Located in Red Hook, NY, Rose Hill Farm is a historic family-owned pick-your-own fruit orchard established in 1798. We grow cherries, blueberries, plums, apricots, peaches and apples on ~114 acres of picturesque farmland. We embrace ecological growing practices that prioritize plant and soil health.
Whether itβs your first time visiting Rose Hill or your hundredth, we look forward to sharing our beautiful and peaceful slice of the Hudson Valley with you!
Hours
taproom
3-8 Thursday, October 15
3-8 Friday, October 16
12-6 Saturday, October 17
12-6 Sunday, October 18
Farm stand / PYO
3-6:30 Friday, October 16
9-5 Saturday, October 17
9-5 Sunday, October 18
*Please refer to Events Calendar or Google listings (Farm / Cidery) for private event closures or special holiday openings which may occasionally affect these hours.
Whatβs Pickinβ?
This will be the last week of pick-your-own apples at RHF this season, except for our annual pick-your-own Granny Smith on Saturday, October 31.
APPLES
We will begin with SEVEN varieties of apples available for pick-your-own.
WineCrisp: New this week! Released in 1990 by the disease-resistance breeding program at Purdue, Rutgers, and Illinois universities. Rough, matte, dark maroon, almost purple skin. The flavor is sweet and complex with a rich juice. Great for fresh eating and baking, as well as storage as the flavor only gets better. An amazing tasting and very durable apple. This variety is located in the lower Pines Block next to the Royal Court trees.
EverCrisp (MAIA1): New this week! A cross between Honeycrisp and Fuji developed and released by the Midwest Apple Improvement Association. It is what one may conjour up in their mind when thinking of the parents. Crisp, explosively sweet with a hint of tanginess. Stores extremely well. Extremely limited quantities.β
Winesap: New this week! Considered one of the oldest and most popular apple varieties in America. First cultivated by Samuel Coles of Moorestown, New Jersey in the late 1700s. Deep red-colored skin and relatively large in size. Firm yellowish flesh is complex with its sweet and tart combination. It's a dense apple that can be eaten fresh, but is best in the kitchen and for cider. Limited quantities.
Arkansas Black: New this week! A seedling of Winesap originating in Benton County, Arkansas in 1870. Dark burgundy/Dark purple in color with white flesh that is tinged green until it has been stored a month or so. Not so great to eat fresh from the tree. Save some of these for December. It becomes lightly sweet, juicy, and the tartness still shines. Great for kitchen use and the longer it is in storage, the better chance for the great eating experience. Limited quantities.
Keepsake: This is the second year that we will be offering this variety for pick-your-own. These are on the trees we top-worked in 2021 and turned Red Delicious into Keepsake, and they bore another full crop this year. People have already been picking them, so this week folks will have to go about half-way down the row towards the pine trees to find the fruit. Keepsake was introduced by the University of Minnesota breeding program (same program that introduced Honeycrisp, Chestnut Crab, and many other amazing apples) in 1978. It is a cross between Northern Spy and Frostbite, two incredible apples in their own right. Their offspring is really phenomal. It is good straight from the tree, and it is excellent after some time in storage. It would be great to grab these, put them in the refrigerator and forget about them for a few weeks. It is a very firm apple, very sweet with molasses and cane sugar flavors, and also a little fruity flavor on the back end. Let's go! These apples can be found going up the secondary orchard road in the Pines Block, just below the Mutsu.
Royal Empire: 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.
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. If used in applesauce, the sauce turns pink! (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. The darker colored fruit will be more ripe.)
We will have all of these varieties available pre-picked at the farm stand.
We will also have the following varieties available pre-picked at the farm stand, among others:
Northern Spy: Originated in East Bloomfield, New York around 1800. You may have heard, "Spies make the best pies," or this apple being called "Northern Pie." This large apple carries a lot of sugar and a lot of acidity. Excellent for baking and applesauce, makes great cider, and eats well out of hand if you like an apple on the tarter side.
King David: Possibly a cross of Jonathan x Arkansas Black that originated on the farm of Ben Frost in Washington County, Arkansas around 1893. A gorgeous dark red/maroon skinned apple with yellowish flesh. Firm and crisp, juicy, aromatic, sweet but the acidity is bright and bold. Multi-purpose excellence - eats out of hand well, and excellent in the kitchen and for cider.
Ashmeadβs Kernel: This variety has a cult following to say the least. Believed to originate in Gloucester, England in the early 1700s, it has traveled the world and has excited and enarmoured many an apple lover. Medium-sized apple that has a honey colored russet usually tinged orange on one cheek. INTENSE sweetness (not a usual sweetness when we think of sweet apples) and acidity (not the usual tartness when we think of tart apples) combines to offer a mind and mouth altering experience. It is not for those who want an easy eating apple, but is an exceptional and amazing experience to eat, cook with, and drink.
Also available pre-picked: Grimes Golden, Golden Russet, Reinette Russet, Royal Court, Jonamac, Empire, McIntosh, et al.
PUMPKINS
The pumpkin patch is back! We do not plant pumpkins here. Instead, we 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 situated around the farm stand.
APPLE TASTINGS #7
We will conduct our likely final APPLE TASTING of this season this Saturday (October 17) at 10 am in the picnic area outside the farm stand. Please spread the word and come if you want to try some interesting, tasty, and lesser-known apple cultivars. Weβve got 12 GEMS on deck.
Join us in the taproom Thursday through Sunday 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 Surendraβs 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.