ChicagoIL

Heider's Berry Farm at Woodstock picks strawberries and raspberries, and invites you to stay for a picnic in the shade, which is the most it says about itself. What You Can Pick Strawberries and raspberries. In the farm's own words, "Pick your own strawberries and raspberries." Good to Know The farm publishes no hours, no season dates and no price. Email info@heidersberryfarm.com, or watch its Facebook and Instagram, both of which it keeps. Pro tip: strawberries and raspberries barely overlap in northern Illinois. Strawberries are June and raspberries are late July onwards, so the same farm is two entirely different trips.

Johnson's Farm Produce at Hobart grows, in its own phrase, "everything from asparagus to zucchini", and wraps it in a Fun Farm with more than forty activities. What You Can Pick Strawberries - early summer Blueberries - midsummer Raspberries - late August, with a festival attached Pumpkins - autumn What Else is Available A garden centre, a farm market, a corn maze, a pumpkin patch, a jump pad, a train station and the Barrel Train, alongside over forty activities. Good to Know The market opens 8am to 6pm daily. U-pick and the Fun Farm run 10am to 6pm, with the last car admitted at 5pm, which is a hard cut-off worth planning around. Pro tip: the last car at five is the detail that catches people. Hobart is an hour from the Loop in bad traffic, and arriving at ten past five means you have driven for nothing.

Woody's Orchard & Fun Farm at Plano runs on festivals rather than seasons: a Strawberry Fest across two weekends in late May, and a Fall Fest from late August to Halloween. What You Can Pick Apples - Fall Fest, from 27 August Strawberries - Strawberry Fest, two weekends in late May What Else is Available Slides down to a giant jumping pillow, grain train rides, photo spots, and food and drink. Good to Know Fall Fest opens Thursday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm, from 3 September to 31 October, after an opening week of 27 to 30 August. Strawberry Fest runs Friday to Sunday, 11am to 6pm. The farm publishes no general admission price. It has advertised $5 to enter for one specific Artisan Market weekend, which is not the ordinary rate. Pro tip: the strawberry season here is six days long, spread across two weekends in late May. That is the narrowest picking window of any farm in this region and it is entirely possible to miss it by a week.

Prairie Sky Orchard at Union is closed for the 2026 season, and the number the orchard gives is the one to remember: spring frosts "killed 99% of the blooms". What You Can Pick Apples and pears, in a normal year. Good to Know Nothing this year. The orchard expects to reopen in 2027. Email sueasarm@yahoo.com. Pro tip: a ninety-nine per cent bloom loss is not a bad harvest, it is no harvest, and it takes a season to recover from. Treat 2027 as the year to try again, and ring first even then.

Apple Barn Orchard & Winery at Elkhorn is an orchard with a winery attached, which in southern Wisconsin makes it a different sort of afternoon from most apple farms. What You Can Pick Apples, in the autumn. The orchard also grows strawberries and pumpkins, though it does not say on its own site which of the three are open to picking rather than sold. What Else is Available A country store, a bakery and the winery. Good to Know Open Fridays and Saturdays 10am to 4pm and Sundays noon to 4pm. Weekends only, and short ones. Pro tip: a three-day week with a four o'clock close means the Saturday fills and the Sunday afternoon does not. Get there for noon on a Sunday and you will have the place close to yourself.

Blue Sky Berry Farm at Wanatah keeps a twelve-hour day, seven days a week, across a season of barely five weeks: roughly the Fourth of July to early August. What You Can Pick Blueberries, both u-pick and ready-picked. Good to Know Open 7am to 7pm every day in season. Closed for 2026. The farm asks you to call ahead for availability and takes same-day orders only, which tells you it sells what it picks that morning and nothing else. Pro tip: twelve-hour days across five weeks is an unusual shape. It means almost any hour works, but the window in the calendar is tiny. Diary the first week of July.

R&M Orchards at Kenosha picks three things, which for an orchard in this region is unusual: apples, pears and grapes. What You Can Pick Apples Pears Grapes - and this is the rare one What Else is Available A homemade bakery and local honey. Good to Know No entry fee, no parking fee and no picking minimum, all in the orchard's own words. Credit, debit and cash all accepted. The orchard is currently closed for the season. Pro tip: pick the grapes. Two farms in this whole region let the public pick a grape and this is one of them, and Concord straight off the vine tastes nothing like the jelly it usually becomes.

