Bowman Orchards

They charge $ 2 per person (including children) just to enter to pick berries. Their prices per pound for berries that you pick are expensive. I refuse to pay a fee just to enter a farm to pick berries. I travel 40 minutes to another orchared… Samascott…where you aren’t charged to enter and their berries are $ 2 per pound. We picked 10 lbs for $ 20. I won’t even go to Bowmans for apples anymore. I’d rather give the business to Samascott. Bowmans does have very good cider doughnuts, but they’re expensive compared to some other places.

Soooooo decided to go apple picking here on the nicest day in summer on a weekend… holy apples! It was so packed. People everywhere, cars everywhere. Upon arrival there was a line to get to a parking spot.
Luckily we got a parking spot easily and there wasn’t that bad for the apples that we wanted to pick. There wasn’t much people around. Why? Because they are all at the line for cider donuts! Ahhhhhhhhh. It was shoulder to shoulder inside the donut store and when we got a chance to cash out.
There was a person who just skipped all the people waiting in line and the cashier noticed and didn’t even say anything and just let it pass by and cashed him out. That got under my skin I wanted to give him a smack upside his bald head.
End of story.
The apples and cider donuts were good tho.

Was crowded, but the kids had fun. It’s been some time since I was here. Everything except the playground costs money. Sad but true, we see that everywhere now. Monetize, monetize, monetize. Luckily the kids memories are priceless.

The older employees were sweet and very helpful, the girl at the entrance had a bad attitude.
Besides that, the property is lovely.
First time apple pickers! There is an absolutely adorable area for children to play in, the apple cider and apple cider donuts were soooo delicious, and the property is well kept and cared for.
I live 3 hours away from this place and I think the day was worth the trip.
NOTE: I went on a Wednesday. Unknown about the weekend traffic.

I was so disappointed to find that the apple donuts sold today were frozen. Can you imagine selling a half dozen donuts for $ 5.50 which were still partially frozen when consumers expect the donuts to be made that day? I have been coming here for 25 years and have lost my faith and trust, I will have to find another apple orchard next year.

Ridiculous crowds. Unfriendly employees. We live near there and we rode our bikes there to get ice cream. We were RUDELY not allowed to come in on bicycles. Imagine? What kind of family place is this? Not only that but we cannot use Vischer Ferry road on weekends in the fall because they do such a poor job with traffic control. Bowman’s is not a good neighbor or a friendly place. I’ll never understand why people flock to this place when Lindsey’s orchard is about 1 mile away (same road) and the people are friendly and it’s no secret that the donuts are better.

Avoid this place on weekends during apple picking season AT ALL COSTS!
Lines! Lines! Lines! Whether you are going for the apples, the cider doughnuts, the bakery, or just the experience, yes, even the experience has it’s own line.
The only good thing about this visit on a Sunday afternoon was that I found my new favorite apple — Zestar ($ 8.25/ half-​peck). Yes, I know that’s expensive. This apple was developed in 1999 in Minnesota, and tastes sweet and tangy. I can only say that it is great for fresh eating all by itself at this point since I haven’t tried it any other way, and probably won’t on this purchase since I’m enjoying them so much.

I was visiting the BF’s family in Saratoga over the weekend and we decided to do something a little different. I know we have apple picking in California as well but for whatever reason it’s not something I ever did as a child. So trying to catch up with everyone else’s childhood experiences we decided to give this place a whirl.
About a 20 min drive outside of downtown Saratoga, this little orchard (actually not so little) is nestled in the flatter area of upstate. When you first park, you’ll see a stand of sorts with all sorts of fresh goodies and a small bakery with apple/​fruit pastries/​juices. Follow the signs and you can start your apple picking. You pay by the pound. You can bring your own bags or purchase them at the door (I think they were $ 2 each and they were very sturdy!). You are handed a map with the breakdown of apple varieties and you drive to the part of the grove that you want.
It’s surprising how many apples end up on the floor just because they never get picked. Easily the number of apples that a grocery store would have in a day! Yet there are still plenty in the tree even though we went late in the season. My personal favorites are the Honey Crisp and the Empire. They are essentially the same with the Empire being a smaller version of the former. Both are extremely sweet with a hint of tartness but the best quality about them is the texture. It’s crisp almost like a potato chip but comes with a burst of sweet apple flavor.
They’re not my favorite apple to use in a pie as I strongly believe you need more of a tart component to it. There’s plenty of parking and there are actually a lot of people on the weekends. A fun activity for everybody in the family!

