Greetings from the Northern Fruitlands...

at the end of the weirdest summer ever. Some called it the summer that wasn’t. On drives down through the orchards from Charlevoix to Elk Rapids, it was obvious that our tart cherries (and everything else that relies on warmth) were ripening at least three weeks behind. Many sweet cherries were split by the rains and local tarts didn’t blush from orange to scarlet until it was almost August.

Those of us who awaited summer on the breezy beaches often did so under blankets rather than on them while others abandoned the cloudy shores for another day in town where the American Spoon stores and our Petoskey Café were often filled with sweatered resorters. As you can see we also stayed busy with the debut of our new Jammys that inspired us to compose several stunning new gift assortments to make your holiday giving as easy as pie this year.

It is common wisdom that it takes time and struggle for fruit to develop flavor and character, and all the cloudy stretches, punctuated with just enough sun filled, though still cool afternoons, left ample hours for that. The Bardenhagen’s Early Glow Strawberries came small, but intensely fruity, and the rows of Rubel Blueberries in Sue and Bob O’Brien’s South Haven patch yielded a modest crop of frosty blue jewels filled with flavor and fragrance. While we worried whether the wild elderberries would ripen before a September frost, the cherry orchards delivered a generous harvest; and the climate for Northern Spy Apples, wild blackberries and thimbleberries was absolutely idyllic.

When the weirdness continued into August, we reminded ourselves that the weather comes and goes with the wind, and that, through it all, this sweet, fruitful land remains and renews itself season after season, year after year. And we were more grateful for the annual rituals that sustain us: Joe Daly delivering his luscious Red Haven Peaches as the last of the Leelanau Apricots are being hand pitted, and the September days when our kitchen is suffused with the heady fragrance of thousands of ripening Bartlett Pears.

For almost three decades our work life here at AMERICAN SPOON® has been a long enraptured conversation with this special place we call the Northern Fruitlands. That it is even possible, with enough skill, persistence and patience, to capture some of its ethereal essences for all of you to enjoy and share has been a source of endless fascination that has swept us along through the seasons and the years. On behalf of all of us at AMERICAN SPOON,® and from our beautiful corner of America to yours wherever that might be, here is the work of our hands, the fruit of our land, may it bring you pleasure.