SunBerry Orchard runs two sites, a u-pick orchard at Woodstock and a market at Mundelein, and it is one of very few farms here with a free petting zoo. What You Can Pick Apples - Saturdays and Sundays through October at Woodstock Strawberries - early summer Raspberries Pumpkins and vegetables What Else is Available A free petting zoo, a scenic farm stroll, a bakery, a cider mill and play areas. Good to Know U-pick at Woodstock is weekends only in October, 10am to 5pm, with last entry at 4:30pm. The Mundelein market opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm, where pre-picked apples are $2.50 a pound, or $2 a pound for ten pounds or more. Pro tip: the Mundelein orchard is fully picked and the Woodstock one is not, which means the two halves of this business are on different clocks. Drive to Woodstock for the picking, not to the nearer site.

Tom's Farm Market at Huntley trades from mid-March through December, which is nine and a half months and much the longest season of any farm in this region, though most of it is market rather than field. What You Can Pick Cut flowers, from the farm's own field. Strawberries are on the record from earlier research; the farm's own site does not name any crop as u-pick, which is worth knowing. What Else is Available A full-service bakery, a coffee bar, a lunch cafe, a gift shop and a garden centre, with outdoor seating. Good to Know Open 8:30am to 6pm Monday to Saturday and 8:30am to 5pm on Sunday. Pro tip: this is a market with a flower field rather than a picking farm, and it is a good one. If you want a bakery and a coffee at the end of a morning picking somewhere else, Huntley is on the way back from three of them.

Crosswind Farms at Manhattan, south-west of the city, runs its market and field on announced days rather than fixed hours: the site advertises specific dates and times as they come. What You Can Pick Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and Concord grapes, in their seasons. The farm's own site does not itemise its u-pick, so this list comes from earlier research. Good to Know There is no fixed timetable. At the time of checking the farm was advertising "The Country Market & Field Open 10-2" for a specific Friday, which is how it publishes: one day at a time. Ring 708-567-9090. Pro tip: Concord grapes are the reason to keep an eye on this one. Two farms in the whole region let the public pick a grape, and September is a short window for it.

Lang's Orchard at Woodstock is closed for the whole of 2026, and the reason is worth reading in the orchard's own words: the spring weather went against it and "we just don't have enough quality apples for that to occur." What You Can Pick Apples, in a normal year. The orchard describes itself as "principally a U-Pick orchard", which is exactly why a poor crop shuts it rather than shifting it to selling pre-picked fruit. Good to Know There is nothing to plan this year. Check its Facebook page for the 2027 season, or email langs@langsorchard.com. Pro tip: two orchards within twenty minutes of each other lost their 2026 crop to the same spring frost, this one and Prairie Sky at Union. If you are planning a McHenry County apple trip, ring before you go: the frost did not hit everyone equally.

Goebbert's Farm at Pingree Grove is one of the big autumn destinations north-west of Chicago, with 2,158 reviewers, and its Fall Fest opens on 21 August. What You Can Pick Apples and pumpkins, in the autumn. The farm's own phrase for its produce is "fresh straight from the fields", and it does not itemise which crops the public may pick. Good to Know The farm publishes no hours, no prices and no admission fee on its own site, which for an operation running a ticketed Fall Fest is a real gap. Pro tip: Fall Fest opening in the third week of August tells you what this farm is. It is an autumn event with an orchard in it, not an orchard that happens to run events, and the crowds arrive accordingly.

Cody's Farm & Orchard at Marengo keeps a farm market open daily, 10am to 6pm, and lists what is in it week by week. What You Can Pick Strawberries, apples and pumpkins, in their seasons. The farm's own site lists what is currently available in the market but does not say which of it you may pick, which is the main gap in its own account of itself. Good to Know Open daily, 10am to 6pm. No price, no entry fee and no season dates are published. Ring 815-568-7976. Pro tip: Marengo sits between three McHenry County orchards that publish everything and this one that publishes almost nothing. If you are driving out for a specific crop, ring first rather than arriving hopeful.