Oh Bowman Orchards, what an odd experience.
My friends and I had tried a few Orchards close to the Albany area but never encountered anything spectacular. This time around, we decided on Bowman. Upon arrival there were a few cars ahead of us so there was a small line onto the road. We didn’t wait too long at all but once we reached the man at the first table who directing visitors to the pick your own lot or the store things started to take a weird turn. We noticed the man being very impatient with the foreign family in front of us and rip the map out of the drivers hand telling them «they couldn’t use it if they were going to the store.» I was already turned off.
Rudeness aside, we pulled into the lot and got out of the car to start our apple picking adventure. The selection of apples were great and the orchard was the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen. The houses on sight and the surrounding autumn foliage made for a beautiful day. Along the way I encountered another rude worker selling the apple bags who kept giving me blank stares and snarky responses. Workers were lined up at the ends of some of the apple rows. It made for a very odd and «big brother is watching» type of atmosphere.
There were signs displayed throughout the orchard that displayed a parenting tone. Don’t do this and don’t do that. All cars were subjected to be checked for loose apples and whatnot. I understand not wanting to be ripped off, but I don’t understand the off-​putting attitude an orchard can give to its customers
Next, we went to the store and checked out the fun activities the orchard had to offer. We decided to pass up the classic hayride and experience the corn maze, something not typically available. We had a great time and ended up cutting out early after many attempts on making it out correctly. We spent time the the alpacas and other animals enjoying the outdoors.
When we left, we let out a sigh of relief yet agreed it was the best orchard we’ve been to. Take away the rude workers and this orchard trumps all others I’ve been to. The 4 stars goes to the orchard– NOT its employees.

Nope, nope, nope.
Here are the reasons why «nope» is so applicable:
*The apples didn’t taste good and were expensive by a few cents a pound compared to other orchards on top of having to buy the bag.
*Donuts were stale directly from the donut stand and were expensive by a few dollars compared to other orchards.
*Car lines. People lines. Lines, lines, lines.
*Berries and apples were largely picked by the time we got there in early October.
*Rude employees two years in a row.
*There’s a graveyard in the middle of the orchard, which might be a plus for some people, I guess. Not me!
*THEY SEARCH YOUR CAR! Oddly enough, that person was the friendliest one.
I feel like people don’t know that other orchards exist that are significantly better than this one. Go to those other orchards, people! Go to those!
Never again.

Wow, I just realized I have a nine year-​old review here that doesn’t really apply anymore. I haven’t been to Bowman itself in a few years. A few years after my 2005 review, the crowds started picking up, and it stopped being fun. The line of cars can stretch out to the street and must create a ton of pollution. Then there’s a line to get out. I know the appeal is in the picking, but the more environmental option is to have the apples delivered to the people, not have everyone take separate cars to the orchard. They also started wildly overcharging at some point. This all translates into a really annoying, opposite-​of-​fun day, which is why I haven’t been back.
I went blueberry picking at a different farm this year. It was nice, quiet, bucolic even. The price for blueberries per pound was about the same as Bowman’s apple price per pound, which is insane. Apple picking is too easy, which is why everyone ends up with too many apples. Berry picking is more labor-​intensive, which is why there’s less people, and it’s also so much cheaper to pick your own. I think I’ll stick with that.
That said, I’m planning on heading to Bowman soon for their Autumn Crisps. This apple was formerly known by the code name NY674. It’s an extremely tart apple which I haven’t had in years, but I always remember. Bowman, with their insane variety of apples, is the only place I’ve found it.

Fantastic for berry picking! They have PYO strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries! We went in later August and strawberries were done but we got to pick blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. There are signs for each and you can easily walk (or take a tractor ride!) to each berry.
$ 4.99/lb for raspberries and blackberries. $ 4.29/lb for blueberries. They also have homemade ice cream inside. I got the mint chocolate chip which had chopped Andes candies inside. Yum!

