"Some years Mother Nature throws a curve ball!" That line sits in bold capitals on the homepage of Sun High Orchards in Randolph. Right below it is the notice that matters for anyone in Brookside planning a weekend: no apple picking October 3 through 12.
Most years an orchard run from Mendham Township comes down to choosing a direction. You head west toward Chester or east toward Morristown. This October that habit leads people to the wrong place. A spring freeze sorted the farms within an easy drive into ones that are picking, ones that are picked out and ones deciding week by week. That sorting has very little to do with how close a farm is to Route 24.
A freeze that hit farm by farm
As NJ.com reported in September, a four-day freeze in April pushed temperatures into the low 20s. An unseasonable heat wave had already brought fruit trees into early bloom, and the cold wiped out or badly damaged apple crops at orchards across the state. Gov. Mikie Sherrill declared a state of emergency in all 21 counties. Losses were estimated at more than $300 million, and federal agriculture officials later declared every New Jersey county a natural disaster area.
The damage was not even. In their post-freeze update, Rutgers fruit specialists said yield potential was "extremely low across most orchards." They also found that the damage varied with location, elevation, variety and how far along each block's blossoms were when the cold arrived. That explains why one orchard can be picked out while another down the road stays open. In the Somerset Hills, Ripple Hill Farm in Basking Ridge canceled apple picking this year and will not offer peaches either.
So the map has to be redrawn one farm at a time. For Mendham Township, the closest cluster is in Chester.
Three Chester farms, three different answers
Chester is the obvious westward drive from Brookside, and its three best-known orchards have landed in three different places this year.
Riamede Farm is picking. Its live variety sheet lists Empire, Golden Delicious and Fuji as ripe and Liberty as having a few left. Several early varieties are marked done or sold in the store only. The sheet shows no update date, so it works as a snapshot and nothing firmer. NJ.com noted that Riamede, one of the state's oldest pick-your-own orchards, opened for apples on August 22.
Alstede Farms is picking too, and its list looks fuller. The farm's crop-status page rates Red Cortland, Crimson Crisp and Jonamac as "GOOD." It lists Cameo, Macoun, Liberty, Jonaprince, Golden Delicious, Empire, Fuji and Macintosh as "LIGHT." That page carries an older timestamp even though its crop details look current, so it is worth reloading before you leave.
Stony Hill Farms is done. Its U-pick policy page now reads "U-PICK APPLES, VEGGIES, & FLOWERS ARE PICKED OUT." Its apple page had already warned that the freeze-limited crop would likely be gone before October. The homepage still promotes its fall corn maze.
Some of the farms a little farther out did better than the nearest one.
The wider ring: Long Valley, Morristown, Randolph
Ort Farms in Long Valley says its orchard is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with last admission at 5:30 p.m. It currently lists Gala, Empire and Ida Red. Ort also sells homemade apple-cider donuts baked fresh daily. Its ticket terms warn that the orchard or pumpkin patch may close during the day if supplies run low.
Wightman Farms, on the Morristown side, told NJ.com that its crew "worked through the night" to protect blossoms during the frost. The homepage still says apples are ready for U-pick. The most recent dated bulletin on its pick-your-own page covers October 3 and 4 and lists Macoun, Golden Delicious, Ambrosia, Cortland and Red Delicious. Nothing posted yet confirms what will be on the trees after that weekend.
Sun High Orchards is where the curve ball landed. Apples are for sale in the farm store, including Honeycrisp, Crimson Gold, Crimson Crisp, Cortland, Ambrosia, Amarillo Soul, Jonathan and Gala, but there is no picking from October 3 through 12. The farm says a few later varieties "may" turn out plentiful enough to let the public into the orchard later in the month. Its separate pick-your-own page says the 2026 season is closed. Until the farm posts otherwise, treat any reopening as unconfirmed.
| Farm | Town | U-pick apples as of early October 2026 | What the farm lists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riamede Farm | Chester | Open | Empire, Golden Delicious, Fuji ripe; a few Liberty |
| Alstede Farms | Chester | Open | Red Cortland, Crimson Crisp, Jonamac rated good; others light |
| Stony Hill Farms | Chester | Picked out | Corn maze still promoted |
| Ort Farms | Long Valley | Open daily | Gala, Empire, Ida Red |
| Wightman Farms | Morristown | Open per homepage; latest bulletin Oct. 3–4 | Macoun, Golden Delicious, Ambrosia, Cortland, Red Delicious |
| Sun High Orchards | Randolph | No picking Oct. 3–12 | Store-only apples; later picking undecided |
The ticket rules changed the trip
A smaller crop is half the story. The other half is that each farm now charges for the visit in its own way, and the differences are big enough to change which day makes sense.
Riamede charges by the calendar. General admission is $15.50 online or $19.50 at the gate on weekends and on Monday, October 12. On ordinary weekdays it is $5. Apples are sold separately at $3.99 a pound. The farm advises buying ahead because entry without a ticket is not guaranteed. Hayrides, the apple slingshot, concessions and live music run on weekends only. A weekday visit costs less and offers fewer extras. Riamede also posts two different end dates: the farm homepage gives a Fall Festival window of September 20 to October 31, and its ticket page says the Fall Fest season ends November 1.
Alstede builds produce into the ticket. For October 8, a timed entry with a five-pound produce box or pumpkin credit costs $28.99. Admission with a ten-pound box costs $36.99, and four admissions with a 25-pound box cost $104.99. Arrival has to fall within a 30-minute window. Pumpkins can be bought with a $9.99 credit or at 89 cents a pound, and admission includes the corn maze and hay wagon.
Wightman sells a festival day. The $30 ticket, free for children under 3, includes a pumpkin and entry to the apple orchard. Apples cost $3.79 a pound on top of that. Tickets are sold at a booth in the front parking lot, parking is free, and festival activities run Fridays and weekends.
Ort sells dated tickets that are good only on the day you choose, with a half-peck apple-or-vegetable bag offered as a $12.42 add-on.
Taken together, a family that once picked a farm by habit now has to weigh what is on the trees, which day suits the pricing and whether a ticket is still available. Each of those changes week to week this year. Every farm on the list asks visitors to check its site or call before driving, and NJ.com gave the same advice.
The apple event inside township lines
Once you know all that, the closest fall apple event for Mendham Township residents is a pressing day at a mill on Route 24 rather than a day in an orchard.
On Saturday, October 24, from 1 to 4 p.m., the Ralston Cider Mill Museum at 336 Mendham Road West will press apples on its fully restored 19th-century machinery. Admission is $15 per person, and children under 7 get in free. The ticket covers the live pressing, a museum exhibit with a video about the mill's history and a taste of the fresh cider. Fresh cider is sold to take home at $10 a gallon, and regional cider makers will pour samples of hard cider. The township's October newsletter also lists the cider pressing for that date.
The farms are still worth the drive for anyone who wants to pick, and Riamede, Alstede, Ort and Wightman are all listing fruit. Even so, a few minutes from Brookside on the last full Saturday before Halloween, the mill will make cider the way the area made it more than a century ago.
The orchard season changes week to week, and so does what the Somerset Hills offer through the fall. At Brown & McCrea, we keep up with the farms, mills and weekend calendars around Mendham Township because they are part of how people here spend their fall. If you'd like to talk about the area or about a move within it, please Contact Us.
