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Outhouse Farms: Apple and Pumpkin picking, pumpkin bouncy house

Just over an hour from the city lies the ultimate apple picking experience.  Outhouse Orchards is family-operated and happens to be open all year.  But a visit to the orchard in the autumn is very special.  I had heard about Outhouse for years and been curious about it but stayed away due to stories about massive crowds.  For some reason, we decided to brave it last weekend as I decided a visit was finally in offer.

It was the right choice.  It was one of the larger orchards that we’ve been to, and it offers a unique kind of experience.  Once we got through the crawling traffic to the parking lot (I admit my husband was getting anxious and did consider turning around, but I said that there must be a reason so many people want to go to this place, so let’s stay with it), we purchased a half bushel bag for $25.  Then we started heading up the hill of the orchard.  It was about a 10-15 minute walk.  Ahead of us were higher apple trees than we’d seen before, so we were grateful when someone offered us their apple-picking pole to help maneuver the apples from the trees.   Then we got right to it.

We all had a ball picking apples.  My husband is really tall, so he managed to raise the pole quite high to get the roundest and juiciest apples.  Outhouse has a good selection, but Cortland apples were in abundance.  We managed to get a good variety, in any case, filled our bags and then went back down the hill to see what else the orchard had to offer.  My son recently lost his two top teeth recently so he made me promise to get a knife as soon as I could to cut slices for him to eat.  The apples looked so yummy.

We had no idea what kind of treat was awaiting us.  Across the street, we headed into the food area, where they have vendors of all kinds that make their own scrumptious food including pumpkin cheesecake (out of this world!), turkey legs, pie, funnel cake (a hit in my family), BBQ, pizza, curly fries, ice cream and some kind of donuts that a zillion people were standing in line to buy.

At the market, you can also buy home made jams, jellies, fudge and cider or pick up fresh flowers  direct from their farm.  They also have a store that was selling Halloween items.  It will turn into a Christmas store in early November.

After we filled up on goodies, we headed toward the rest of festivities and found ourselves in an enormous pumpkin patch.

There was also an animal farm, a bouncy pumpkin ($3 each), a duck pond, a playground and hayrides.

For directions, go to the Outhouse Orchards site and head to the directions tab.  They’re located in North Salem.

So, now I have a bag of 50 apples waiting for me to cook them in a pie or some other type of apple dish.  Below is the first apple dish I plan to make.  I watched my sister-in-law make this when we were last in England and I didn’t always write down the measurements so you may have to make an estimated guess for certain ingredients.

APPLE CRUMBLE

You need:

5-6 medium size apples or 4 large ones

Splenda or sugar

4-5 oz. butter

8-10 ox. flour (you can substitute 1 oz. with oats)

8-10 oz. sugar (6 oz. white, 2-4 oz. brown sugar)

Optional: Berries, raisins, cinnamon, nuts

Here’s what you have to do:

To make the crumble:

-Boil the apples in water with sugar or splenda.  Or you can microwave them for 10 minutes and add berries, raisins and cinnamon.

-Dump the butter, sugar (all 8 oz and flour into a bowl and mix with a mixer.  You can add a handful of nuts.

To put it all together:

-Put the crumble on the bottom of the pan and poor the apples on top.  Bake the whole thing at 300 for 30 minutes.

-Warm up before eating.

Outhouse Orchards
130 Hardscrabble Rd
North Salem, NY 10560
(914) 277-3188

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Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Holly Rosen Fink has spent the last 15 years in NYC working in all facets of media, from MTV to the world of traditional and online publishing.  Now working as a consultant  in Westchester, she blogs about travel, theater, film, art, books, advocacy and more at The Culture Mom .  She has two children, ages 5 and 7, who share her culture addiction.

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