Rowley & Hawkins Fruit Farms is a family owned and operated business that is over 6 generations deep. They now have 3 sons and a daughter who are full time managers along with other family members who help and work on the farm. They grow a variety of fruits and vegetables but their main crop is tart cherries. They also grow several varieties of apples, sweet cherries, peaches, apricots, raspberries, blackberries, asparagus and some grapes, pears and plums.

Their busiest time of year is May through September with all the harvesting of several different crops happening. They have 10-15 year round employees that help with the orchards and during harvest they have friends and family come and help. During the peak of harvest they employee approx 160 people.

They say that fruit is in their blood and over the generations of sharing knowledge and the expansion of technology they have been able to improve their methods and expand on a better product for the customer. They have proven that a “family that works together, sticks together”. In 1981 the family left a successful family farm in Payson, Utah to move to Washington and pioneer the tart cherry industry. They currently operate 1000 acres centered in Basin City, WA. In 1984 the cherry processing line expanded and Northwest Tart Cherry Inc., a “sister” processing company for R&HFF was built to fulfill the tart cherry processing needs. They started selling fresh fruit at roadside stands and farmers markets and have now grown to have two labels Tasteatreat and FreshpicksWa brand, which includes two commercial store locations, a box-a-week delivery program, and a strong farmer’s market presence. The fruit stand in Moses Lake offers fresh fruit and vegetables and the Kennewick storefront Fresh Picks is open year round offering fruits, vegetables, smoothies and other fruit novelties.

You can also get fresh produce, fresh smoothies, and ciders at their store front location Fresh Picks, located at 8378 W Grandridge Blvd. Kennewick, WA 99336. Visit their websites freshpickswa.com, to order fruit locally for pickup or tasteatreat.com, to have fruit shipped anywhere is the US. Rowley and Hawkins Fruit Farm’s main goal is “to grow great fruit to grow great families.”