Small Farm.
Big Mission.
Supporting Farmers, Elevating Health, Preserving Traditions
At Red Truck Orchards, our purpose is to strengthen and support our community of local cherry growers: our family, our neighbors, and our friends. Our farm thrives on the collaboration of local growers, bringing innovation and exceptional products to the market.
Each bottle of our cherry vinegar represents the hard work and passion of not just ourselves, but our community.
OUR Passion is preservation
Small farms are the backbone of our communities, but they're facing tough times. Between rising costs and a global market, many are struggling to keep their farms afloat.
That's where Red Truck Orchards comes in. By collaborating with family farms, we can pay them a fair price for their hard work. We want to help these families stay in business, keeping fresh, local food on our tables and making sure those cherry orchards keep on blossoming for generations to come.
When you purchase our vinegar, know that you're not just enjoying the amazing health benefits; you're supporting a whole community of passionate farmers! Now that's something to raise a glass (or bottle) to!
OUR STORY
Red Truck Orchards was founded by cherry-lovin' Sarah & Phil Hallstedt at ,Hallstedt Homestead Cherries, a first-generation U-Pick cherry farm nestled in the charming town of Northport, tucked right up at the tip of Leelanau Peninsula between Lake Michigan and Grand Traverse Bay.
As the host orchard for Red Truck Orchards, Hallstedt Homestead is open to the public during cherry season — usually July and August. You can come see the cherries bloom, watch them ripen, and pick them yourself with your family!
Since 2006, we’ve been passionate about growing the juiciest, most delicious cherries you've ever sunk your teeth into. But cherry harvest is short and sweet, so we figured we’d come up with a way of enjoying their goodness year-round.
Here's where things get interesting!
The Hallstedts have a long family history of making cherry wine, so we took our top-secret family recipe and gave it a twist. We asked: what if we could turn that cherry wine into a new unique cherry vinegar?
Turns out we could. And we did. Borrowing techniques we learned from local wine-making neighbors, we use a special, skin-on fermentation process to extract all of that cherry goodness into our Cherry Vinegar.
Finally, we use only the best, most flavorful wine yeasts in order to protect and preserve those flavors once they’re in the bottle. In our laboratory, we hand-select mother cultures for flavor, first and foremost, ensuring our vinegar always boasts a bright, fresh, smooth flavor profile that will knock your socks off!
Local collaBoration
We collaborate with local farmers to source the best cherries that Northern Michigan has to offer. By cutting out the middle man, we know exactly where our cherries are coming from.
We’re picky about who we work with — we only select farmers that are responsible food producers and dedicated land stewards to make sure we can continue our partnership for years to come.