1927: Great, Great grandpa Moses Aaron Rowley started a family legacy of fruit farming. He was one of the first in Utah to grow tart cherries. Moses had four sons who carried on the farming tradition. Our great grandpa Alvin was one of them. It has been 95 years since the Rowley Family started growing tart cherries, adding fresh vegetables and other varieties of fruit over time. We feel blessed to be part of this great family tradition.
1937: Great Grandpa Moses Alvin Rowley started his farm in Orem, Utah. Without all of the modern machinery, it was a hard lifestyle. Grandpa Alvin and Grandma Myrtle raised their children picking cherries, raspberries, and other fruits by hand. They furrow irrigated at all hours of the day and night. Today there are specialty machines for harvesting and automated watering systems, all of which make farming easier.
1957: Grandpa Claude Alvin Rowley started his farm in Santaquin, Utah. Grandma Karen and Grandpa Claude knew farming was a good way to raise their children. They thought just maybe they could grow some trees too. Over the years, as their family grew, so did their farm. It currently includes locations in southern Utah, Utah County, and Caldwell, Idaho. Cherry Shakers Modern machinery has made picking cherries much faster than the “good ‘ol days” of Moses’ and Alvin’s farms. The first “Friday” limb shaker was purchased in 1969. This machine would shake only one limb at a time but was a lot faster than picking each cherry by hand. In 1974, when the Kilby cherry shakers came on to the scene, everyone celebrated when we could “shake” two full trees in one minute. Today we are able to pick three to four trees every minute with our newest cherry shakers. This is truly phenomenal to those who started out hand-picking cherries.
Cherry harvest is one of the busiest times of the year for our family. As soon as the children are old enough, they are put to work. There are many jobs for all different ages. Our first years working are spent on the pad cleaning out anything that doesn’t belong in a cherry bin. Then, as we get older, we move on to driving the tractors and forklifts, to driving the conveyors and cherry shakers. It is a great time for siblings and cousins to spend time together working hard. Grandma Karen even spent time with us on the pad as our forklift driver.
1991: Grandpa Claude turned the farm over to his sons, but he still continued to help where and when he could. Since that time, his sons have worked hard, learned different farming techniques, and added to the original farm to make it what it is today.
2012: Cherry Hill Farms started moving down to the fifth generation of farmers as we expanded to include farmland in Caldwell, Idaho. If you look closely, you will find Claude and Karen’s children and grandchildren running the farm and great-grandchildren who are being raised on the farm. Everyone works together to carry out the ideals grandma and grandpa started many years ago; raising children who know the importance of hard work and cooperation as we work together on the farm.
What We Grow
Our farm began with tart cherries. Over the years, we have added many other varieties of fruit and, in recent years, vegetables as well. We currently grow apples, tart cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, pumpkins, flowers, and many varieties of garden-fresh vegetables.
Opening to the Public and Starting our Fruit Stands
2020: We opened the doors of our farm to the public as we started Fruit Stands in our various locations. One of our passions is providing fresh fruit and produce to our friends and neighbors. Our fruit stands provide the freshest fruit and vegetables possible. We have enjoyed interacting personally with our neighbors near and far. It has been exciting to have people come out to learn more about life on our farm and the things we grow. We have found that our events and fruit stands have provided great opportunities for people to make connections between the farm and the food that they eat. Each of our locations offer family friendly events. Some of the events we have held since opening our doors include pruning seminars to educate others on pruning fruit trees, a blossom festival that provides the opportunity to see the fruit blossoms on the trees, school field trips, and fruit u-picks. Please see our individual site pages for more information on events.