With delicious cherries in season, I head to Levering Orchard in western Virginia for pick-your-own fruit, a lovely outing in a beautiful setting, and cherry recipes to bake when I get home.
story & photos by Bakery Boy
Click here to see a separate post about Cherry Picking Time at Levering Orchard
Click here to see a separate post with a recipe for Cherry Crisp from Levering Orchard
A day before I made this pie, the tart cherries I picked for it were still hanging on trees.
I picked the cherries that went into the pie I’m eating as I write this. There’s a sense of accomplishment—and a certain smug pleasure—in this fact. Besides reveling in buckets full of fresh cherries to snack on raw and to bake into various treats, I also have fresh memories of spending a lovely day in a century-old orchard perched on a verdant slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains just off the road-trip-worthy Blue Ridge Parkway.
Ready for picking
At Levering Orchard in western Virginia, the southernmost cherry orchard in the eastern United States, people can drive up, borrow plastic pales, climb wooden ladders already placed in ripe locations, and harvest as much fruit as they want (paying $2.49 per pound as they leave). Red and purple fingers belie the effort, and red and purple tongues offer evidence that sampling while picking is not only common but also encouraged.
A sweet slice of homemade cherry pie, loaded with fruit as well as memories of a fine day of cherry picking.
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