FAQ
Before You Buy
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Here’s when you can expect each of our fruits to be in season and ready for harvest:
Flathead Cherries (Skeena, Sweet Cherries) – Late July to Early August
Rainiers (Sweet Cherries) – Late July to Early August
Montmorency (Pie Cherries) – Late July to Early August
Italian Plums – Mid-September
Pears – Mid-to-Late September
Apples – Mid-October
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A pre-order reserves your fruit for the upcoming harvest. It is not an immediate purchase—you won’t receive your fruit right away.
When you place a pre-order, you’re making a paid reservation to secure fruit from the upcoming harvest season. Once harvest begins, we’ll carefully pack and deliver or prepare your order for pickup.
Flathead Cherries
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It’s the local term for the sweet red cherries grown around Flathead Lake. At Cherrywood Orchard, we specialize in the Skeena variety — prized for its impressive size, rich deep-red color, outstanding sweetness and flavor.
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Flathead cherries have a short, once-a-year harvest. In our region, picking typically runs from late July through early August (about three weeks).
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Yes! Cherrywood Orchard offers U-Pick Flathead cherries from mid to late July. Pick fresh, sweet cherries straight from the tree while enjoying stunning views of the Mission Mountains. All are welcome — families, groups, and individuals.
What to Bring:
Bucket (or borrow one), hat, sunglasses, and water.
Details
Open only during U-Pick season.
Reservation required — Book here
$5 booking fee per group | $4 per pound cherries.
Location
23320 Montana Highway 35, Bigfork, MT 59911 — Get directions.
Regenerative
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Regeneratively grown means prioritizing soil health as the foundation for our cherry production. By using farming practices that build soil organic matter and support active soil microbial communities, we create conditions that influence how nutrients are stored, transformed, and made available to our trees.
Practices such as cover cropping, compost application, and organic amendments help maintain living roots in the soil year-round, enhance soil structure, and foster nutrient cycling. Healthier soils support the potential for our cherries to express greater nutrient density and flavor, though outcomes can vary based on specific conditions.
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We take a systems-based approach focused on building soil health through practices shown to improve soil structure, organic matter, and biological activity. Guided by soil testing, we plant diverse cover crops that protect soil, prevent erosion, and contribute to nutrient cycling while supporting beneficial microbial communities.
We apply compost and natural organic amendments (such as algae, worm emulsion, and chicken litter) to feed soil life, significantly reduce synthetic fertilizer use, and eliminate herbicides. These steps, along with deep, infrequent watering to encourage resilient root systems, align with regenerative practices like cover cropping, organic amendments, and reduced synthetic inputs that support soil biology and overall soil function.
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Cherrywood Orchard is Regenerative Verified through Soil Regen’s two-step process. This includes certified soil testing to track improvements in soil biology and organic matter, plus verification of our on-farm practices to confirm they build living soil rather than deplete it.
To our knowledge, we are the first regeneratively verified Flathead cherry orchard around Flathead Lake, with verification completed in May 2025. This third-party process helps ensure our management practices align with soil health principles.
To our knowledge, Cherrywood Orchard is the first regeneratively verified Flathead cherry orchard around Flathead Lake, achieving verification in May 2025.
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No — regenerative and organic are related but not the same.
Organic is a certified labeling standard that prohibits synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, GMOs, and certain other inputs. It focuses primarily on what you don’t use.
Regenerative agriculture is an outcomes-based approach that actively works to improve the land. It emphasizes building soil health, increasing organic matter, enhancing biodiversity, improving water cycles, and supporting a thriving soil microbiome through practices such as:
Cover cropping
Compost and natural amendments
Reduced tillage
Crop diversity
Livestock integration
At Cherrywood Orchard, we follow regenerative practices by using cover crops and spreading natural amendments like compost. Our latest Soil Health Test (June 2026) shows strong results: 7.2% soil organic matter and soil respiration of 321.6 ppm CO2-C — reflecting a ~577% increase in biological activity since our initial testing.
These regenerative methods have contributed to measurable improvements in fruit quality. In a blinded 2025 analysis by Food Metabolomics Lab, our Skeena cherries showed ~69% higher total antioxidants (1,031.92 mg/100g) compared to conventional grocery cherries (609.94 mg/100g), along with notably higher anthocyanins and other beneficial phenolic compounds.
You can be regenerative without being certified organic, and you can be organic without being regenerative. Many of the best systems are both. We focus on regenerative principles because they deliver real benefits for soil, ecosystems, and nutrient density — and we back it up with ongoing soil and fruit testing.
We believe transparency and results matter more than labels alone. If you have questions about our practices or test results, feel free to reach out!
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Shipping
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We currently ship only Flathead Skeena cherries and Italian plums. Skeena cherries are among the best cherry varieties for shipping—they have firm skin and hold up incredibly well. When properly stored and refrigerated, they have a long shelf life and can last up to three weeks once you receive them.
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All cherry orders are pre-orders for the upcoming harvest. Many customers mistakenly expect cherries to be available year-round, but cherries are only harvested once each summer. When you place an order, you are reserving fruit from the next crop, which is picked, packed, and shipped between late July and early August. Once your order leaves the orchard, you’ll receive a shipping notification with tracking information.
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Cherry harvest begins in late July, and all pre-orders are shipped by early August. To ensure freshness, we ship only Monday through Wednesday so that deliveries arrive within one to two days after leaving the orchard.
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Orders are available in five- or seven-pound boxes of premium Flathead Skeena cherries. The fruit is pre-chilled and packed in insulated boxes with cold packs to preserve freshness during transit.
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We deliver to the contiguous 48 states, excluding California.
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Cherry orders and orders for other seasonal fruit can be canceled up to two weeks before harvest for a full refund. After that point, cancellations are not guaranteed since fresh fruit is perishable and harvest planning depends on pre-orders. If we are unable to fulfill your order due to crop loss or unforeseen circumstances, you will receive a full refund.