What We Do
Farmer Brown Cherries is a family owned 100 acre farm on the Willamette River in the heart of Oregon's Willamette Valley. It is operated by Jim and Anastasia Brown and we live on the farm. We are 5 miles south of Independence, Oregon on Wigrich Road. Our neighbors also produce cherries as well as hops, row crop and hazel nuts. This is the type of land which attracted the pioneers to make the trek on the Oregon Trail. We have farmed her for over 25 years and those before us were actual descendants of Oregon Trail pioneers. We started planting our orchards 25 years ago and currently have 73 acres in cherry orchards. While most of our crop is sold to producers we also sell some fresh cherries and cherry juice.
Read More »Cherry Delight
Our orchards are divided into 6 fields. The first three consist of Royal Ann and Lapin cherries which are used to make Maraschino Cherries. The Royal Ann is a white cherry which is ideal for producing a maraschino cherry. The Lapins are pollinators and are a black cherry which is desired either fresh or used for also making a maraschino cherry. The next two orchards are planted with sweetheart cherries which is a newer deep red variety. It ripens late which is good in the Willamette Valley due to dry summers but often wet springs. One field is pruned for hand pick and the other for machine pick. The last orchard is planted with Montmorency cherries. It is the tart or sour cherry used in pies, juice and pastry.
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