Heinz Orchard at Green Oaks is the most refreshingly blunt farm on this entire site. Its own description of its facilities reads, in full: "no bathrooms, no hayrides, no petting zoos, no pumpkins, etc." What You Can Pick Apples, from around mid-September. What It Costs Half peck bag, holding about six pounds - $10 Peck bag, holding about twelve pounds - $20 There is no admission fee. You buy the bag and you fill it. Good to Know One picking stick per group, please. On payment the orchard is equally direct: it prefers cash but takes Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Amex and Apple, Google or Samsung pay, and it does not accept "crypto, I.O.U.'s, checks, or handshake promises". Pro tip: this is the anti-agritainment orchard. If you want a corn maze and a petting zoo, Royal Oak and Kuipers are both within half an hour. If you want to pick twelve pounds of apples for twenty dollars and go home, this is the only farm around Chicago that has organised itself entirely around that.

Keller's Farmstand runs two sites, at Oswego and Naperville, on the same hours, which makes it the easiest picking farm to reach from the western suburbs. What You Can Pick Apples - u-pick opened Saturday 15 August 2026 Cut flowers - from the farm's own U-Pick Cut Flower Field Pumpkins - autumn Good to Know Open 10am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm at weekends, at both locations. Sweet corn is available but the farm does not say whether you pick it or buy it. No prices are published. Email info@KellersFarmstand.com. Pro tip: the Naperville site at Knoch Knolls is twenty minutes from the city's western edge, which makes this the shortest drive to an apple tree of any farm on this list. If your alternative is ninety minutes to Michigan, that matters more than the variety list.

Royal Oak Farm Orchard at Harvard grows thirty apple varieties, more than any other orchard in this region, and has built the fullest day out around them: a carousel, a train, a petting zoo, an apple maze and a crazy golf course called Pick 'N Putt. What You Can Pick Apples - thirty varieties, 21 August through 31 October Raspberries Cut flowers - at Blossom Ridge What Else is Available A carousel, a train, a playground and a petting zoo, the Amaze 'N Apples maze, Pick 'N Putt, a gift shop, a bakery and a country kitchen. Good to Know Open 10am to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 6pm Friday to Sunday. No prices are published on the orchard's own site, which for an operation with this many ticketed attractions is a real gap. Pro tip: thirty varieties across ten weeks means the orchard is picking something different every fortnight. Ring and ask what is on rather than assuming a September visit and an October one are the same trip.

Homestead Orchard at Woodstock keeps fifteen varieties of apple and pear and is grafting heirlooms that have not yet come into bearing, which is a long game for a small orchard. What You Can Pick Apples and pears, from mid-August. In 2026 the orchard opened u-pick McIntosh on 15 August, with Dutchess and Early Blaze already picking. What Else is Available The shop is an 1880s horse barn selling crafts and antiques, and you are invited to sit under one of the oldest and largest maple trees in McHenry County. Good to Know Open 10am to 4pm Monday to Saturday and noon to 4pm Sunday. No dogs in the orchard, for insurance reasons. Pro tip: Dutchess and Early Blaze are August apples that almost nobody grows any more, because they do not keep and cannot be shipped. This orchard is picking them now and they will be gone by September.

Stade's Farm & Market at McHenry picks the longest list of anything in this region, and most of it is not fruit: alongside the Zestar apples and raspberries you can pick cauliflower, potatoes, onions, cabbage, kohlrabi, beets, zucchini and pickling cucumbers. What You Can Pick Strawberries - from mid-June Raspberries Zestar apples Pumpkins - autumn Tomatoes and flowers Vegetables - cauliflower, potatoes, onions, cabbage, kohlrabi, beets, zucchini, cucumbers, pickles, peas, green beans, peppers and leafy greens What Else is Available A petting zoo, corn maze, giant slides and hayrides, plus a market with a bakery and specialty foods. Good to Know The market opens 9am to 6pm daily through Halloween. U-pick opens 9am to 5pm "when applicable", which is the farm's own careful phrase for fields that are not always ready. Credit cards (not Amex), debit and cash are accepted. Pro tip: the vegetable u-pick is the thing nobody else here offers. Picking your own kohlrabi and pickling cucumbers on the same trip as the raspberries is genuinely unusual, and it makes this a farm for cooks rather than only for children.

