2023 Northeast Colorado Apple And Pumpkin U-Pick Farms and Orchards - PickYourOwn.org
Find a pick-your-own farm near you! Then learn to can and freeze! Since 2002! We update continuously; Beware the copycat websites!
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Apple And Pumpkin U-Pick Orchards in Northeast Colorado in 2023, by county
Below are the U-Pick orchards and farms for apples and pumpkins that we know of in this area. Not all areas of any state, nor even every state, have apples and pumpkins orchards that are open to the public. If you know of any others, please tell us using the add a farm form!
Remember to always check with the farm's own website or Facebook page before you go - or call or email them if they don't have a website or Facebook page. Conditions at the farms and crops can change literally overnight, so if you want to avoid a wasted trip out there - check with the farm directly before you go! If I cannot reach them, I DON'T GO!
PLEASE report closed farms, broken links and incorrect info using the "Report Corrections" form below.
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Weld County
Lukens Farms - Uses integrated pest management practices, apples, flowers, pumpkins, Turkeys, petting zoo, farm animals, school tours 9320 East State Highway 14, Fort Collins, CO 80524. Phone: 303-579-2668. Email: Lukensfarms@gmail.com. Open: We are a small working farm and therefore do not offer drop in hours; please call first to make sure we are available. Directions: East of interstate 25 on Highway 14 about 6 miles. West of Ault from Highway 85 on Hoghway 14 about 8 miles. . Click here for a map and directions. Payment: Cash, Debit cards, Visa, MasterCard. . Flower season starts in July; Pumpkin season starts in September; Apple season starts in September; Typically all apples are gone by October. We use integrated pest management practices. We also sell grass hay and are a small poultry hatchery with day old chicks. Juvenile birds and adult birds available for sale. We have chicks hatching almost everyday. We have several breeds of chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and more.
Apple picking tips:
Apples ripen from the outside of the tree towards the center, so the apples out
the outside of the tree will ripen first. Once they are picked, they stop
ripening. Picking apples directly from a
tree is easy. Roll the apple upwards off the branch and give a little twist;
don't pull straight away from the tree. If two apples are joined together at the
top, both will come away at the same time. Don't shake the trees or branches.
If the apple you are trying to pick drops, (or others on the tree) go ahead and
pick it up. They're perfectly fine! But do wash them before you eat them! More info: How to tell
when apples are ripe
Once picked, don't throw the apples into the baskets, place them in
gently, or they will bruise and go bad more quickly.
Don't wash apples until just before using to prevent spoilage.
Keep apples cool after picking to increase shelf life. A cool basement is ideal, but the fruit/vegetable drawer of a refrigerator will work, too. A refrigerator is fine for small
quantities of apples. Boxed apples need to be kept in a cool, dark spot
where they won't freeze. Freezing ruptures all of an apple's cells, turning
it into one large bruise overnight. The usual solution is to store apples in
a root cellar. But root cellars often have potatoes in them: apples and
potatoes should never be stored in the same room because, as they age,
potatoes release an otherwise ethylene gas, which makes apples spoil faster.
If you can keep the gas away from your apples, they will keep just fine.
Just don't store them right next to potatoes.
Prevent contact between apples stored for the winter by wrapping them
individually in sheets of newspaper. The easiest way to do this is to unfold
a section of newspaper all the way and tear it into quarters. Then stack the
wrapped apples. See more here: How
to store apples at home
There are tens of thousands of varieties of apples, developed over centuries. They vary in sugar, acoidity, flavors, storing, crispness and many other
attributes. See our guides to apple varieties:
Recipes, illustrated with step by step instructions
Apple pie recipe and directions and
illustrated! I can say, with, ahem, no bias at all, that this is the
best apple pie recipe in the world! (Alright, I did have an apple strudel in
Vienna once at that place listed in Fodors that was REALLY good, but that
wasn't a pie, was it? And since this was the recipe my grandmother used, it
must be great!)