Wilkens Fruit & Fir Farm – Pumpkins, Apples, Hayrides, Christmas Trees & Donuts?

Looking for something festive to do Upstate with the kids this weekend and the next and the next and the next? The Wilkens Fruit & Fir Farm in Yorktown Heights has it all — apples, pumpkins, Christmas trees and donuts!

With a harvest season that begins in September, Wilkens Farm has a whopping twelve varieties of apples available for picking. These include Gala, McIntosh, Cortlandt and this writer’s favorite, Fuji, just to name a few. Pumpkins are available for picking beginning in October and their Choose-N-Cut Christmas trees are ready just after Thanksgiving. There are walking trails to the orchards and pumpkin patch or you can opt to hitch a quick and happy hayride to them. Then let the picking begin! There are only a few things more serene than picking apples and pumpkins with family amid the backdrop of all the beautiful colors of the changing leaves of fall and the dramatic mountainous terrain of Upstate New York.

Located in Yorktown Heights, the farm is an approximate 40 minute jaunt from the city, traffic permitting. But be warned, approaching the farm is not for the impatient. Wilkens Fruit and Fir Farm is popular with a capital “P” and with only one access road onto and off the property, your approach will most certainly slow to a crawl, especially on weekends. Taking in the sheer volume of people and the length of the lines can be discouraging at first, but rest assured, the workers do a great job of quickly moving things along.

Wilken’s Farm owns and operates three markets:

The Red Farm Market which sells 40 varieties of apples, plums, pears, peaches and nectarines as the season permits along with apple chips, apple cider, preserves, honey and maple syrup.

The Appleseed Gift Shop, a place where you can buy knickknacks for your friends, neighbors and kids’ teachers. These items include their signature t-shirts, mugs and tote bags as well as kitchen products and Christmas ornaments.

And last but definitely not least, Tricia’s Treat Shop. In this heavenly place they sell apple cider by the cup, hotdogs, popcorn, lemonade, snacks, candy and baked goods. As you might imagine the baked goods fall into the usual categories, pies and cookies, but it doesn’t stop there. Add candy apples, strudel sticks, muffins and their famous, made-from-scratch, freshly fried apple cider donuts that come piping hot, crispy and dusted with sugar. I bought a dozen of these melt-in-your-mouth rings for a mere $8 and my family and I went through them in about five minutes.

With Halloween a couple of weeks away and the holiday season kicking into full gear, why not bypass the big box, warehouse stores for a change and pay Wilkens Fruit & Fir Farm a visit? With items and fun for all, it’s an experience that shouldn’t be missed.

Wilkens Fruit & Fir Farm
1335 White Hill Road
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
(914) 245-5111
www.wilkensfarm.com

Photo credit: Eric Payne

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