Apple picking, updated for 2023: Several farms are open for U-pick! Check websites before heading out on your apple-picking adventures.Â
Everyone should try apple picking. An apple fresh from the tree has a crispness and a complexity in flavor that you never find in a supermarket. And many apple orchards offer varieties of fruit that you’d seldom encounter in the city. Besides, orchards are beautiful places. Muddy (Wear those rubber boots!) and full of farm smells, but gorgeous all the same.
Here are seven farms within three hours of Seattle that allow you to pick your own apples. A couple have a harvest window that lasts only a day or a weekend. Others have a range of varieties that keep them open until October.
Bailey Farm
12706 Springhetti Road, Snohomish(360) 568-8826
For the latest harvest information, check the website.
Driving time from Seattle: 35-50 minutes.
Hours: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. daily for an array of veggies. U-pick Honeycrisp in late September, Jonagold and Cosmic Crisp® open in October.
The Farm at Swan’s Trail
7301 Rivershore Road, Snohomish (425) 334-4124Opening for U-pick and Apple Festival on September 16
For the latest apple picking information check the farm’s website.
Driving time from Seattle: 45 minutes to 1.25 hours.
Hours: Check the website for when the farm will be open for 2023 picking of Honeycrisp and Jonagold apples.
This farm, a well-known hub of family farm fun (including a 12-acre corn maze replicating the map of Washington State), has an acre of Jonagold and Honeycrisp apples for picking. The Fall Harvest Festival begins on September 25, while the Apple Festival begins on September 16.
 Jones Creek Farms
32260 Burrese Road, Sedro-WoolleyOpen for picking for 2023! See the website for the U-pick variety
Driving time from Seattle: 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays through Mondays, August through roughly the end of October (check to be sure).
This Skagit Valley farm grows more than 80 varieties of apples and pears, some familiar and many that are bound to be new discoveries.
Bellewood Acres
6140 Guide Meridian, Lynden (360) 318-7720Open Sept. 2, 2023, for picking! Tsugaru is the first variety to be available.
For the latest harvest information go to the farm’s U-pick page, Facebook or Instagram.
Driving time from Seattle: 2 to 2.5 hours
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday, September and October
This farm has Honeycrisp, Cosmic Crisp, Jonamac, Gala, Jonagold, Belle de Boskoop and Golden Supreme apples in September, and Fuji, Idared, Sonata, Orin, School House Red, Bellewood Prince, Evercrisp and Mountain Rose apples in October.
Stutzman Ranch
2202 Easy St., Wenatchee(509) 667-1664
U-Pick is open for the 2023 season.
For the latest harvest information check the website. Pluots and Asian pears are available from now through September. Picking details here.
Driving time from Seattle: 2.25 hours to 2.75 hours.
Farm hours: 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily while there is fruit.
This U-pick orchard has Gala, Fuji and Golden Delicious apples as well as other kinds of fruit, including cherries in June, and nectarines, peaches and Bartlett pears later in the summer.
West Valley U-Pick
11901 Zier Rd, Yakima(509) 945-5406 Â U-Pick is open for the 2023 season.
For the latest information check the website.
Driving time from Seattle: 2.5 to 3 hours.
Hours: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Mid-August to October.
This orchard grows Gala, Fuji, Honeycrisp and Blondee apples and a cider press is available to use. There is also a variety of other fruits, including Bartlett and D’Anjou pears.
Skipley Farm
Open for 2023 U-Pick.
This farm grows more than 300 varieties of apples! Check the website to learn what’s being picked right now, and when you can go. Apple cider press available through the end of August.
Sm’Apples
1197 Willeys Lake Road, Ferndale
Open for 2023 U-Pick.
Pick a variety of fall fruits at Sm’Apples in Ferndale; 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday; current offerings and details on the website.
And when you get home:
Cooking with kids: apple and peanut butter tarts