PickYourOwn.org
Where you can find a pick-your-own farm near you!
Hillcrest Orchards: Apple orchards and Roadside Stands in North Georgia
Click here to add this page to your favorites list! - Updated daily!  - Email this page to a friend, or to yourself
This month's notes: July 2009: Strawberry season is on NOW in most of the U.S, fading in the South, just starting in New England and other cooler areas. . Strawberry picking only lasts a few weeks - DON'T MISS THEM!  See this page for strawberry picking tips, or to make strawberry jam. And find a Strawberry festival nearby. Blueberries are ready in Florida and Texas, and soon throughout the South. See this page for a GREAT and easy blueberry pie recipe! and see this page for Blueberry Festivals! Check out my easy canning instructions/recipes, canning equipment guide! Also, see How to make ice cream and ice cream making equipment and manuals
Bookmark and Share Subscribe to our: Email alerts Follow us on Twitter or via RSS: Pick your own farms RSS feed
Please tell the farms you found them here - and ask them to update their information!!!


Hillcrest Orchards

Great family entertainment for a low price and PYO apples!

Click here to return to the Main page for apple orchards in Ellijay.

Hillcrest Orchards website
9696 Highway 52 East, Ellijay, GA 30540.

Phone: 706-273-3838.

Activities: pick-your-own apples, wagon rides, prepicked produce, gift shop, snacks and refreshment stand, restrooms, picnic area, face painting, pony rides, petting zoo, farm animals, birthday parties, school tours, even try your hand at milking a cow

Open: from September 1 until mid December; 7 days a week from 9 am to 6 pm. Our apple pickin' jubilie is always the last 3 weekends in September; every weekend in October we have our jubilie see below but no you pick.

Directions: Hwy. 52 East of Ellijay, 9 miles or take Hwy. 400 to Dawsonville, follow signs to Ellijay. 20 miles. Click here for a map and directions.

Produce: Apples, pies, doughnuts, ice cream, honey, crafts, bread, dried apples. Petting farm.  PYO only during the Apple Pickin Jubilee festival - call for the current dates and times!

Review

Especially during their Apple Pickin' Jubilee  weekends, is much more than an orchard or roadside stand, Hillcrest is an afternoon of family entertainment.  Starting inside with the shop, you can watch north Georgia's famous fried apple pies being made and find all kinds of treats, like apple bread! In 2009, the APPLE PICKIN' JUBILEE is on weekends in September starting on the 12th/13th, from 9 am to 6 pm, Admission $5.00 per person, Separate $3.00 admission to Petting Farm.

Then head outside to the stage area for a show, a petting zoo, a goat ramp and goat jump, playground, festivals, tours, hayrides, pig races, milk a cow (event the children my try milking), often musical entertainment on their stage, haunted house and more.

Heck, it's worth the visit if only for the pig races!  Everyone quickly gathers way they announce the next races!  Place your bets and possibly win a prize, or lose your bacon!

stage for musical entertainmentThe folks are friendly, the apple trees are low and easy to pick from, and there is so much to do, this is my pick for the orchard to go to for a day of family fun and entertainment! The only weak spot is the portapotties!  Go before you come!


Apple Pickin' Jubilee at Hillcrest Orchards 

In 2008, the APPLE PICKIN' JUBILEE is on September 13th & 14th, 20th & 21st, 27th & 28th from 9 am to 6 pm,
Admission $5.00 per person

Separate $3.00 admission to Petting Farm

Pick your own apples, wagon rides, playground, pig races, moonshine museum, entertainment, food, corn maze, petting farm and pony rides. They also have a "festival" on October weekends with the same activities as Apple Pickin' Jubilee except no apple picking, and the admission is $5.00 per person to that one.

 

petting zoo

 

 

 

 

 

 

horse drawn hay wagon to the orchardmoonshine museum

Hillcrest's Apple Varieties

Below is a listing of the apple varieties that they typically carry, in order that they typically start to be harvested in Ellijay. Be sure to call a couple weeks before they are due to start harvesting, as the actual date varies from year to year! Ellijay apple orchards usually have apples for sale from August to late December.

 

 

Apple Variety Photo Usually start harvesting Flavor Best uses
Gala

Gala.

August 1 Very sweet Eating, applesauce, apple butter, pies
Ginger Gold

Ginger Gold.

Early Sweet Eating
Jonathon

Jonathan.

August 15 Tart Cooking
Red Delicious August 15 Sweet Eating, good to blend with other apples in applesauce and cooking
Golden Delicious August 15 Sweet Eating, good to blend with other apples in applesauce and cooking
Honey Crisp

August 20 Sweet, Crisp, Juicy Eating, Applesauce, Apple Butter, Pies
Mutsu September 1 Sweet / Tart Cooking / Eating
Jonagold September 1 Sweet / Tart Cooking / Eating
Rome Beauty

September 15 Slightly Tart Cooking / Eating
Stayman - Wine sap September 15 Tart Cooking / Eating
Fuji

Fuji.

October 10 Very sweet Eating, applesauce, apple butter, pies, cooking
Granny Smith October 15 Tart Cooking / Eating
Yates

Got a  photo to share?

October 20 Sweet Eating
Arkansas Black

October 20 Tart Baking, Eating (very hard apple)
Pink Lady

October 20 Sweet Eating

Also, see our pages on tips for picking apples at a farm, easy illustrated directions to make applesauce, apple butter, apple jelly and apple pie; the guide to apple festivals and our guide to apple varieties! NEW! Please write me, if you know of any to add!

 

 

Home Canning Kits

This is the same type of  standard canner that my grandmother used to make everything from applesauce to jams and jellies to tomato and spaghetti sauce. This complete kit includes everything you need and lasts for years: the canner, jar rack, jar grabber tongs, lid lifting wand, a plastic funnel, labels, bubble freer, and the bible of canning, the Ball Blue Book. It's much cheaper than buying the items separately. You'll never need anything else except jars and lids (and the jars are reusable). To see more canners, of different styles, makes and prices, click here!
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Usually ships in 1-2 business days

     Salsa Tomato Mix

Lids, Rings, Jars, mixes, pectin, etc.

Need lids, rings and replacement jars?  Or pectin to make jam, spaghetti sauce or salsa mix or pickle mixes?  Get them all here, and usually at lower prices than your local store!

Get them all here at the best prices on the internet!