Pick your own apples or buy them from our market, which we very much encourage because it’s so much cheaper!

We are opening our entire farm for visitors beginning this Saturday, and many varieties of apples are available and ready for harvest such as Macintosh, Royal Gala, Northern Spy, Honeycrisp, Empire, Ida Red, Red and Golden Delicious, Mutsu, Cortland, Aurora Golden Gala, Fuji, Ambrosia, Granny Smith, and Spartan. Some apple varieties we also grow are not quite ready for harvest, such as Jonagold and Pink Lady. If you want to try one and find out for yourself, go ahead! (We also grow Golden Russet apples, but these have all been picked from the trees and are available in our store for purchase.) You will also be able to see the pumpkin patches. We have not yet had time to cut the pumpkins from the vines so we are asking people to take as many pictures as you wish, but please do not treat our fields as a playground. We grew the gourds, pumpkins, squash and other veggies as food for sale and not playthings. If you do not intend to purchase any food you encounter while visiting the farm, please do not touch. We have never charged for admission before but starting this weekend there will be an additional admission charge of $5 per person on top of the cost of apple picking. Sorry folks, but times have changed and we have not kept pace with these changes. We have focused on growing food here this year and it has been a challenging 2024 to say the least. Our intention as always is to sell apples in our store as cheaply as possible. Some of our fruit varieties on display are being sold for 30 percent less than in 2023. For instance, last year we sold certain apples at $1.49/ lb, and they are now .99 / lb. We always remind people it is way cheaper to buy the same apples in our store than picking their own from our trees. YES it costs more to pick your own, mainly due to the tremendous amount of waste (apples dropped on the ground). We also require more staff members. Economic circumstances require this added cost to our visitors. Unfortunately, it is generally a small number of people in society whose behaviour causes the rest of the population to pay more for things. We regret having to charge more but we will not be able to pay our employees, bills and taxes without making this necessary adjustment in our pricing for pick-your-own.

Due to the changing weather patterns in 2024, Apple season has started earlier, and so has the picking. Many types of fruit such as Macintosh are not holding on during the recent weeks of hot temperatures and falling to the ground. Do not wait until later in October to do your annual apple picking excursion with the family, there may not be as many apples left on the trees as you may have experienced in previous years!

Cost is $25 for 10 lb bags and $45 for 20 lb bags. We still have a very substantial crop of Macintosh and Royal Gala apples at the front section of our farm to be picked.  Pick your own guests are easily filling their bags with these varieties.  We hope to see these apples get picked over the next few days, then we will open the rest of our farm (the large sections in the back forty acres) to the public.  We also want to give our pumpkins a few more days to fatten and color up nice and orange.

The recent summer weather we are  experiencing makes for pleasant visits and bright, blue-sky photos. Hot days and lack of rain is not really pushing the size of fruit much but they are certainly ripening fast. 

All varieties are ahead of regular schedule in 2024.  in general terms, apple season has started early which means it will likely end early too this year.  We are now picking Honeycrisp and Cortland apples as fast as we can to supply the store.  Spartan and Empire are ready to go. Mutsu, Granny Smith, Northern Spy, and Ambrosia are approaching maturity. Even Golden Delicious have brown seeds inside, a telltale sign that harvest time is imminent.  Only Pink Lady, Jonagold, Golden Russet and Red Delicious still need some time to sweeten up on the trees.

We are open this weekend for pick your own Royal Gala and Macintosh apples Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 5.  We  have other apple varieties and Bartlett pears for sale in the store. Hope to see you here, no need to buy advance tickets online.  Just show up, but please leave your dogs at home…

It’s been a tough year for growers.  Way too much rain in April, May, June and July prevented farmers from getting onto their fields with equipment.  This meant planting crops and performing chores was delayed.   Excessive and relentless moisture also caused a lot of disease in certain areas. 

We have a crop here but ironically, our biggest challenge is that there are TOO MANY APPLES.  The most important summer job in the orchard is thinning fruit.  This means picking off most of the small apples so that you are only left with a good amount of big ones.  All those rainy days we had delayed this vital and time-consuming task from being completed until it was too late.  The result is we are left with tons and tons of apples that are less than ideal when it comes to size….