Apple picking is one of those things that were ripped from my childhood. I went maybe once, and that was in Second Grade for a field trip.
The following are out of 5 Points.
* (3) Customer Service — Meaning how well they assisted me in my needs.
Their customer service skills are lacking. There is no need to be rude to someone because they wish to pay with a credit card and don’t have cash.
* (5) Décor — The atmosphere of the place.
It’s obviously a farm. There is no doubt. ;)
* (5) Food & Drink — How well the food tastes, their selection of drinks
They say not to try any of the produce until you buy it, but how are you going to know you want that apple unless you try it? Well of course I tried the apples… hehe. The other food at this establishment are delicious, especially the various fudges and Apple Cider Donut Ice Cream.
* (5) Price — Here I am not grading my cost, but by the quality of the food I get for the money I spent. (Example: I pay $ 5 for a hamburger that I could make myself.)
For the price you pay for the apples that you picked yourself, it’s alright. The homemade sweets like the fudge and ice cream, totally worth it.
* (5) Presentation — How things are presented. Food, Drink, Staff, etc.
No uniforms. No staff shirts. Lots of things lacking that would make me assume this is a business, you feel more like you’re on someone’s farm than you do in a business establishment. However, that’s ok because I found that the individual stores themselves to be well defined.
Overall Score: ²³⁄₂₅

I, too, had a similar experience not once, but twice as Matt W had. I felt that they had misweighed once and the second time just wanted to watch while they weighed, which I was prevented from doing. I, too, checked my apples when I got home with my digital scale. As was said, home scales are not always accurate, but this one comes pretty darn (within a couple pounds) close to the «Doctor’s» scale at my gym. I questioned them the second time this happened, and was met with the same defense and indifferent type attitude. Unlike the previous writer, I was not even offered a partial refund or even a coupon for a return visit. I have not been back this year due to these errors and the type of service I received.

Bertrand Russell was once invited by the BBC to leave a film for people to view 1000 years after his death with the sum total of his advice on how to live your life. He had only two things to say. The first was, stick to the facts and only the facts, not the situation as you wish it to be or even perceive it.
This is difficult advice to follow when reviewing, but since a dispute over our weigh-​out at a U-​Pick at Bowman has colored my perception of the situation, I will attempt to just recap the facts.
We got excellent apples the other day, better than any other orchard this year as far as we can tell, for $ 1.29 a pound. At the checkout line, we were charged for 63 pounds of apples and a 15-​pound pumpkin. This seemed excessive to me at the time but we were not able to observe the weighing process because we were blocked by the check out person, and while we had four bags, we got only two «weighings».
When we got home, I weighed the apples on both our bathroom scales and then on our kitchen scale in five-​pound increments. Understanding that neither of these is what you’d call a high-​end measurement device, we came out to 48 pounds on one and 49 on the other.
A 14 pound difference is much more than the margin of error. I concluded there had to be something wrong with the weighing process. At $ 1.29 a pound, I considered this a significant enough discrepancy to ask for a reconciliation by the management.
Now, astute readers here will note that a 14-​pound discrepancy is very, very close to the 15-​pound weight of our pumpkin. So I’m going to speculate for just a bit here that what happened was the checkout person left the pumpkin on the scale, for whatever reason, while weighing one set of apples. The charitable interpretation is a simple mistake.
That said, a simple mistake which cost us close to $ 21. So I returned today to get a refund of the difference.
I was met with skepticism and an insistence that their scales are certified (by three different employees) and mine at home are obviously not. Granted, I said, but a 29% difference in weight certainly exceeds the expected difference in accuracy. Maybe your kids ate some of them. Reasonable, I say, but I’m sure in this case there was no lossage to hungry little mouths on the way home since we had the apples locked up in the back of our vehicle. I was asked if I could present the apples. I said no, because what would that prove? I could have just removed 15 pounds of apples and brought back the rest. How can I believe you? I was asked, several times, by the owner/​manager. I politely pointed out that it was hardly convenient for me to take time out in the middle of the day to come try to rip them off for 15 pounds of apples, and I did have the receipt, and pointed out the coincidence of the pumpkin (indicated on the receipt) with the difference in weight.
So I was given a split-​the-​baby-​in-​half solution by the manager/​owner: I got half the difference refunded to me, rounded up to the nearest dollar, after a polite but pointed discussion of some minutes.
I appreciate this on one level, but on another level I do not. However, I return to Bertrand Russell’s second piece of advice for the future: which is to ignore the hate and focus on the love in going about your affairs, since the former is rarely profitable in the end to the state of one’s being.
So I’m going to give everybody the benefit of a doubt here and pop their rating back up to three stars for the subjective part, and just leave you Unilocalers with the facts above.
Now, time to go make some apple cobbler for the kids.

