Apple Picking at Weed Orchard and Winery : Out of The City and Into The Wild

On our way to the picturesque Weed Orchards & Winery in Marlboro, New York, we were greeted by a friendly staff handing out bags for apples, mason jars and scissors for picking flowers, as well as boxes for larger vegetables and pumpkins. Completely excited, we grabbed everything we needed, loaded up our wagon, and took off for the farm.

As we made our way around the barn, I was blown away by a colorful and vast field of flowers ready for picking. The landscape felt like something right out of a children’s story book and I couldn’t wait to dive in.

My inner child was in her glories as I made my way around through the fields looking for the brightest and healthiest zinnias for my bouquet, and I ran into plenty of bees, butterflies, and several little rabbits along the way. Weed Orchard is a family-owned farm, and the unadulterated landscape lends itself beautifully to wildlife discovery.

Just as I had gathered enough flowers for my bouquet, a big, rustic tractor pulled right up to the flower field as a tour group hopped off the back.

As fun as a tractor ride sounded, the last thing I wanted to do was sit down after the long car ride to the orchard, so once we took advantage of the picturesque opportunity, we kept roaming.

The girls and I grabbed our wagon and began our search through the orchard on foot for the best apples we could find. We made our way as far back as we could go because, although it’s still early in the season, many of the early orchards were surprisingly already picked through.

Just as lunch time started to approach, I picked a perfect honey crisp apple to enjoy as we navigated the maze of trees. There’s really nothing like being able to get your food directly from it’s source…

Although we were there for apples, these wine grapes were the most delicious find of all. Nestled underneath their leaves and vines, they were practically hidden from view and easy to miss. I ate a few right off the vine and found them much sweeter and juicier than table grapes, full of tiny seeds.

Luckily, due to their shape, apple trees are pretty easy to climb and the best views of this Hudson Valley orchard are definitely seen from the tree tops. Once we had found our tree, we filled up our giant bag with as many gala apples as we could fit.

Once our wagon was a bit too heavy to comfortably wheel around, we figured we had more than our fair share of goodies to take back to the city. It was a perfect day trip to kick off the fall season. Weed Orchards is open 7 days a week for fruit picking, while the winery is open on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from Noon to 5 PM. The orchard offers peaches (while supplies last) GingerGold Apples, HoneyCrisp Apples, Gala Apples, Grapes, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Broccoli, Peppers, Green Beans, Wax Beans, Cucumbers and Zinnia Flowers for picking.