City living has a lot in its corner, but few experiences can beat a beautiful fall day in an apple orchard. Luckily for us, Illinois and the surrounding states are full of family-owned, often multigenerational orchards where urbanites can live out their pastoral daydreams. And despite a dry summer that tipped parts of the region into drought conditions, many orchard owners say their apples are bigger, crisper, redder and better than ever before.
“During the summer season, when all of our apples were putting all of their energy into growing, we had plenty of rainfall, so dry weather at the harvest is not a bad thing at all,” says Andy Smith, co-owner of Edwards Orchard in Poplar Grove.
Dave Flannery of Apple Holler in Sturtevant, Wisc., agrees. “We had a pretty mild winter, followed by a spring that was warmer than normal and with a lot more rain than normal,” he says. “It was almost tropical in that sense, perfect growing conditions.”
Even if you can’t tell your Haralson from your Crimson Topaz, orchards these days offer all kinds of entertainment outside of just apples. Expect to find a wide variety of pumpkins, petting zoos, play areas and obstacle courses, not to mention social media-friendly backdrops and photo opportunities. “We’ve got a number of heirloom mums on the property, and our dahlias went crazy [this year],” says Jenny Fahey of Peck & Bushel in Colgate, Wisc. “It’s actually used for pollinator habitats, just to showcase some of the Wisconsin varieties of florals we grow.”
One basically universal note about visiting a working farm, however: Leave your furry friends at home. The Food and Drug Administration’s food safety rules for agritourism establishments, as well as U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, mean that most pets and, in certain cases, service animals aren’t allowed in the orchard.
Here are 10 orchards within easy driving distance of Chicago. Plan fast, though — apple season will wrap up soon, and many orchards close for the season on or around Oct. 31.
In Illinois
Curtis Orchard
3902 S. Duncan Road, Champaign; Monday-Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Through Oct. 31
Founded in 1977, this orchard grows nearly 30 varieties of apples, with more planted to offer in future seasons. The website not only keeps you up to date with which types are ready for picking, it also offers pointers on each apple’s best uses (baking vs. brewing vs. eating). Try out family-friendly activities like the corn maze, pony rides and pumpkin picking on select days. Keep an eye out for the Wizard of Oz-themed decor.
Animal encounters: Goats, kittens, ponies, beehives, Clydesdale wagon rides
Recommended eats: “I think our caramel apples are absolutely fantastic,” says office secretary and beekeeper Rachel Coventry. “I also love our pumpkin bars. We make pans and pans and pans of those.”
Added sparkle: Professional face-painting and glitter tattoos make those photo ops all the livelier.
Edwards Orchard
7061 Centerville Road, Poplar Grove; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, weather permitting
Edwards Orchard sits about two hours northwest of Chicago and grows two dozen apple varieties for picking, ensuring there’s always something in season. The Edwards family prides itself on sustainable farming methods, such as restoring prairie and wetland on the orchard to preserve bee habitat. Don’t leave without stopping in the cafe for hot apple cider doughnuts.
Animal encounters: “Otis is our eight-month-old Highland mini,” says co-owner Andy Smith. “He looks like a little bison.” For 50 cents, visitors can feed this “furry and friendly” young cow for a “close, sometimes wet-tongue experience.” Also keep an eye out for Gus, the family English Labrador who’s “just been promoted to Orchard Greeter.”
Recommended eats: Smith says visitors this year are looking for an amazing crunch in their apples. “When you get that sensory experience, the flavor and the aromas and the sight of the apples, everything just kind of falls into place.”
Good vibes: “Our main goal is to create a place with all the fall feels, to really create this ambiance that is comforting and familiar that people will want to come back to year after year,” Smith says. “I myself am the fourth generation here on our farm, and our kids are the fifth generation. That sense of tradition and continuing to make these memories, that’s so extremely important to us.”
Honey Hill Orchard
11783 Waterman Road, Waterman; 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily
Dozens of apple varieties, as well as pumpkins, are available for picking at this orchard less than two hours west of the city; U-Pick produce is cash only. Visitors can purchase farm-harvested raw honey and caramel apples on site. The orchard also hosts a Pumpkin Harvest Weekend, which runs Oct. 19-20 this year.
