Sep 27, 2007

Pit Spit, Redhaven Heritage Give Farm Market a Story To Tell

How’s this for publicity?

On the first Saturday of every July, the International Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship shines a spotlight on Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm and its summer cherry harvest. Competitors come from all over the world to test their mettle, trailed by the international media. Guinness World Records has taken note of the longest spit ever spat in recognized competition – 93 feet, six and a half inches by Brian “Young Gun” Krause in 2003, according to www.treemendus-fruit.com.

What started out as an innocuous game more than 35 years ago has turned into an international event for Tree-Mendus, a farm market in Eau Claire, Mich. The contest, and other activities, have made Tree-Mendus a destination – where before it was so far off the beaten path that nobody knew how to get there, said Herb Teichman, who helps his son, Bill Teichman, and other members of the family run the farm.

Herb, now 77, started the pit spit contest. Customers used to stand in line, waiting for their u-pick cherries to be washed, chilled and pitted. To give the kids something to do, Herb drew a line in the sand in front of the building and encouraged them to find out who could spit a cherry pit the farthest. Soon enough, the parents were getting involved, and the championship really started.

It’s come a long way. Herb recently met with a Swiss delegation in Chicago as part of a worldwide effort to standardize international pit-spitting rules. In order to be officially recognized, a pit spit must take place on a standard court (the one at Tree-Mendus is 100 feet by 20 feet) and must use pits from Montmorency cherries, which are grown throughout the world. In Europe, they were spitting with any variety they could get, which led to unequal pit sizes and questionable distance records. Now, if a venue doesn’t have access to Montmorency cherries they must be ordered from Michigan, Herb said.

Drawing attention to Michigan’s cherry harvest was one of Herb’s goals.

“We try to represent the natural beauty of Michigan and its fruit industry,” he said.

The Teichman family has been a part of Michigan’s fruit industry since 1927, when Herb’s parents cleared 160 acres of land and planted fruit trees. Herb’s father became interested in horticulture after picking up a book on the subject while convalescing in a French hospital during World War I. Herb, who was born and raised on the fruit farm, came back after a few years away and – with his wife, Liz – took over the family business in 1962.

The Teichman family has another claim to fame, besides the pit-spit contest. The first Redhaven peach ever sold (in Benton Harbor, Mich., in 1941) came from their farm. Herb’s father was a close friend of Stanley Johnston, the Michigan State University professor who developed the “Haven” peach varieties. Herb’s father tested Redhavens in his nursery and was the first to sell them commercially. Soon enough, he was cutting buds for nurseries all over the country, Herb said.

Redhaven was the perfect peach for its time – and still dominates the fresh market today. At the time, this freestone variety ripened earlier than other peaches and retained its color after thawing, which is exactly what growers were looking for, according to Herb. The Redhaven today is the standard maturity peach by which others are compared.

“Every time I see a Redhaven, I kind of feel like it’s part of the family,” he said.

Tree-Mendus still grows Redhaven peaches – one of its 35 varieties. A new variety ripens every day until the peach harvest ends in late August. Other crops are sweet cherries, tart cherries, apricots, nectarines, plums, pears and apples, Herb said.

The majority of the fruit is sold u-pick, but some still is sold in the wholesale market. The orchard, which had 800 acres at one time but is down to 450, started transitioning to direct sales four decades ago. That’s when the Tree-Mendus name came into being, Herb said.

Narrated tours have grown into an important segment of the business in the last 30 years. So has renting “family trees.” Some families have been renting the same apple trees at Tree-Mendus for three decades, with two or three generations participating. Picking fruit from their own tree has turned into a fall reunion for many families.

The cost to rent a tree depends on its variety and location in the orchard. It’s been a successful enterprise, but Herb doesn’t think it would work for every farm.

“It’s not a profit center,” he said. “It’s a promotional thing. People that rent a tree claim a part of Michigan.”

Tree-Mendus has been mailing out an annual newsletter every May for more than 30 years. Among other things, the newsletter previews the upcoming harvest season. A weekly ripe-and-ready report over the phone or on the Web site lets customers know what’s being picked at any given moment, Herb said.

Tree-Mendus still is a family operation, and will be for the foreseeable future. Herb’s son, Bill, took over last year. Bill’s wife, Monica, grows flowers and works in the market. Bill’s sisters, Lynne Sage and Cindy Devalk, also work at the farm, along with Cindy’s husband, Glen.

“We’re doing what we can to save the farm,” Herb said.