Non-Disneyfied apple picking options in GTA?

October 6, 2009 10:54 AM

Are there any non-Disneyfied apple picking options around GTA?

Hi! So, when I was in Maine, we had a few apple orchards that we loved going to in the fall that were really out of the way and had some great heirloom varieties and not many kids running around screaming and places to sit on the grass and nice smells.

Now, I'm sure there are places to go like this around Toronto, but most of the links I've found have all these "amusements" or special parking for tour buses or a giant store with all sorts of other stuff not even tangentially-related to picking fresh fruit from an orchard.

Give me your rustic, quiet and delightful. Ideally within a 150km round-trip of Toronto, as we'll have a Zipcar for the day and don't want to pay too much extra, but being right near the city isn't really a priority - we want to get our money's worth for our car, anyhow.

posted by setanor to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

I don't know of any pay-to-pick places, but Not Far From The Tree is a volunteer organization that picks from people's yards in Toronto. You can sign up on their volunteer list and they'll tell you when and where. Then you go pick and all the fruit is divided between the tree owner, charity, and the gleaners. I got 18 pounds of free organic heirloom apples a couple weeks ago by doing a pick with them at Spadina House. They pick all sorts of things: apples, pears, walnuts, apricots, peaches, grapes... Great fun!
posted by heatherann at 11:20 AM on October 6, 2009

Best answer: In Brampton (Peel/Halton border), there is Laidlaw orchards I have been to a bunch of times. It is low-key, no admission cost, and has a pretty big choice of varieties. I think there are several apple farms on Hertitage road (Orchalaw) so you can sort of shop around. Feel free to browse the Grown in Peel website for more farms or specific varieties.
posted by saucysault at 11:40 AM on October 6, 2009

Response by poster: heatherann, that sounds delightful, and we'll definitely do that in the future! this time we really wanted to leave the city, but on pretty much every other day of the year that's what we'd be looking for.
posted by setanor at 12:47 PM on October 6, 2009

Response by poster: Laidlaw was perfect! Thank you so much!
posted by setanor at 7:17 PM on October 7, 2009

I'm glad you enjoyed it and weren't scared off by the 401. Enjoy your apples!
posted by saucysault at 6:45 AM on October 8, 2009