Martin Family Orchard
Fresh Fruit
Martin Family Orchards produces a wide variety of fruit, from apples, apricots and cherries, to nectarines, peaches, pluots, plums and pears. We pride ourselves in clean and responsible growing.
Martin Family Orchards was born in the 1984 when, then general contractor Rick Martin, bought a small piece of property in Cashmere, Washington. Rick bought the property to build his family’s home and it came with about 3 acres of Red Gold Nectarine, Golden Delicious and Red Delicious Apple trees. Rather than clear the trees out, Rick decided to farm the orchard on the side as a hobby. We’re pretty happy with his decision!
Rick found that he had a knack and a passion for growing fruit. He loaded up his old Ford with 30 buckets of just picked, Red Gold Nectarines and headed to Pike Place Market, with his wife Terri Martin, in August of 1985. They sold all 30 buckets that day and started to realize that this orchard hobby might be something they could do full time.
In 1988, a neighbor just down the road put his 10 acre block of Pears and Apples up for sale. Rick and Terri decided they were done with construction and purchased the orchard. They continued to take some of their fruit to the market and sent any remaining fruit to the warehouse. After a couple years, Rick noticed he didn’t like growing his fruit on someone else’s schedule. He wanted his Nectarines to be tree-ripe and dripping with juice. The warehouse wanted them to be firmer and less ripe, to avoid losing over ripe fruit even at the expense of flavor.
In 1994, Rick and Terri heard about a much larger orchard in Orondo, Washington that was about to go on the market. This orchard had nearly 60 acres of Cherries, Peaches, Nectarines, Apples, Apricots and it’s own (very old!) packing shed. Rick saw this as an opportunity to grow AND pack his fruit, the way he wanted to do it. The Martin’s decided to empty their savings and go all in on the Orondo orchard.
In the following years, Rick and Terri purchased some undeveloped land bordering the Orondo Orchard, as well as a 15 acre block just to the north. They tore down the old packing shed and built a, much needed, new packing shed. The Martin’s have planted over 25,000 trees and today have nearly 100 acres of Cherries, Apricots, Peaches, Nectarines, Apples, Pears and Asian Pears with more than 20 different varieties.
Rick and Terri have 3 sons; Ricky, Jamie and Jonny. All three boys have grown up on the orchard and work the land to this day. Ricky and his wife Melissa, have 4 children; Trip, Remy, Ronin and Mila who also chip in during the summer and help with little jobs. Rick, Jamie and Jonny stay close to the orchard and handle most of the farming while Terri, Ricky and Melissa spend a lot of their time in the Seattle area, selling our fruit at various farmers markets around the region. Kelvin Waterman is our Seattle/farmers market manager and is an amazing sales person and problem solver. Jesus Ramirez is our orchard foreman, his family lives and works on the orchard. We are truly the definition of a family owned and operated orchard.
Martin Family Orchards started selling nectarines at Pike Place Market that warm, August day. Since then, Martin Family Orchards, has been one of the original vendors at numerous Seattle farmers markets including: The University District, Ballard, Edmonds, Bellingham, Redmond, Tacoma Broadway, Columbia City, Lake City, Phinney Ridge, Broadway, Magnolia, Proctor, Bellevue and Mercer Island farmers markets, as well as, numerous others around the Northwest.
Rick saw the opportunity to grow fruit on his own schedule and jumped on it. Thanks to that decision, Martin Family Orchards grows all their fruit, tree-ripened. This allows us to produce some of the highest quality, best tasting fruit in the world. We take pride in knowing that our fruit leaves people happy and appreciative that small, family farms can still grow fruit the way it was intended to be farmed.
Dates at Crossroads Farmers Market: All
