Amanda G.
Yelp
I grew up on pick-your-own fruit. Many summer mornings, my mom and I would go off in search of plentiful fruit and cheap prices. We gathered blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, peaches, apples. We stained our finger and mouths with berry juice, took home baskets and pints and crates of freshness, and baked to our heart's content.
I've tried to keep the spirit alive, but pick-your-own seems to be going the way of roadside produce stands and VHS tapes. Still, I'm fortunate to live close to the rich and nurturing soil of Colorado's Grand Valley. Stretching from Grand Junction to Paonia and encompassing orchards, vineyards, and beautiful vistas, the Grand Valley was a new and undiscovered area for me. I wanted to pick apples, Eric was home from work, and so off we went.
Delicious Orchards was my pick from the very beginning. I may be old-fashioned in some ways, but I like to do my research beforehand and Delicious seems to be the only place in the area that has a good website. I called the morning before we visited and they were incredibly helpful and friendly. They told me apple conditions (plentiful!) and field conditions (muddy!) and gave me directions when, halfway there, I feared we were lost (we weren't!).
Delicious has a huge orchard of organic apples in different varieties (Macintosh, Fuji, Red and Golden Delicious, Pink Lady) along with pears, cherries, a huge farm store full of both local and their own organic produce, a little cafe where I enjoyed a most delicious quiche (seriously...it was AWESOME!), and a wine-tasting area. The girl who did our wine tasting was great...incredibly relatable because she wasn't an expert. She learned about wine on the job, didn't use any terms that were over our heads, and set us up with a fantastic bottle of local red.
A bottle of wine and 30 pounds of apples set us back $36. Awesome! That weekend, they were also doing a Harvest Fest, which included music, BBQ, and the stunning price of 50 cent/lb for apples (when we visited they were 99 cents/lb). Overall, it was a lovely experience, gave me a little hit of nostalgia, and didn't hurt the wallet. I'll be back next year...and for years to come. My kids will love it :)