Blake's Orchard & Cider Mill

Blake's Orchard & Cider Mill at Armada calls itself "one of the first U-Pick orchards in Michigan", and it is the one farm in this region that publishes a start date for every crop it grows.

What You Can Pick

• Apples - from 23 July, which is the earliest apple picking anywhere on this site. Ginger Gold, Zestar, Paula Red and Early Jonathon
• Raspberries - from 23 June, red and golden
• Purple plums - from 13 August
• Lavender - from 23 June
• Sunflowers - from 13 August

The vegetable list is longer than the fruit list: broccoli, zucchini, squash, eggplant, nine kinds of pepper, cabbage and red cabbage, tomatillos, cucumbers and pickling cucumbers, green beans, cherry tomatoes, green tomatoes and cauliflower, each with its own start date.

What It Costs

The farm publishes flower prices and no fruit prices: peonies at $3.99 a stem or three for $10, and a mix-and-match bundle of snapdragon, dianthus and eucalyptus at $9.99 for up to 20 stems, or $15 with a Blake's Bud Vase.

What Else is Available

Funland, a petting zoo, the cider mill, a bakery, a farm market, a tasting room pouring Blake's own hard cider and beer, and in autumn haunted hayrides and zombie paintball.

Good to Know

Blake's runs four sites and the crops differ at each. In the farm's own words: "U-Pick dates and offerings vary by location. Check what crops are active at your local farm before you plan your trip out."

Pro tip: Ginger Gold in the third week of July is the whole reason to come here rather than to a September orchard. It is a soft, aromatic, faintly tart apple that does not keep and is almost never sold in shops, and Blake's picks it a month before anyone else in the state.