If you haven't gone apple or pumpkin picking yet, there is still time.  The apple trees throughout orchards in upstate New York continue to blossom with myriad varieties of ripening fresh apples. 

   
There is nothing that says Fall more than biting into a crisp apple while standing in an apple orchard.  The cool air, the riot of nature's colors and the views of mountains in the distance, all add up to a genuinely Fall experience.  One that everyone enjoys - no matter their age.  Apples in New York State ripen throughout late September, October and early November.  This means that there are a couple weeks left to enjoy all that nature has to offer.

These orchard photos were taken at Ochs Orchards in Warwick, New York.  They offer opportunities to pick your own apples and supply you with a map of the apple tree varieties together with their ripening dates.  A small bag which held about 30 apples (big enough for us) was about $13.  A larger mesh bag was about $25.  In the past, we have also visited Maskers and Pennings which are both within a couple of miles from Ochs.  Maskers has more activities for the children (like face painting and pony rides), but this somehow makes it feel less like an orchard.  Be prepared for long, long lines for everything there.  Pennings is lovely and has a large farmstand if you wish to purchase, rather than pick, your apples.  Frankly, we skipped it because it was just a little further for us and we wanted to get out of the car.  On a day with less crowds, we might have visited Maskers and Pennings as well.

For pumpkin picking the above orchards offer u-pick pumpkins, but a true pumpkin patch is found at Bellevale Farms.  Their creamery down the road entices with lucsious handcrafted ice creams as well.  It is off of the same main road as Ochs.  All too often when we go pumpkin picking, we simply "pick" the pumpkins from a pile in a field somewhere.  This field is not really a pumpkin patch - just lots of pumpkins waiting to be picked - up.   At Bellevale, you are actually selecting the pumpkins from the spot in which they grew.  Some still remain fresh on their stems.  This is a true pumpkin patch in my opinion.  They even take you to the patch in a hay ride drawn by a tractor. 


Believe me, if you want to see your child smile from ear to ear this is the place to go.  My daughter had the biggest smile from the minute the tractor started through the moment she carried her pumpkin to the old fashioned scale to weigh it.  The prices were affordable too.   Our gigantic pumpkins weighed in at almost 60 lbs. and we paid less than $30 for them.  And an amazing experience was thrown in for free...

Where do you like to go?