Out of the almost seventy or so you-pick-yourself fruit farms that reside in the Central Valley area of Eastern Contra Costa County, I am so glad we selected Pease Ranch to go to experience my very first cherry picking. It was so clean and organized that half the fun lay in actually being able to climb the sturdy heavy-duty ladders and take in the lush trees for myself. It was a warm day in May when we decided that we wanted to try our hand at cherry picking and we realized that not many places were open during this time, but luckily we called in advance looking for a fun yet affordable place where cherry picking was not only open but easily accessible. Pease Ranch is just one of the many "U-pick," as they call cherry farms in these parts. They were actually hard to find, as there are actually two other U-pick cherry farms on both sides of the property, so finding their sign and small roadway leading to their parking lot was somewhat difficult. Once we did it was easy, as the staff asked how many buckets we wanted, and then we were off to their groves of cherry trees.
Despite the small entryway, they actually have a significant amount of cherry trees on their property at Pease Ranch, but once we got our buckets from their outdoor weighing and cashier counter we made a bee line for their main orchard which faced their entrance on Marsh Creek Road. They had plenty of cherry trees waiting to be picked clean and luckily they weren't that packed with guests on the day we went, so as we walked, we noticed there were lots of trees and plenty of huge ladders ready to get to the top of the trees to find the ripest and reddest cherries of them all. As this was my first time, I had to take in everything pretty fast, the trick I learned was not to start filling your bucket with all the cherries you see right off the bat. You have to be thoughtful, as they charge $3.75 per pound, which is on the middle range of costs we learned but still was affordable for me. As you walk, my best recommendation is to walk up and down the rows of trees and look for the trees that have the reddest and ripest cherries growing on top of the trees, not the bottom. In other words, don't go for the lowest hanging fruit, the higher the fruit the closer to picking! And so the multitude of easy of maneuver ladders were in great use today. Also you have to let the cherries fall right off with just using a little tug of your hands. If they don't immediately fall off when you give a little tug, then they are not ready for picking and worth your time.
After all was said and done, my bucket was about three fourth's full and as I brought my bucket to their cashier's counter, one person weighed it at about 7 and a half pounds and I was charged 28 dollars total, which was made even better when I learned they accept credit card thanks to having an iPad and square reader. There are honestly so many cherry and stone fruit picking farms to choose from in the local Brentwood area that it can get overwhelming, but we wanted to support a mom and pop place and when we called ahead of time and they said they were open during this time so the choice was easy. They have a small gated area with farm animals for the kids to briefly enjoy once your cherry picking is complete. Our day was over and we had so much in a mere couple of hours, it was a warm day spent on picking fresh fruit and enjoying the great outdoors in a more or less untouched area of the bustling metropolis that makes up the Bay Area, a fun and affordable activity that everyone in our party had fun with! read more