Hours

Weekend of 10/2

taproom

3-8 Thursday

3-9 Friday

11-7 Saturday

11-6 Sunday

Farmstand / PYO

3-7 Thursday

3-7 Friday

9-5 Saturday

9-5 Sunday

*Please refer to Events Calendar or Google listings (Farm / Cidery) for private event closures or special holiday openings which may occasionally affect these hours.

What’s Pickin’?

Weekend of 10/2

We are in the thick of apple harvest, the leaves are changing, and the weather is up and down and all around. A wide range of apples are available this week—17 varieties between what we have available for pick-your-own and what we have pre-picked at the farm stand!

Apples

ELEVEN varieties of apples are now available for pick-your-own:

● Royal Empire: New this week! Supposedly an improved strain of the original Empire, this sport colors redder and comes on about a week or so later than the original Empire. Crisp, juicy, sweet and tart in flavor. A really beautiful New York apple. These four rows are found way on top of the hill behind the peach block. These trees are some of the oldest trees on the property, planted in 1984 by Karen and Dave Fraleigh alone, sometime soon after they were married.

● Jonagold: New this week! A cross between Jonathan and Golden Delicious. Released by the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station in 1968. Large and dark-red streaked over yellow background. Very sweet and crisp. Not great for storage, but great for baking. Although not very complex in flavor, Jonagold is a pretty exceptional piece of fruit for eating fresh. This variety is located in the Seymour Block, which is all the way up the hill to the right, on the back of the property, right next to Phil Seymour's old property. There is also a separate row found in the Lower Center Hill Block, three rows up from the pond.

● Cameo: New this week! Discovered as a chance seedling in between a Red Delicious orchard and a Golden Delicious orchard in Washington State in 1987. Red streaked skin over a green, sometimes orangish background. Sweet, mildly tangy flavor. Good for fresh eating, salads, and baking. A great storage apple. This variety is found up the main orchard road on the left in the Farm Stand Block, rows 3 and 4.

● Golden Delicious: New this week! No crosses here. A chance seedling found on the Mullins' property in West Virginia and first marketed in 1914. A fairly large and conic apple with light green to yellow skin. Very sweet in flavor with some complexity to the sweetness—somewhat fruity with a touch of honey flavor when fully ripe. Great for fresh eating, sauces, and salads. This variety is found up the main orchard road on the left in the Farm Stand Block, rows 5 and 6.

● Red Delicious: New this week! This variety had a 50-year streak of being the most propagated variety in the US and needs little introduction. Dark red skin and yellow flesh. Sweet flavor. Some people love them, some people don't. I will attest that when pressed, it has been some of the sweetest tasting juice of the culinary varieties found here. This variety is located in the Pines Block. One in the Lower Pines Block, between the Royal Court and Cortland rows.

● Shizuka: A cross between Golden Delicious and Indo, this modern Japanese apple is light green turning slightly yellowish with a crisp and light texture. A sibling of Mutsu. Large fruit amd very sweet, almost no noticeable acidity. Turns color from green to light green to yellow. The two rows of this variety are located up the main orchard road on the right, just above (East of) the Honeycrisp.  *The lighter colored green fruit will be more ripe. Similar to how the Ginger Gold ripens.

● Macoun: This cross between McIntosh and Jersey Black was developed at the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station beginning in 1909 and released commercially in 1923. Dark purple skin, white flesh with a sweet and slightly tart flavor. Best eaten fresh but they are also good in the kitchen. I love that this apple has a cult following amongst the older crowd. This variety is located up the main orchard road, the first two rows on the left side in the Farm Stand Block. The seven trees on the left of the main orchard road There is also another row in the Lower Center Hill Block, three rows up from the pond that is on the way to the blueberries. *The darker colored fruit will be more ripe.

● Empire: A cross of McIntosh and Golden Delicious, made in 1945. The seed was produced in Claverack, NY (about 20 minutes drive north of here), then propagated in Geneva, NY by Roger D. Way and introduced in 1966. Creamy white flesh with both a sweet and tart flavor. Juicy and crisp. Good for fresh eating, salads, baking, and sauces. This variety is located up the main orchard road on the right. There are two rows below the Jonamac and two rows above the Jonamac. We will also harvest some of these to have available pre-picked in the farm stand. *The darker colored fruit will be more ripe.

