Experience the Magic of a MCO U-Pick Adventure
At Millstone Creek Orchards, we love when our guests come out to enjoy our u-pick experience. It's a wonderful way to teach your family where our food comes from and how it's grown. Join us this season and create life-long memories with your friends and family by picking fresh fruits and flowers.
*Please visit our u-pick rules and tips page before your u-pick adventure. Picking updates will be available on the home page during our harvest seasons.
Blackberries (June)
Across our two acres of blackberry vines, we grow 4 different varieties with some of the sweetest berries and a few tart ones, too. Blackberries are fun to pick and even better to eat! Plus, they’re full of vitamins and minerals. Our blackberries ripen in early-t0-mid June along with blueberries and usually last through the month. The hot summer sun ripens these berries fast, and you can sometimes see them turn from red to black within hours.
Varieties: Kiowa, Triple Crown, Navaho, & Arapaho
Blueberries (June-July)
This superfood is a great ingredient for all your favorite pies, jams, and jellies. Rich in Vitamin K and C along with other antioxidants, blueberries are a great addition to your morning breakfast - sprinkle a little on fresh yogurt, cereal or oatmeal for a tasty treat. They’re also delicious to enjoy by the handful. We have two acres of blueberries and begin harvesting blueberries in early-to-mid June often through early July.
Varieties: O'Neal, Climax, Premier, Reville & Powder Blue
Raspberries (June & September)
Raspberries are the newest u-pick fruit at the Orchard and make up a little less than an acre of our farm. Different than blackberries, when picking raspberries, the cone remains on the vine while the fruit pulls away. The best part about raspberries at the orchard is they harvest twice a year, so we can enjoy them in summer and fall!
Variety: Heritage
Peaches (July-August)
Everyone believes that South Carolina and Georgia peaches are the premier peach until they've tried a North Carolina peach. Straight from the tree, some of our peaches weigh north of 1 lb alone. Juicy, sweet, and delicious, we wish peach season would last all year. With seven different peach varieties across four acres, we’re often picking peaches from early July through late August.
Varieties: White Lady (white flesh), Donut (white flesh | semi-freestone), Biscoe, Flaming Fury, Contender, Coral Star, and Encore (All freestone unless otherwise noted)
Grapes (August)
Calling all jam and jelly-making lovers! During the summer months, be sure to enjoy a fresh batch of Concord grapes to whip up a pot of grape jelly or juice.
Then as fall approaches, visit us to taste North Carolina’s very own grape - the Muscadine & Scuppernong grape. These grapes have a unique flavor, and while their thick skin makes them a little less favored for eating, they can be eaten fresh or used to make jellies or wines.
Between both our summer and fall grapes, we have about one acre of farm fresh grapes.
Varieties: Early August - Concord | Late August - Muscadines & Scuppernongs
Zinnias (July-August)
What a beauty! Our gardens are filled with zinnias and sunflowers of all shapes and sizes...short, tall, big, small, red, golden, yellow...you name it, we have it. U-pick flowers are an experience that the whole family will love and they look great on your kitchen table, too.
Apples (late August-September)
Apple season is by far our most popular season and our picking days are a blast! U-pick apples were the first fruit that we offered at the Orchard, and currently, we have five different small apple orchards with various apple varieties, spanning about 15 acres of our 84. There's nothing like biting into a fresh apple right off the tree, so plan to join us this fall for an apple picking experience.
Varieties: Honeycrisp, Cortland, Gala, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Red Fuji, Aztec Fuji, Pink Lady, Arkansas Black & Gold Rush
Pumpkins/Gourds (September - October)
Ooo boy, pumpkin picking at the Orchard is a ball of fun! Throughout our pumpkin season, we open three different patches that cover about four acres of our farmland. From pie pumpkins to the great big pumpkin, we have the perfect pumpkin for your favorite pumpkin pie recipe or to carve for the happiest or scariest Jack-O-Lantern. Also, enjoy the coolest, most unique gourds to create a fall masterpiece.
Pecans (November)
Have you ever picked a pecan? Now's your chance, we have about two acres of 15+ year old pecan trees ready for picking in November. And a fun fact - Pecan trees can live to be over 200 years old, so our pecan trees are still growing. Pecans are a great snack, topping for your ice cream and yogurt, or of course, a pecan pie.