So cute! Amazing honey and apples, a local gem. Don't skip! The owner is so kind and has so many tales to tell. Nice little break from the giant mega orchards. Come for apples, honey & goodies. Cute place for pictures as well. read more

Homesetead Orchard - The cutest!!!!! A local GEM, you can't skip. The best quality honey around, with really great pricing. - Pick Your Own Farms Near Me - Woodstock, Illinois

I really didn't know what this place was before I drove in and I was just looking for some fresh fruit so I was hoping it was a fruit stand but I saw all the children with the parents so I know it's not and it's something else. After I walk into the little store and look around I see apples on the counter and bags of apples in a cooler and I realized after listening to the people at the counter that this is an apple orchard where can buy but mostly pick your apples. I'm not into picking my own fruit and I didn't have time for that because I still have plans for the day so I just bought some apples and left. This looks like a nice place to spend some time with the family on the weekend in the country setting to pick some apples. read more

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Stopped in yesterday as website said no more picking but apple to buy along with other goodies. Pulled in and guy said "I hope you aren't looking for apples... cuz I'm sold out...". Seeing we drove an hour to come here I wish the website would of been updated. Place is quaint and def no frills. Something tells me years ago it was way better but now I think it could use a spruce up. It's def a cute smaller orchard to stop at. Maybe next year? read more

So, I've been hemming and hawing about going apple picking for a few weekends now. All of the orchards seem to be so far away that I ended up talking myself out of it. And I was looking for ones that had apples I wanted... and most importantly, I wanted to visit an orchard that isn't one of those places that's practically a damn carnival. I don't need a corn maze, or petting zoo, or restaurant and hayride. I just want apples. This place delivered on all fronts. They have a lovely little orchard with a great selection of trees. I do wish they had more braeburn and jonathan trees; they have lots of winesap and red delicious, and those aren't my favorite varieties. Their website said that they'd start picking Braeburn this weekend, and I knew I should have gone yesterday (Friday) because they were pretty well picked over when I got there around 3 pm today. However, I did get lucky on one front - they were having a special where it was $10 per peck (10 lb bag), so I picked two bags to make some apple sauce, apple butter and apple bread out of. The owners were really friendly and as long as the bag closed, it was $10. Windfalls were $0.75 per pound, and I considered getting a bag of those too, but didn't want to overwhelm myself with too many to handle. One thing to note is that this is a cash or check only operation. I knew that beforehand, by checking their website, so I wasn't surprised when I got there. My checks are still from my home state, so I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have taken it and then I'd have been out of luck. I assume they have a bathroom somewhere, but I didn't need one so I'm not sure where it may have been. Their were probably 10 other cars of people there when we were there, but it wasn't crowded and at times (especially when picking the braeburns), I felt like I was all by myself in the middle of nowhere. It was off the beaten path, really peaceful and exactly what I was looking for, and I hope next year to go earlier and possibly more than once. read more

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This was pretty surreal. Mom and I were looking for a place to go and decided on an early-open apple orchard. Homestead was pretty much the only one within the distance we wanted to drive. I checked Homestead's web site, saw that there were road closures and got the map of the detour, and we headed out. It's a nice long (roughly 60 mi from me) drive to Woodstock. My GPS didn't have the detour, so I pulled up the web site on my phone and followed it from there. Route 47 to Route 120 to Queen Anne Road to Nusbaum Rd to... lumpy gravel road, many construction trucks, and a newly (I'd say within the previous 10 minutes) blacktopped road. I must have missed something, so we ran the detour again. Sure enough, we ended at that same unfinished road mess. I pulled over (not an easy trick at this spot) and called the orchard. I said we'd followed the detour, and got to a point where we couldn't go any farther, and did the gentleman on the phone have any ideas. He told me to drive on through the lumpy gravel, drive over the brand-new blacktop, and I'd be right there. I mentioned not being thrilled about getting new asphalt all over Mom's car; he said he'd done it, his wife had done it, all I had to do was drive with 2 wheels on grass and two wheels on the road... yeah, but Mom and I weren't wild about that solution. The gentleman on the phone started a rant about how the county couldn't prevent me from getting to his business... that may be, but I'm within my rights to decide that getting to his business isn't worth the trouble. At that point, we decided to skip it. read more

