Life is like a bowl of cherries

I am a huge fan of what I call clean farms. Just ask my husband...I tell him all the time. I like order. I love to take pictures of neat rows of trees, clean lines, repetitive subjects, etc.

But on the other hand some places on the farm have their own rundown charm.

Peeling paint, old tools and boxes, tall grass, rust, and the echoes of the past tend to be more picturesque.

One of the sweet cherries Mom and Dad rent has stolen my heart. It is so beautiful.

Tucked between some grapes and a landscaping business, on a dirt road that one must slow down to travel on it is officially off the beaten path.

The trees are not in complete rows. They are not the standard dwarf varieties that are neatly trimmed every year. They are big and out of control. They are planted on a hill and quietly grow and produce while we run around living our lives full of work and chaos.

The blossomtime picture on our product postcard is from this orchard. This place is magical in the spring.

Somehow these amazing trees protected their blossoms and did not suffer from the finicky spring weather.

It is now loaded with cherries.

All kinds of delicious sweet cherries that will hopefully make it successfully into the hands of some happy customers.

My father in law and mother in law both told me in the last few days that I should go and take pictures. Talk about an impression...this must be good! So this morning not long after sunrise I braved the tall wet grass and explored with camera and lenses.

I was so blessed to see the bounty and glad to see that they had not cracked open with all the recent rains. The weather is always a battle on the farm but moments like these make growing fruit worth the hard work, stress, and hard ache.

Really folks these truly are the most beautiful sweet cherries I have ever seen.

~Christina, farm photojournalist