Animal encounters: Miniature pony, donkey, rabbit, goats, chicken, sheep
Recommended eats: In addition to fresh apple cider donuts, the farm will be selling pumpkin donuts during its Pumpkin Harvest Weekend. Visitors can enjoy them on site or take them home by the dozen or half-dozen. “We’ve got people who wait all year round for them,” says co-owner Brittany Richey.
Living history: Richey’s grandfather started the orchard in 1977, selling apples out of his garage, but the property’s apple barn dates all the way back to the 1880s. Kids and adults will also enjoy the many (safely) repurposed iconic farm implements that form and decorate the playground, including a hay rack, a straw maze with a tunnel for toddlers and basketball hoops made from an old green cart.
All Seasons Orchard
14510 IL Route 176, Woodstock; weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Through Oct. 29.
Two orchards, 16,000 apple trees, one prize piece of fruit — this farm has one of the largest Honeycrisp orchards in northern Illinois. That said, it’s late in Honeycrisp season, but there are plenty of other delicious and baking-friendly apples left to nab. An up-to-date list of available varieties is accessible both on their website and their phone number. For families, the orchard’s “fun farm” includes a ropes course and pig races, plus a corn maze, U-Pick pumpkin patches and a bee observation station.
Jonamac Orchard
19412 Shabbona Road, Malta; weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday (and holidays) 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Through Oct. 27. Apple picking is included with general admission.
All-ages fun and fruit-picking, both for apples and pumpkins, are available seven days a week. On weekends, the orchard asks that visitors reserve a time slot through their website. General admission covers all manner of delights, including hay rides, live entertainment, an obstacle course and a corn maze (which becomes a haunted maze on October weekends). For nighttime visitors, you can reserve space for camping and bonfires, with s’mores roasting sticks available too.
Animal encounters: Pony rides are on offer, but for the truly bold, guests can ride one of the two camels on site on weekends. Though up to two people of any age can perch on a camel’s back, be warned — the back of a camel is over six feet tall, advises co-owner Mike Spychal, “so you are riding about six, seven feet in the air.” The animals themselves are not intimidating, though. Spychal describes them as “fluffy, happy and smiling.”
Recommended eats: In addition to making its own hard cider, Jonamac brews apple wines. “They tend to fall a little more in the dessert category,” says Spychal, but apple wines have as diverse a flavor profile as those made of grapes. “We do have some dry apple wines that have been barrel-aged, and they taste very similar to a Chardonnay.”
Young at heart: Apples that fall to the ground are no longer allowed to be consumed by humans, but that doesn’t mean they’re useless. Visitors can shoot fallen apples out of an air-powered apple shooter; where they land, they’re composted.
Beyond Illinois
County Line Orchard
200 S. County Line Road, Hobart, Ind.; open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Not too far from the Indiana border, you’ll find County Line. Apples, pumpkins and sunflowers are available for visitors to harvest while in season throughout the fall. An all-access pass includes a corn maze, tractor rides and, for the smallest kids, a soybean maze. Check out the bee yurts for a new take on hive harmony.
Animal encounters: The kids’ farm features cows, pigs and everything in between, but make some time to say hi to Ernie, the newest member of the furry-and-feathered family. He’s a particularly stylish donkey that one guest describes as “an oversized puppy — so sweet!”
Recommended eats: Lots of orchards offer fresh donuts, but at County Line, the pumpkin and apple-cinnamon treats are available with a gorgeous russet glaze. Kick back with a few during the kid-friendly live music performances.
Fever fans: If you think you’re a huge WNBA fan, just imagine how excited you’d be to make an enormous corn and soy maze of Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark like County Line did.
Peck & Bushel Organic Fruit Company
5454 County Road Q, Colgate, Wis.; open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
About two hours northwest of Chicago, Peck & Bushel offers U-Pick on weekends until mid-October or whenever they sell out of fruit. While you’re there, stop by their barn for organic home-pressed cider, homemade apple cider donuts and more.