Apple Holler at Sturtevant picks three fruits rather than one, which for a Wisconsin orchard is unusual: apples, peaches and pears. It draws over three thousand reviewers. What You Can Pick Apples, peaches and pears. The orchard's own phrase is "Pick-your-own apples, peaches and pears". What Else is Available A farm store, a bakery, the Red Barn Restaurant, a Family Fun Park, a corn maze, a petting zoo, tractor-drawn hayrides, train rides, dining domes, a biergarten, a hard cider bar and an applewood grill. Good to Know The farm store and bakery open 8:30am to 4pm daily, the restaurant to 3pm, and the Farm Park and Orchard 10am to 4pm with the last admission at 3pm. There is no admission to enter the farm shop, bakery or restaurant. Apple picking and the Fun Park are ticketed separately, and the orchard does not publish those prices. Pro tip: peaches and pears are the reason to come here rather than to any of the twenty apple orchards within an hour. Wisconsin peaches are a genuine rarity and the window is late summer, well before the apple crowds.

Blueberries of Indiana near LaPorte describes itself as an organic u-pick blueberry farm and opens three days a week, Friday through Sunday. What You Can Pick Organic blueberries. Good to Know Open 8am to 6pm central time on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The season finished on the second weekend of August, which the farm announced in advance rather than after the fact. No price is published. Ring (219) 262-2329. Pro tip: this farm is on central time and the Michigan farms half an hour east are on eastern. An eight o'clock opening here is nine o'clock there, and people get that wrong every season.

Eenigenburg's Blueberries at DeMotte grows thirteen blueberry varieties, which is more than any other farm in this region, and prices all of them the same: $2.50 a pound for whatever you pick. What You Can Pick Blueberries, across thirteen varieties. One of them, the Rubel, is available u-pick only: you cannot buy it pre-picked at any price. Good to Know The 2026 season has finished. Its last two days ran 7am to 5pm on the Friday and 7am to 1pm on the Saturday, u-pick only. Payment is cash, cheque, PayPal or card. If you are buying frozen berries, the farm asks you to bring a cooler and ice packs. Pro tip: the Rubel is the reason to come. It is a wild-type heirloom, small and intensely flavoured, and this farm will not sell it to you picked. Picking it yourself is the only way to get it.

Kuipers Family Farm at Maple Park opens its fall season on 22 August and pairs the apple picking with something few orchards offer: cut-your-own fall flowers. What You Can Pick Apples - straight from the trees, from 22 August Fall flowers - cut your own Pumpkins - in the autumn What Else is Available An orchard shop and bakery with a sample kitchen, which is the farm's own name for it and is exactly what it sounds like. Good to Know The farm publishes no hours and no prices on its own site. Its old youpickfun.com address now redirects to kuipersfamilyfarm.com. Pro tip: 22 August is early for an Illinois apple, which means the first weeks are the early varieties: soft, sharp and gone by the end of September. The Honeycrisp crowd arrives in October.

Windy Acres Farm at Geneva runs a tight apple window, 19 August to 10 September, and then turns into something else entirely for Fall Fest. What You Can Pick Apples, for three weeks from 19 August. Pumpkins follow in the autumn. What Else is Available A farm stand market, a garden centre, a bakery, a bar and grill, wagon rides, a petting area, a covered event tent and a pond with live music. Good to Know No admission is needed for the market or the garden centre. The attraction area needs a wristband, whose price the farm does not publish. Open 9am to 6pm daily. This farm holds 3.6 from 600 reviewers, which is the lowest score of any farm in this region by a clear margin, and that is recorded rather than explained away. Pro tip: the apple window closes on 10 September, before Fall Fest starts. If you want apples rather than an event, that three-week gap in late August is the whole opportunity.

