Sherwood Orchards

I am not sure what to think here. We went on a quiet day and received a lot of good information about what might be sweet and ready. We checked out the recommended varieties. Of the dozenish we were told about, two varieties actually looked good. When we asked for more recommendations, the gentleman seemed shocked that there weren’t any good looking ones left at the bottom part of the orchard. Honestly, most of them were on the ground. Regardless, he pointed out a few more to try. We weren’t disappointed with the Akane apples. They were pretty, sweet and perfect. They lasted all of a day or two off the tree though, so we lost quite a few.
The price was a buck a pound. Very fair. I will give them credit there.
As we were leaving, we were told about all the pesticides and sprays used on the plants to prevent all the maladies common with these types of fruit trees. I know the big «in» thing is the «organic» option. If you want organic, here is not the place to get your fruit.
I think what disappointed me the most is I contacted the orchard about doing a small school group a couple of weeks later because we enjoyed our time in the orchard when we went on our own time. The same gentleman that was so kind before to us was very curt and standoffish over the phone. When he asked for how many kids and I explained it was a small group of about 20 kids with a lot of parent supervision, he repeated he doesn’t want large groups of 45 kids. He kept saying they once did one of 45 and not again. They can’t do 45 kids. Uhh… we don’t have 45 kids. We have about 20. I get it. You don’t do large school groups. Ranting and raving about it only convinced me that even on our free time, we won’t be picking here anymore.
I apologize for thinking that a local business would’ve wanted to make connections with local schools. We learned so much about apples when we went to pick, and they were so eager to share. I was just disappointed they were so rude about this. A simple «we aren’t able to take groups» would’ve sufficed.
EDIT:
Sherwood Orchard responded to an email inquiry from a teacher at the same school, asking the same question about the class visiting. The email was very kind and made recommendations of where to try instead. That’s more like it! Now to be that kind when responding to people on the phone.

We love this place! The knowledgeable owners will guide you towards the freshest fruit in their orchard. Call ahead for hours or if you are looking for a particular crop of fruit.

I love fruit picking and was happy to find Sherwood Orchards for cherry picking just 30 min away from my home. They had mostly just Royal Ann cherries ($ 1.25/lb) which look like Rainier cherries but are smaller, softer, and have a shorter life span. The cherries were really delicious and froze very well too. My biggest complain was that most of the cherries that you can reach without a ladder were already picked and there was a complete shortage of ladders so we spent the first 30 minutes or so wandering around waiting for a ladder. You can bring your own ladder but I don’t have one myself and it wasn’t recommended on their website to bring one.

A little local orchard not too far from downtown, whats not to like? It was hard to find a local apple place that was pick-​your own («U-​pick») as opposed to having to buy from the on-​site store. [And the Fruit Loop is a bit to far of a drive].
They have all sorts of tree fruit to pick yourself (apples, pears, plums, nectarines, etc) and are super cheap at .85 a pound.
The views of the country are beautiful vistas in the fall and the staff is super helpful if you need it, but they leave you alone in the 70 acre orchard.
Some of the apple varieties there lacked real flavor, but that is the apple’s fault — not the orchard. Plus the big bonus with U-​pick apples is that me and the girl must have «sampled» as many apples as we bought.