Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Hallstedt And Phil Hallstedt.
Sarah Hallstedt and Phil Hallstedt, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Our story starts with two young girls who were born in 1900 on the Leelanau Peninsula in Omena, MI. They became best friends, and moved together to Grand Rapids after 8th grade. Each married; one had all boys and one had all girls; one from each family married and were Phil’s parents!
Phil and I loved coming up from the Indianapolis area to northern Michigan both before and after we had kids, and we all grew to love the area. In 2006, we bought a 53 acre farm that had no infrastructure, no water, no utilities, no buildings, but had plenty of dying tart trees. We came up to spend vacation time with Phil’s folks, as well as work on the land. We spent four years rehabbing the soil through cover crops, and then planted 9,000 sweet cherry trees. We joke that we have five college degrees between us, but knew nothing about growing a cherry tree! We learned a great deal from farmers who were willing to collaboate with and mentor us, as well as the Michigan State University Extension research office up here.
After our three kids sprang the nest, we sold our home in Indy and moved here permanently during the 2016 cherry harvest. We started harvesting for the fresh produce wholesale market, bringing in crews to hand-pick starting at 6 am each day. After a few years, we did figure out that we would never make mopney with that model, and pivoted to a u-pick model ~ jsut as COVID hit. We were blessed in that families could still come out and upick cherries during COVID, and have stuck with that model since!
In the spring of 2017, our daughter announced her engagement, and I naively offered to grow the flowers for the wedding, even though I had only grown for my own pleasure to that point. Bu the September wedding, we had an over-abundance of flowers, and I was asked why I was not selling them as well…we are now growing and selling 1/2 acres’ worth, selling to two grocery stores, at two local Farmer’s markets, and for special events.
We were often asked, “What else do you have for us to buy?” and shortly following that, we planted thornless raspberry plants, also for u-pick…
All that, and we could still not break-even financially, due to rising chemical and labor costs. Phil had been messing around with an old family cherry wine recipe, and had made 50 gallons extra in 2023. Our now-adult kids arrived for Christmas, one of whom brought shrub. Phil was intrigued that the shrub recipe called for one part each of vinegar, mashed fruit, and something sweet. ..
He was on the trail towards experimenting with acetifying the cherry wine into vinegar!
We are now in our second full year of producing Red Truck Orchards Cherry Vinegar! We re-purposed a shell of a metal pole barn into a state-of-the-art small vinegar production facility, with a goal of producing and selling thousands of bottles per month.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Heck no,the journey has not been smooth!
Labor and chemical costs rising…
Cherry prices decreasing…
COVID….
Weather events becoming more volatile and extreme
On the postive notes…
We have built community…
In a place we love….
With a beautiful view out our from our windows …
Work that does not (always) hold us captive behind a desk…
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Farmers/Orchardist is our current title. No desk job (or any other job) could have prepared us for this! If you had told me 20 years ago when we bought the farm that we would be growing the fruit for and producing the cherry vinegar in a proprietarty method created here, I would have guffawed. We believe we are the only company in the US producing vinegar through a skin-on, double-fermented process.
How do you think about happiness?
Watching a skeptical potential new cherry lover eating a fresh, sweet cherry they picked off a tree as the juice drips down their chin and then spitting the pit as far as it can go, and exclaiming, “Wow, you are right, I do like that! So that is what a fresh cherry should taste like?!
Pricing:
- Upick sweet Cherries $4.50/pound
- Bouquets starting at $19
- Upick thornless raspberries $5/pint, $9/quart
- Cherry Vinegar
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hhcherries.net/
- Instagram: @hhcherries
- Facebook: Hhcherries
