5 Family-Run Nebraska Orchards Where You Can Pick Apples And Ride Wagons This Fall
The first cool Saturday of October in Nebraska has a smell to it: cut cornstalks, diesel from a tractor idling near a gate, and cider going warm in a paper cup. I pulled into a gravel lot expecting a quick stop and left three hours later with sticky hands, a wagon splinter, and more apples than my kitchen counter could hold.
Farms like that are scattered all across the state, most of them family-run, most of them open only for a few short weeks. Here are five where you can climb a wagon, fill a bag straight off the branch, and haul home a pumpkin that you picked yourself.
1. Vala’s Pumpkin Patch & Apple Orchard
Four hundred acres is a lot of ground to cover in one afternoon, and Vala’s, just outside Gretna in Sarpy County, uses nearly every inch of it. The hayrack ride is how most people reach the pumpkin field and the u-pick apple rows, and the driver will usually pause long enough for photos before rolling on.
Beyond the wagon, the place runs like a small fall town. Corn mazes, a petting zoo, pig races, kiddie train rides, zip lines, giant slides, pedal karts, gem mining, jumping pillows, playgrounds, and apple launching all sit within walking distance of each other.
Food is a whole category of its own here, from cider and pies to buckets of cookies, and fire pits give tired legs somewhere to land once the sun drops.
Hours run long, with the gates open at 9 a.m. daily and closing at 9 p.m. most nights, 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Parking is free, though paid lots exist closer in. Come early if you want the apple trees to yourself.
2. Martin’s Hillside Orchard
Ceresco sits in that stretch of Saunders County farmland between Lincoln and Wahoo, and the orchard here is deliberately small. The wagon loops the property while someone explains which apple varieties are ripening, where the flowers are planted, and what the pumpkin field is doing that week.
Kids tend to abandon the adults for the corn box, the kid-sized corn maze, and tire mountain, all of which cost nothing extra and eat up an easy hour.
Apple selection changes year to year, since weather in eastern Nebraska has opinions about fruit crops, but the pumpkin patch stays reliable: decorative pumpkins, gourds, pie pumpkins, and jack-o-lantern types sorted so you know what you are getting.
Doors open at 10 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. daily through the fall season. Tours can be scheduled ahead, which makes this a common school and group stop.
The whole operation feels like a farmyard someone opened to the public rather than an attraction built from scratch, and that is exactly the appeal.
3. Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City
Nebraska City is where the whole idea of Arbor Day started, and the farm carrying that name spans hundreds of acres of orchard, woodland, and vineyard rows above the Missouri River bluffs. Tractor-drawn tours wind through that mix, which means the ride itself is the attraction rather than just transportation to a field.
Apple picking happens right on the grounds, and the treetop village with its elevated walkways gives kids something to burn energy on afterward. Hiking trails cut through the timber for anyone who would rather walk than ride.
Cider sold indoors is the thing to grab before leaving, along with whatever apple baked goods the market has that day. A barbecue eatery handles lunch.
Fall brings the Applejack Festival to town, with a farmers market and craft fair layered onto the farm’s historic barns and grounds.
Note the schedule before driving out: closed Mondays, open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, until 7 p.m.
Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
4. Union Orchard
Right along US-75 in Cass County, where the highway rolls south toward Nebraska City, Union Orchard keeps things refreshingly plain. No flashing lights, no carnival midway, just fruit trees, pumpkins, and a covered hay wagon that carries people out to the rows.
Apple variety is the real draw. King David and Winesap turn up here alongside a long list of others, and the wagon driver talks through what is ripe and what tastes like what on the way out, usually with a few jokes worked in.
Pumpkins come in carving sizes, pie sizes, and the odd knobby ones that end up on porch steps. Seasonal decor stacked around the grounds makes the place photograph well without trying too hard.
Gates are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, so a weekday morning run is entirely doable if crowds are not your thing.
It is the kind of stop that becomes an annual habit, less an event than a routine, and the drive down the highway in October is half the reason to go.
5. Kimmel Orchard & Vineyard
Apples have been coming off these rolling hills southeast of Nebraska City since 1925, when Richard and Laurine Kimmel began growing fruit and sharing it with neighbors. Cherries and dozens of other fruits and vegetables followed, and the orchard now doubles as a center for agricultural education and historic preservation.
Hay rack rides run through the property and lean educational, with the driver explaining how the trees are grown and harvested. A playground keeps smaller kids busy between rides.
The farm store is the reason plenty of people come at all. Cider, apple donuts, caramel apple cookies, apple butter, apple rum butter, frozen cherries, and five-pound bags of apples fill the shelves, and a military discount is offered.
An education center on site hosts classes ranging from honey production to apple growing.
U-pick admission is charged, so plan for it. Hours are Wednesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Monday and Tuesday.
Parking is free.