We have some very cooperative and helpful employees here this year, and we are very grateful for their positive attitude as part of the team. 

However, as newcomers to our country they had no previous experience working at a Canadian orchard.  The learning curve is steep when newbie employees are given a set of pruning tools and painstakingly trained to start working in the orchard.  Most people simply cannot grasp the concept of ‘thinning’ until they have at least one full seasonal cycle of labor under their belt.

The result is we have a tremendous amount of apples this fall. We have worked hard all season.  Mother Nature has not been kind and we have had numerous hardships to endure involving machinery breakdowns and equipment failures.  Against all odds we are still here and hope that your family has an interest in saving money on food because we are selling fresh picked fruit at a cost far below what is common in the big grocery chains’ produce sections (more on that in a future post)

The store is open this weekend.  We have Macintosh, Paula Red, Gingergold, Tydeman Red, Bartlett Pears, and some early picked Royal Gala and Honeycrisp apples as well.  Other produce at this time include squashes and zucchini.  Macintosh apples are available for pick your own from the  block of trees fronting our orchard. 

Pick your own Macintosh apples open today…

Also available in the store are Gingergold, Tydeman Red, Paula Red, Asian pears, Red and Yellow Bartlett pears, and some really tasty plums… We are also harvesting some squash and zucchini fresh this morning…pies are in the oven as well

If you know anything about the sudden disappearance of these cute little pet birds, who happen to be our personal pride and joy and whom I have helped care for diligently along with their mother pictured below since they hatched this June, please  see them returned right away.  There will be no questions asked.

We desperately wish for  these two young hens to be returned promptly before it becomes necessary to begin  reviewing our security camera footage.  There were not a great many people here this afternoon and certainly it will not take long to identify the person(s) responsible.  Please do the right thing and return our pets.  They are way too young to eat.  If you are in need of food we are happy to help you.  We can give you some other larger chickens, fresh eggs or even money if that helps you.  We just want our two little darling pets back PLEASE.  They are very dear to us and it is very upsetting to lose them.  We have guarded them closely from disease, harsh weather and predators diligently.  Our chickens have been free to roam about the farm daily (free ranging in the truest sense) and enjoy their surroundings in relative safety.

This afternoon they were taken from their mother and the protection of their enclosure by a visitor to our apple orchard. 

It is so disheartening to know that it was not a predatory  hawk,  fox, or coyote but a human being responsible for their abduction.  Just  yesterday, when we opened our farm to the public our chickens had to stay inside of their enclosure instead of free ranging for the first time in 2024 only because of the presence of people other than ourselves. 

We are now pleading for their safe return and offering a generous reward.  These particular hens are quite special because they are considered a rare breed, and we have invested a lot of time and effort to  raise them.  They are very iconic looking, with upright tufts of feathers on their heads which brings pleasure and attracts interest from  anyone viewing them for the first time.  This is why we went through great expense and labor to construct our animal habitat- for our customers to enjoy for free.  We love them and miss them very much and couldn’t be sadder that someone would choose to separate them from their home.  After 30 years of farming and opening our property and welcoming the public to visit this type of theft is not something that we will easily be able to dismiss merely as another bad incident.  These pets are cherished as members of our family.  This is hurtful; our goodwill is suddenly eroded as we are altogether upset and demoralized.  Inevitably  comes a stinging, regrettable lack of trust. We can only hope that the rest of our 2024 apple season will be without events as malicious and dishonest as experienced our first weekend open. 

We are very grateful for all our good and decent customers and your patronage.  It is much appreciated. 

(After deliberating at length whether to post  any  seemingly negative content like the above to our website, I apologize for doing so.  I had to.       Sincerely,                      Farmer Scott ,         Albion Orchards)

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Today marks the start of apple picking season here at our farm. Macintosh is the first variety available that is ready for pick your own.    There are a number of other types of fruit for sale inside our store. Please leave dogs at home- we love animals too but cannot allow them on-site.

We have tons of apples here! Paula Reds buy 20 lbs only $20..