After doing some thorough research on where to go apple picking with my family last weekend (over the long weekend), I decided on Melick's. Looked like they had great reviews and everything I was looking for: apple orchards, apple cider donuts, and even roasted corn! This was going to be our first big outing since COVID, so we were all a little anxious about the social distancing and not knowing what to expect, but we took the leap of faith anyway.
Unfortunately everything kind of fell short for us. I stalked the ticketing system everyday last week, until reservations finally opened up 3 days before we went - I booked 6 slots for 1:45pm on Saturday, Oct. 10th. It was a whopping $5 per person + tax on weekends ($32 total). Now, I understand that reservations are the norm now (and necessary) to regulate the amount of people coming in and out, but the farm did such a poor job on the execution. When we arrived, I walked over to the check-in booth by myself and gave my name + reservation time. We were about 10 min late, but that didn't matter since the staff member just asked how many bags I needed and gave very generalized directions of where the apple orchards were ("over there," as she pointed to her right). That's it.
No wristbands, no bouncer, no one counting the number of people in my party, and we were allowed to just wander off anywhere. So basically, I really could've reserved just ONE ticket and "snuck" the rest of my family in... except it really wouldn't have been sneaking in, since no one even cared. So I'm still a bit frustrated that I kinda wasted an extra $27 on admission alone. Also, no one was actually timing us (we were supposedly allowed only 1 hour to pick) so the time you arrive doesn't REALLY matter and you really don't have to rush.
After all that to see the main area with the roasted corn stand, hot dog stand, and picnic tables were PACKED for a farm that was supposedly practicing social distancing. We definitely avoided that area, and I was disappointed that we weren't going to get a chance to have the corn. If I was by myself or one other person I might've gone for it, but it was too risky with my grandma and parents there with me.
As for the apple picking itself...... the orchards were very spacious and rarely did we run into other parties. However, there were not a lot of trees to pick from. And it would've been helpful if the check-in lady advised us to take the tractor ride over to the pickable trees. We foolishly walked through many, many rows of empty trees thinking that they were all gone. And again, with the eldery, walking was a bit of a struggle. We eventually found the Red Delicious trees and it felt like hitting the jackpot. They were huge and well, delicious. We ended up only getting these. There were supposedly some Winesap and Jonagold (not sure which else) available to pick, but at that point we were all too tired to go any further and scavenge around for them.
My mom kept asking me how much it would cost per pound, and I didn't know. When we were on line to pay for them, there were no signs anywhere. It wasn't until she directly asked the cashier after paying that we found out it was $1.59/lb. Not cheap but I think it's an okay price, if I didn't have to pay all that admission money in addition to this. My boyfriend and I still decided to splurge on apple cider, apple cider donuts, and an apple caramel walnut pie -- I mean why not, we drove all the way out here, might as well! The apple cider was 10/10 amazing. Don't think we've ever had it so fresh and delicious. We have regrets for getting the half gallon ($3.99) and not the full gallon. The donuts ($4.99) were just okay, definitely on the drier side. The pie ($14) was surprisingly good. I'm not a pie person but the crust blew me away.
My feelings about this farm are pretty mixed, but I'm still very glad we finally got out of the house to do something fun. Though the experience could've been better, I'm happy about the yummy goods we got to bring home to enjoy. read more