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This morning, New Morning Farm at the Sheridan School had several kinds of cherries, all labeled "sweet". Among them, a medium-dark cherry turned out to be among the tartest sweet cherries I've ever encountered, and among the best cherries of any kind I've eaten in ages. I couldn't help myself, I bought three quarts. I've got a multi-meal house party coming up in two weeks, and was thinking one of the meals could use a really good cherry pie. These cherries are tart enough to be good pie cherries. Now, how to get today's cherries into a pie two weeks hence...pit them now and freeze them? Keep them whole in the fridge and hope they last two weeks? Eat all of these fresh and hope they have more next week? I should have asked this morning if they'd have more of the same cherries next week, but I didn't think about it till I got home. What to do, what to do....

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Will that put the cherries in July?
I hope so - maybe I'll actually have time to can some this year.

I spoke with somebody at the Rockville farmers market yesterday (a terrible FM, but I feel this compulsion to support it because it's my local)--they said that they expected sour cherries in 2-3 weeks (which does seem a bit later to me than in years passed). My son is very excited at the possibility of cherry pie.

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Does anyone know the situation with Cherries on Top in Flint Hill? Am assuming it is no more. Owner Gary Sellers was killed last year and the website has now gone dark.

I think you should plan to pick cherries at Homestead Farm in Poolesville instead. I tried year after year to go to Cherries On Top, and never hit it just right. Homestead has a huge cherry orchard, and is open for weeks, not just one weekend. I've always had good luck there. You can call and find out what their pick-your-own schedule is. N.B. I have always gone there to pick sour cherries. Not sure whether they have sweet cherries.

Homestead Farm
15600 Sugarland Rd.
Poolesville, MD 20837
301-977-3761

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I think you should plan to pick cherries at Homestead Farm in Poolesville instead. I tried year after year to go to Cherries On Top, and never hit it just right. Homestead has a huge cherry orchard, and is open for weeks, not just one weekend. I've always had good luck there. You can call and find out what their pick-your-own schedule is. N.B. I have always gone there to pick sour cherries. Not sure whether they have sweet cherries.

Homestead Farm
15600 Sugarland Rd.
Poolesville, MD 20837
301-977-3761

Yep, I always go to Homestead for sour cherries too. They usually don't have sweet cherries, though. Cherries on Top had only sweet cherries-- like 10 different varieties of them. That place was really something. Unfortunate...

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Bumping this thread.  I bought a quart of sour cherries at the Wakefield farmer's market Wednesday July 9, 2014.  OMG, they were soo delicious just eating out of hand, we ate all of them by Thursday and I am craving more.   Any recent sightings elsewhere?

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I bought some outside at Eastern Market last weekend.  One of the sellers from WVA had them.  I made a compote with them, which we still haven't consumed, since I wanted to serve it with the lemon pound cake I just finally put in the oven...

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I did something wild and crazy for me, who almost never leaves my comfort zone. Drove to Homestead Farm, a pick your own place in Poolesville, MD, from Springfield, VA, and back, on my lunch break, using all my lunch break and 50 minutes of personal leave, hoping to buy tart cherries without having to pick them in my lawyer duds.

Got lucky. There were two quarts on the counter. The cashier said I could not have them, they were spoken for, but the putative owner said he actually did not want them, so I scored them. It was a beautiful day, bright blue sky and fluffy clouds, hardly any traffic, and I listened to Brian Eno as my soundtrack there and back.

We've already eaten about 3/4, and they will be gone tomorrow. They are really, really good just plain, much better than sweet cherries, reminiscent of cranberries and gooseberries but sweeter. Tomorrow I will try the Fairfax and Lorton farmers market, but if I come up empty handed, I won't cry. These babies are seasonal.

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