Ron Yoder Orchards

When I was little, we used to go to the apple orchard every fall… we would pick apples, stuff our faces with the fresh fruit, and go home with bushels of apples for canning. I still love going to the orchard every fall and I like to take my dog with me… but I hate the rat race of the big money-​making orchards that have turned into circuses. I get that their season is short and they have to make the most of the fall by drawing as many people as possible (hence the pumpkin patches, the petting zoos, the face painting, the giant balloon moonwalks… and the impossible parking and insanely long lines that go with all of it), but that stuff drives me crazy. I love the chirping birds and the bees buzzing around fallen apples. I love not having to walk a half mile to get from my car to the orchard, I love not waiting in impossible lines, and I love not paying inflated prices so as to cover the expense of all the clowns, animal handlers, etc.
So, for my third year in a row I have gone to Yoder’s. I love it. It’s easy to miss, but it is just south of Blakes on M-​53/​Van Dyke. Just stop at the entrance, pick up a bag/​bushel from Ron (who sits in his truck and waits for people to pull up), then drive off beyond the road into acres and acres of quiet, still orchard where you can pick apples, relax, let Fido run around free, and enjoy picking apples w/​o the lines, the fuss, or the $$$. If you are looking for all that rig-​a-​marole, DO NOT go to Yoder’s — they don’t have it… hell, they don’t have cider, or donuts, or caramel apples (and they only take cash or check). But there are plenty of places where you *can* get those things, and not nearly enough places where you can get pick-​your-​own apples without all the fuss. I’ll keep going back to this orchard every year.