Tammen Treeberry Farm at Wilmington is two farms in one year, and its name says so: blueberries in July and August, Christmas trees in November and December. What You Can Pick Blueberries, July and August. The 2026 season ended in mid-July, which was short. Good to Know Open 8am to 4:30pm. No price is published. Email btammen@tammentreeberryfarm.com. Pro tip: a blueberry season that ended in mid-July is a short one even for northern Illinois. If you are planning around this farm, treat the first two weeks of July as the window and ring before the third.

Guelde Strawberries at Earlville picks one crop, publishes one price, and is honest when the year goes badly. What You Can Pick Strawberries, at $3.25 a pound. Good to Know Open 9am to 5pm, weather permitting, and the farm asks you to check its Facebook page for the most recent word on whether it is open at all. Cash or cheque. No credit or debit. The 2026 patch is closed, and the farm's own note is worth quoting: "It was a short season, we hope to see you all next year." Pro tip: $3.25 a pound is the cheapest strawberry picking within two hours of Chicago. Bring cash, because the card machine that does not exist will not appear for you either.

Valley Orchard at Cherry Valley, out towards Rockford, picks apples in the autumn and holds 4.5 from 253 reviewers. What You Can Pick Apples, in the autumn. Good to Know The orchard's own website could not be read during this pass: it refused the connection on three separate attempts, from the home page and the u-pick page alike. Nothing here is confirmed in the orchard's own words except what its Google listing carries. Ring 815-332-9696 before setting out. Pro tip: Cherry Valley is ninety minutes from the city and there are four orchards closer that publish their hours. If you are going this far west, ring first.

Fritts Berry Farm at DeMotte opens on 1 July and keeps eleven-hour weekdays, seven in the morning until six at night, which is the longest blueberry day in this region. What You Can Pick Blueberries. The farm is expanding into jams, jellies, syrup and honey for coming seasons. Good to Know Open 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 7am to 3pm on Saturday. Cash or cheque only, and you bring your own containers. Both are the farm's own rules and both are worth knowing before the drive out from Chicago. Pro tip: a seven o'clock start in an Indiana July is not a formality. Blueberries pick cleanest before the sun is on them, and this farm is one of very few that opens early enough for you to do it properly.

Klug's Blueberry Farm at Baroda is a fourth-generation family farm with six blueberry varieties, offering both u-pick and we-pick. What You Can Pick Blueberries, across six varieties. Good to Know The farm has no website: its Facebook page is the whole of its published presence. It asks you to ring 269-422-1054 for prices, hours and directions, and to call ahead because the crop changes daily. Pro tip: Baroda is in the heart of the Michigan fruit belt and there are a dozen blueberry farms within twenty minutes. If this one is not picking, one of its neighbours will be.

Stateline Blueberries at Michigan City grows twelve varieties, including Duke, Chanticleer and Draper, and opens seven days a week from seven in the morning. What You Can Pick Blueberries, across twelve varieties. Good to Know No entrance or parking fee, which the farm states in capitals and which matters more than it sounds: several of its Indiana neighbours charge for one or the other. Open 7am to 6pm every day, central time, which is worth checking if you are driving from Chicago and thinking in eastern. It takes all forms of payment, though cards need a $10 minimum and carry a 3% fee. Pro tip: Duke ripens early and Draper late, so a farm with both has a season twice as long as one with neither. Ask which block is picking rather than assuming the whole field is ready.

Thompson Farm at Bristol runs a fall raspberry season that holds until the first frost, which makes it one of the very last places to pick anything within reach of Chicago. What You Can Pick Strawberries - early summer Sunflowers - through to Labor Day Raspberries - autumn, "through October or the first frost" Pumpkins - autumn Good to Know Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday. No prices are published. The farm is active on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, all as @thompsonfarmwi. Pro tip: "or the first frost" is doing real work in that sentence. A warm October gives you three more weekends of raspberries than a cold one, and this farm is the only place round here where that matters.

