Spent a delightful morning picking strawberries and peas at Ochs Orchards in charming Warwick, NY. Looking over the rolling green and lush hillsides, it's easy to forget that you're still in New York, about 50 miles north of the city.
Ochs is a family owned and operated farm that offers a number of pick your own crops (strawberries, peas, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, apples, pears and pumpkins) during June through September. Open seven days a week, you literally pick up a cardboard basket and drive around to the patch and start picking what turned out to be some of the best berries I've tasted in quite a long time. There were two patches for strawberries and they were just ripe for the picking. We easily filled three baskets as well as a large bag of fresh peas. Prices are per pound and are reasonable.
Families love this place and children delight in picking fruit fresh on the farm. The farm stand also has fresh locally grown produce, honey, candy and other merchandise. Stop by the ice cream counter in the back of the store and enjoy some homemade ice cream that's not like anything you'd buy in the supermarket. We had a very hard time selecting from banana/granola nut, double berry delight, Grandma's apple pie or nectarine. We tasted tested several and settled on the double berry delight. Great choice!
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