Pros - Nice small orchard. Beautiful drive to get there. Not a lot of crowds. For the most part, friendly and helpful staff. Nice trees. Good selection. Cons - The old gentleman running the place yelled at my friends child with autism. He was clapping his hands and squealing in joy and the man said, "Go clap somewhere else!" and "Go outside!" and "Be quiet!". Obviously, not very child friendly. He was very gruff and curt. My Mother in law and him about got in a duel to death over baskets. She wanted to use baskets instead of the plastic bags, and he at first told her she could use them, and then got aggravated about it. I told her to just use the plastic bags, which seemed to distress HER for some reason. So if you have perfectly well behaved children who have no disabilities, and a well behaved mother in law, then this place is for you. read more

If you are looking for a true apple picking experience, this is the place for you. I have been to other orchards that are much larger and so are the crowds. I was looking for a smaller orchard where it's focus was on apple picking, not petting zoos and corn mazes. The owners greet you when you walk up, they are very friendly and extremely helpful. They informed us about the apples that were available for picking and where they were located. They later checked on us to make sure we were finding the apples we wanted which was very nice. The best part about their orchard were that the apples were all low and easy to pick. If you have small children this would be a great orchard to go to because the kids can reach the apples themselves. The parking lot was almost full, but when we were in the orchard it felt like we were the only ones there. read more

This orchard is just an apple orchard. No rides, no donuts, no nonsense. Just apples. We very much enjoyed picking all kinds of apples, some of which we'd never had before. The apples are delicious and the prices were very reasonable. We bought a jar of strawberry jam in the little store. It's the best strawberry jam I've ever had. We will definitely be back next year. read more

Homestead Orchards is a great apple orchard full of beautiful and delicious apples. The owners are knowledgeable and friendly and there to ensure a great time is had by all. We found this place several years ago and have been back many times. A trip here has become a yearly tradition and something the whole family looks forward to. Everyone should definitely check this place out. read more

We were going to go to Hobart for the apple/pumpkin/donut/corn maze extravaganza but I started really looking at the yelp photos where all the prices of things were visible and I thought okay, wait. We'd be $20 in with nothing to show for it. I remembered that yelp had my review from Woodstock-so on a gorgeous day we set off. $18 a peck. There are a whole lot of apples in a peck. There were 5 varieties-the apples were on the small side but we quickly realized how much work was involved in this business and we were happy to pay it. Also-more to share with friends. Thanks. We had an excellent time. read more

Beautifully maintained, small-ish family run orchard with great selection of apples! No frills, like pony rides, to distract from the goal of picking apples. Helpful & friendly staff too! read more

Awesome apple orchard along with awesome staff!! I brought a group of special needs clients in wheel chairs with me on a field trip. Barb and Don were so welcoming and helpful. I don't find that hospitality very often any more. The apple tree's were full of apples and the colors were awesome for the clients. SO many choices we had to make. Once we were done with our apple picking Don asked if the clients would like to see the chickens? So then we went and checked out the chickens. So not only did we get to pick apples but then add chickens to the experience. The day only got better!! They say "a smile says a lot". Well we had a TON of smiles and laughter. I wish any one reading this could have seen the day our clients got to experience. I would MOST diffidently recommend Homestead apple Orchard to anyone!! 5 stars isn't enough for the experience that Barb and Don provided. read more

This is the place to go if you are looking for a no-frills, real apple picking experience. What a treat! My memories of apple picking as a child were quietly strolling the orchard, laying in the grass, giggling with my siblings as we hid behind the trees and picking from a large variety of delicious apples. My husband and I were disappointed the past few years when we showed up to a 3-ring circus where you pay for parking, wait in long lines, are lucky to grab some apples from the ground because the trees were close to bare and you get suckered into every ride and trinket. We were thrilled when we pulled up to Homestead Orchard and were welcomed by one of the owners. They met all of my expectations and it brought me back to my childhood. I look forward to creating many memories here with my kids. read more

Great no frills orchard. Good varieties. Nice apples. They want picking done in a certain order so they can control where people are in the orchard. Some people might be annoyed being told where to go but it is their trees you are picking on. I found the advantage of this was there weren't as many windfalls on the ground that I had to step around. read more

Worst apple orchard I have ever been to! Most of the apples on the trees looked diseased. The owners were penny pinching and didn't provide an extra bag when the string on the bag broke and tried to blame me for overfilling the bag when the bag was only 3/4th filled because I could find any decent apples! I asked after looking at the bare pickings initially if I could only pay for the apples I had picked and they said they only sell by the peck. I drove over an hour to get here and will never be back. Much better orchards in Indiana and central Wisconsin and definitely worth the drive. read more