Fair Oaks Farms is the largest agritourism operation anywhere on this site, nearly five thousand Google reviews, with dairy and pig adventures, museums, a hotel with a water slide, and an orchard bolted onto the side of it. What You Can Pick Apples, from 29 August, inside a harvest season running to 7 November. Good to Know Apple bags for picking are sold separately from whatever else you have paid for, which is the farm's own wording and matters on a site where nearly everything is ticketed. Open 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 5pm Sunday, central time. There are handicap accessible facilities and free parking. Pro tip: be clear with yourself about why you are coming. If it is apples, this is an expensive and crowded way to get them and Radke's is forty minutes away with no admission fee at all. If it is a day out with children who want a water slide and a dairy adventure, nothing else in this region comes close.

Huber Farms at Union Mills is, on its own account, the only USDA certified organic blueberry farm in northern Indiana, and it picks a second crop most blueberry farms do not: red raspberries in late August. What You Can Pick Blueberries - from around 1 July Red raspberries - from around 20 August Good to Know The farm has no website. Email huberblueberryfarm@gmail.com or watch its Facebook page. Pro tip: the raspberries are why this farm is worth a diary note. Almost every blueberry farm in this region shuts in early August, and a certified organic raspberry field opening on the twentieth is the last picking of the summer within reach of Chicago.

Garwood Orchards at La Porte picks more different things than any farm in this region, and it does the honest thing about the difference between a market and a field: the market opens six days, the u-pick only three. What You Can Pick Strawberries - May and June Raspberries and blackberries - summer Peaches - late summer Apples - August through October, in many varieties Pumpkins, sunflowers and cut flowers - autumn Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and tomatillos - through the summer Good to Know U-pick opens Friday to Sunday, 9am to 2:30pm, and is closed Monday to Thursday. The market runs 9am to 6pm. Turning up on a Wednesday gets you the shop and not the field. There are horse and tractor drawn wagon rides. Pro tip: a 2:30 close on the u-pick is early and catches people out. This is a morning farm, and the last hour before half past two on a Sunday in October is when the good rows have already been walked.

County Line Orchard at Hobart draws more than four thousand reviewers, which makes it one of the two busiest picking farms within reach of Chicago, and its 2026 opening day is Wednesday 2 September. What You Can Pick Apples and pumpkins, in the autumn. Good to Know The orchard publishes no hours, no price and no admission fee on its own site, which for an operation of this scale is a striking omission. It does have private areas for birthday parties and special events. Pro tip: opening day at a farm with four thousand reviewers is not the day to go. The apples will be there in the third week of September and so will a car park you can actually get into.

Radke's Orchards at Michigan City has decided what it is not, and says so: "No petting zoo, no carnival, no water park." What it offers instead is "great apples in a country atmosphere". What You Can Pick Apples, from Labor Day weekend through the end of October. Good to Know No admission fees. Open 8:30am to 5:30pm, central time. And unusually for an orchard: pets are welcome. Almost every farm on this site bans them. Pro tip: this and Heinz Orchard at Green Oaks are the two farms in this region that have deliberately refused to become theme parks. If a Saturday in October with 4,000 people and a corn maze is your idea of a bad time, these are the two to drive to.

Berry Lucky Farm at Bridgman is a six-acre blueberry farm that aims to open on the most agreeable date any farm on this site has chosen: National Blueberry Day, 8 July. What You Can Pick Blueberries. Good to Know The farm is straightforward that the date moves: it plans to open "on or around" 8 July, "but that can change due to weather each year". No hours and no price are published. Email BerryLuckyFarm@gmail.com or watch its Facebook and Instagram, both of which it keeps. Pro tip: Bridgman is on the Michigan side of the state line, which puts it on eastern time and an hour ahead of the Indiana farms twenty minutes down the road. Check which clock you are working from.

Van Kley's Blueberries at Wheatfield is a second-generation farm with eight varieties across fifteen acres, and it does one small thing almost no other blueberry farm bothers with: it puts picnic tables under the oaks and invites you to bring lunch. What You Can Pick Blueberries, across eight varieties. What Else is Available The Red Barn Farmstand, for pre-picked fruit. Good to Know The 2026 season has ended. In the farm's own words: "Relax under one of our shady oaks and enjoy your picnic lunch at one of our picnic tables." That is an unusual invitation on a working blueberry farm and it changes what the visit can be. Pro tip: fifteen acres and eight varieties means a long season and a big field, so ring first and ask which block is on. Then bring lunch, because they have told you to.