● Early Fuji: Final week. This sport of the original Fuji that ripens later in the Fall was found on a limb with the mutation in a Fuji orchard in Washington and patented in 2000. Creamy-colored firm flesh and very sweet. Similar in flavor but ripens about 5 or 6 weeks before the original Fuji. This variety is located in the Center Hill Block and the two rows are located due West of the four rows of Honeycrisp. We will also have plenty of these pre-picked and available at the farm stand.

● Cortland: Final week. A cross between Ben Davis and McIntosh, released to the public in 1915, and was the first apple released by the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station. Named for Cortland County, NY. Large, dark red skin, and soft creamy-textured white fleshed apple. Complex sweet/tart flavor. Good for fresh eating, best in sauces, pies, and salads. These trees are located in the Pines Block, the row directly to the East of the McIntosh, two rows up from the blueberry patch. We will also have plenty of these pre-picked and available at the farm stand.

● Royal Court: Final week. A limb sport of the original Cortland discovered in Nova Scotia by Jacob Hartenhof. A relatively large apple with dark red to purple skin and white flesh. Complex sweet, tart flavor. Very aromatic. These trees were planted in 2016, have a beautiful crop load this year, and are found going up the secondary orchard road between the Center Hill Block and Pines Block, and found in both blocks. We will also have plenty of these pre-picked and available at the farm stand.

We will have six more varieties of apples pre-picked at the farm stand:

● Pomme Gris: An old apple no matter if you take the European story placing it in the 1600s, or if you'd rather believe the Canadian origin story placing it in the 1800s. A richly flavored piece of fruit that is high in sugar content, with a balanced acidity. Aromatic, sweet, nutty, with hints of vanilla. Limited quantities.

● Spartan: A cross of McIntosh and Yellow Newton made at the Dominion Experiment Station in British Columbia, Canada. Medium sized fruit, skin bright red, heavily washed with dark red. Beautiful fruit. Similar in flavor as McIntosh, maybe a little more vinous in flavor, but juicy, subacid, and pleasant to eat fresh or cook with.

● Fulford Gala: The most widely planted variety across the globe. This is a solid blushed strain of Gala that was noticed in New Zealand by W. Fulford in 1983. Most Gala strains are identified by their stripes, while this one has a pretty, bold, and solid blush. This strain in particular is exceptionally beautiful—red with lovely lenticels. A true sweet apple. Great for fresh eating and dessert making.

● Pioneer McIntosh: This strain of McIntosh is very similar to the original McIntosh which is believed to be a seedling of the once prized Snow/Fameuse variety discovered in Ontario, Canada in 1811. The coloring of about half green/half dark red is very beautiful and the thick skin gives way to a very vinous, tart yet savory flavor. Classic! 

● Gale Gala: This strain of Gala was discovered in a Washington state orchard and then propagated because of its redder than the usual Gala quality. Very sweet, juicy, and crunchy. Excellent for fresh eating, and also good in pies or tarts. 

● Jonamac: Introduced in 1944 at the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station. A cross between Jonathan and McIntosh. Acidic and slightly tart now, and in the next couple of weeks as the fruit hangs, they develop some sweetness and more balanced flavor. It turns out these trees are some of the oldest here on the farm, planted in 1978 and 1979. 

Pumpkins

Pumpkins are here! We source pumpkins from another local farm and place them in a freshly mowed field (between the larger Macoun trees that are on the left as you begin going up the main orchard road and the two rows of Macoun on the left in the Farm Stand Block. We have carving pumpkins as well as the small pie pumpkins. We will also have pumpkins at the farm stand.

On the Radar

More apples (Mutsu, Keepsake, WineCrisp, and Fuji) are coming soon!

Join us in the taproom Thursday through Sunday through the harvest season for locally-crafted drinks and food pop-ups. Keep an eye on our events calendar for upcoming live music, featured ferments (tastings by other NYS makers), classes, festivals, ticketed dinners, and more. See you soon!

Browse our Food Vendor and Events Calendar.

See Rajiv Surendra’s recent visit to the farm for HGTV Handmade!

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Find Out More:

Address:  14 Rose Hill Farm, Red Hook, NY 12571

Conveniently accessible from I-87 and the TSP yet peacefully tucked away off the beaten track.

Directions from NYC: Take Taconic State Parkway N to exit 67 (toward Pine Plains/Red Hook). Turn left at NY-199 W. Enter Village of Red Hook, NY-199 becomes Market St. Turn right onto Route 9. Turn right at Fraleigh Lane. Make left into Rose Hill Farm.