot to do with the orchard’s popularity.

“They seem to be perfect,” Anderson said of the cherries. “And we can eat them with a clean conscience,” she added, referencing their organic certification.

This is the ninth season in the cherry business for the Silvas, who relocated to Finley Point from the Denver area after purchasing the 15-acre orchard. The orchard itself has been in operation for over 40 years.

About 10 percent of the orchard’s produce is self-picked by patrons like Anderson and Halverson. On some exceptional “U-pick” weekends, up to 400 people can crowd the rows of trees, vying for fruit. The remainder of the crop is sold commercially and picked mostly by migrant workers who come over from Washington.

Fat Robin Orchard’s organic standing and loyal following also helps insulate the Silvas from the sometimes volatile calculus of interstate cherry economics, which halted FCGA cherry picking this past weekend.

“We have a very select niche,” Lise says, noting that there is high demand for Montana cherries and organics in general. Meeting both criteria gives Fat Robin Orchard a welcome level of stability.

The orchard attracts customers from all over Montana and Idaho, and even distributes its produce to Minnesota. The Silvas have even shipped cherries to individuals as far as Connecticut.

Area residents hoping to pick fruit from the orchard will need to act soon and stay tuned for “U-pick” opportunities. Depending on a variety of factors, harvest season at Fat Robin Orchard can last anywhere between four days and four weeks.