Recommended eats: “Honeycrisp is actually finishing up now,” says co-owner Jenny Fahey. “We’ve got CrimsonCrisp, we’ve got our Wisconsin honeycrisp varieties, [called] Pazazz. And then coming up this weekend (Oct. 12–13), we’ve got Crimson Topaz, which is actually an apple from the Czech Republic, so it has this European spice flavor to it.” But the star of the show is the Haralson. “It’s from the Upper Midwest only,” says Fahey, “and that’s all they used in their pies, because they’re such a great tart apple.” Granny Smiths, which usually go into apple pies, are from Washington state, which has a much later growing and harvesting window. “Haralson is the Midwest answer to the Granny Smith apple.”
Kick back: Peck & Bushel is a young orchard, first planted in 2010, but the site has grown into a sophisticated event and retail space in addition to all its organic fare. New this year is the cidery building and cafe that serves lunch and beverages. There’s seating inside, but grab a spot on the porch overlooking the orchards if you can.
Apple Holler
5006 South Sylvania Ave., Sturtevant, Wis.; orchard and farm park daily 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Apple Holler grows more than 40 varieties of apple, from the tart McIntosh to the aromatic Macoun; pears are also available. September and October are their busiest months, so they recommend coming early — and trying some of their hard apple cider, only available on the farm.
Animal encounters: In addition to a petting zoo and working beehives, visitors can spend time among 150-year-old oak trees on the property, of particular note to birders.
Recommended eats: Thanks to a warmer and wetter than usual spring, Apple Holler’s Dave Flannery says the apples are larger than normal. In addition to everything you can find on a working farm, check out the Red Barn Restaurant, which offers hearty breakfast and lunch fare during the week, and the Applewood Grill and Pizza Shack on weekends. Take ’N’ Bake options — for everything from pies to soups — are also available for purchase.
Working science: Thanks to the orchard’s age, climate change and extreme weather haven’t overly disrupted the trees’ production this year, although Flannery notes that varieties are maturing earlier than usual, anywhere from seven days to two weeks. “A lot of our trees have been in the ground quite a while — 50, 60 years,” he says. These deep root systems not only anchor them in the region’s clay-heavy soils, but they draw and retain water even during drought conditions.
Overhiser Orchards
6405 109th Ave., South Haven, Mich.; open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Through Nov. 3
Six generations of the Overhiser family have operated this orchard since 1863. Now it grows more than 40,000 fruit trees, representing more than 20 varieties of apples and others in season, including cherries, peaches, plums and pears. Keep an eye out for Bonnie/Buck and Clyde, the oversized skeletons posing all over the orchard’s Facebook account. On the third Saturday of October (this year, it’s the 19th), the farm hosts a “Great Pumpkin Search” with hot apple cider, pumpkin picking and wagon rides.
Animal encounters: Alpacas, goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, turkeys and rabbits can be seen around the property, but kittens have been making the biggest impression. “We always had black cats on the farm,” says co-owner Kim Overhiser. “All of a sudden, this litter last year appeared with one Siamese cat. Then this year, that Siamese cat ended up having two litters, and now we’ve got all these Siamese kittens that people want to take home. But we don’t want to get rid of any of them!”
Recommended eats: The menu offers corn dogs, hot dogs, fresh donuts, caramel apples and, of course, an animal bar for feeding the animals. But Overhiser recommends checking out the drinks — malt cider samples, regular cider samples and, most intriguing, cider slushies.
Know your stuff: The orchard runs a regular apple trivia event at the corn maze. No need to read up before you visit, but you’re sure to learn something neat as you enjoy your pickings.
Radke Orchards
8999 W. 200 N, Michigan City, Ind., daily 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Finally, for the purists, head out to Radke Orchards. “Pick as little or as much as you like,” the website advises. For no admission or parking fees, visitors get “no petting zoo, no carnival, no water park – just great apples in a country atmosphere.” The farm has been owned and operated by the same family since 1894.