CRESTON, B.C. – A cherry orchard acts as an adoption service in a lush valley in the mountains of southeastern British Columbia.
The adopted trees belong to an exclusive and widespread family.
Up to 300 in number, they are monitored by people from all over Western Canada via website and in person.
When the time and the cherries are ripe, the trees relinquish their fruit to the people who have adopted them.
Caroline and Gord Martin developed the adoption service five years ago, and business is thriving.
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“When you come to the orchard, you can choose a cherry tree on the orchard, so that tree becomes your tree,” said Caroline as she manned the Cherrybrook Farms booth at the Creston Valley Farmers’ Market.
“You put your name on it. We have little plaques that we put by that tree. So every year you renew, you can come back to the same tree. You get all the fruit off that tree.”
A $75 annual membership allows a renter to adopt the tree and monitor its progress via website updates. Pruning, spraying and other maintenance is part of the package, all of it done by Cherrybrook Farms.
Renters are informed when the cherries are ripe and a picking date is arranged. Ladders, harnesses and totes are provided and renters are guaranteed at least 40 pounds of fruit.
Three hundred of Cherrybrook’s 1,200 trees are available for adoption. The farm also grows apples, plums, apricots, peaches, blueberries and saskatoons. Adoption helps people connect with their food and learn more about fruit growth, said Martin.
“This is our idea. It’s the only one in Canada. There is one in England that does it with cherry trees and there’s one in the States that does it with apples.
“I’ve contacted them and they said the only problem with the program is when people get so attached to their tree that if the tree is not healthy and you want to take it down, they get offended because it was their tree for so long.”
Tree adopters come mostly from Western Canada and many use cherry harvest as an occasion for a family reunion, Martin said.
