OVER THE HILL ORCHARDS

Dean and Sylvia Kreutzer have always been fruit lovers; Dean’s earliest memory was of picking saskatoons. Sylvia remembers wading through the river to get to the wild blueberry patch up north.

It was quite a revelation when they toured a local nursery and came upon apricots, plums, apples and pears and asked “can we grow those here?” When they decided to start their own orchard in Lumsden they couldn’t grow peaches like they do in the Okanagan, they could grow other delectable fruit, suited for our climate.

It was quite the transformation for Dean; from computer programmer to Certified Organic fruit grower. Sylvia had grown up on the farm, but growing fruit was a lot different than slopping pigs and herding cattle!

Dean took horticulture classes via correspondence at the University of Saskatchewan to give him the basics of plant anatomy and fruit production, and learned the art of fruit breeding in hopes to create hardier varieties of fruit that can be grown in our climate. They traveled to many fruit growing regions in North America, to learn from the knowledge that growers have accumulated over the years.

After all that study they developed the skills to produce their signature Prairie Cherry, along with their other crops.

Now it is very gratifying for them to offer customers products like spreads, toppings, and chocolate treats- created with so much passion, and important principles such as using Certified Organic fruit, low sugar recipes, and even gluten- free alternatives.

Oh, and those peaches that couldn’t grow here? Well they are!Dean and Sylvia Kreutzer have always been fruit lovers; Dean’s earliest memory was of picking saskatoons. Sylvia remembers wading through the river to get to the wild blueberry patch up north.

It was quite a revelation when they toured a local nursery and came upon apricots, plums, apples and pears and asked “can we grow those here?” When they decided to start their own orchard in Lumsden they couldn’t grow peaches like they do in the Okanagan, they could grow other delectable fruit, suited for our climate.

It was quite the transformation for Dean; from computer programmer to Certified Organic fruit grower. Sylvia had grown up on the farm, but growing fruit was a lot different than slopping pigs and herding cattle!

Dean took horticulture classes via correspondence at the University of Saskatchewan to give him the basics of plant anatomy and fruit production, and learned the art of fruit breeding in hopes to create hardier varieties of fruit that can be grown in our climate. They traveled to many fruit growing regions in North America, to learn from the knowledge that growers have accumulated over the years.

After all that study they developed the skills to produce their signature Prairie Cherry, along with their other crops.

Now it is very gratifying for them to offer customers products like spreads, toppings, and chocolate treats- created with so much passion, and important principles such as using Certified Organic fruit, low sugar recipes, and even gluten- free alternatives.

Oh, and those peaches that couldn’t grow here? Well they are!