My wife and I have family in from Wisconsin this week.  My wife’s side of the family is made up of many, many dairy farmers.  My father-in-law, Hank, and my mother-in-law, Gertie, are just the best kind of people.  They work hard, give God his due and love everyone in the family.

They have an interesting idea of what Michigan is all about.  When they visit, the first thing they think about is fruit.  In fact, before Kathy met me, they would visit southwest Michigan to pick blueberries, apricots, peaches and a wide range of other produce.

So, today we went cherry picking.  We had spotted a U-pick cherry orchard near Hidden Lake Gardens in Tipton on our way to the Golden Nugget Restaurant last night.  Here’s a look at the big cow on top of the restaurant:

Today, we returned to the orchard, along with my niece, Taylor and her parents, Marv and Julie.  Here’s Taylor holding the ladder as Kathy picks the cherries:

Taylor helps raise the chickens and calves back at the farm, but she had never picked cherries before.  She was really excited.

The cherries were just everywhere.  And part of the fun is sneaking a few before putting them into the buckets.

Before we left, we had to weigh the cherries and calculate the price.  They went for $2.25 per pound at this stand.  I don’t buy enough cherries to know if this was a good price, but my in-laws can now give cherries to all of their farmer neighbors in Wisconsin and brag about how fresh they are.

Before I end this blog post, I have to show you one last picture of my niece.  Here she is taking a nap on the floor of our living room.  She is just the most dynamic little girl.

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