They are rude and overpriced. They charge you for every little thing.

«Wow that’s a big orchard.» –Indeed Daniel Indeed
Things I do like–
–Great apples (we got Blondies and HoneyCrisps)
–Huge variety as Daniel mentioned
–Tasting stand at store where they had slices of EVERY current apple to try. Probably 18 or so varieties.
Things I don’t love–
-«Granted, this place is so large, and has been around so long, they have it running much like a theme park.»
–Feels very corporate. Probably the only way to truly make money with an orchard, but I guess it’s just more visible here.
-«All produce must be declared before entering.» and the other signs. It’s like the Area 51 of orchards.
I have no real allegiance to any orchard. I wouldn’t rush back to Bowman to pick, but I might be back to buy a bag of apples.

I’m so disappointed. I went here a while ago for strawberry picking with the kids I work with and that was a blast. It was a good price for strawberries and they were helpful with our group. (sort of… they never explained that there was a place to eat, animals to play with, or a play ground that we could use…)
Recently I went back and realized that going on the weekend is a hassle. I mean really? a line for your car and a sign saying it may be an hour. FOR A DONUT? are you serious? and its not like you can turn around once you decide to come in… ugh. The parking lot is a joke which is obviously why there is a need for a line.
While the prices of their products didn’t seem to bad to me, their pumpkins are a little pricey (I’m using to 2 dollar pick your owns). Their apple cider donuts are absolutely worthless. I should have just gone to price chopper, they dont taste home made. They aren’t served warm. I mean why get them from an orchard if they aren’t warm? isn’t that the BEST part?
while the apple picking did look of a good quality, and the strawberry picking was good. I’m not sure if it would be worth a weekend trip during the chaos. I definitely would go elsewhere when I get my donut crave on tough.

Wow that’s a big orchard.
I went on a recent weekend during peak apple picking season and the place was a zoo. Granted, this place is so large, and has been around so long, they have it running much like a theme park.
Cars queue up in a line as they snake through the orchards to get to the picking spots. There are helpful guides along the way, and an ominous sign that could have been stolen from the California border insisting that, «All produce must be declared before entering.»
As you drive through the check out lanes — yes, there are drive through check out lanes — last minute impulse items are even cleverly displayed for purchase.
Out by the bakery, there are all kinds of attractions for kids designed to help suck the money right out of your wallet. I think my favorite one might have been the pedal powered «go carts» that kids can ride around a dirt track for a few bucks a pop. So strange.
The cider donuts were nothing special. In fact of the five orchards we visited that day, these were unanimously the most uninspiring. Not that they were bad, per se, but they just didn’t measure up to the rest of what’s out there.
Still, the variety of apples available at such a large orchard is impressive. I picked up some pinova from the store after my donut, but was also tempted by the ambrosias.
I understand that people have strong and fierce loyalties to the orchards they and their families have been visiting for generations. But as a fickle newbie to the area who has been flirting around with all of the various and sundry apple joints this region has to offer, let me tell you, there are much better places out there.

I visited Bowman’s for the first (and last) time today to pick strawberries.
First off, my girlfriend and I were each charged a $ 2 ‘picking fee’ (their explanation for the fee was that «people eat strawberries in the field,» never mind that eating fruit in the field is verboten). A $ 2.50/lb price would be assessed for berries collected. No mention of the field conditions was offered– we assumed that that meant things would be okay. Nope. $ 4 lighter and with cardboard containers in hand, we went to stand at a nearby tent for transport to the other end of the farm.
After a long and dusty trip via tram to the Bowman strawberry fields, we stepped off to be greeted by a teenage employee of the farm. She informed us that, after the last few days of rain, the crop was especially dirty and that we would be wise to rinse whatever we picked very thoroughly after bringing it home. Also, as it was quite hot out, there would be water for sale at the edge of the field ($ 1 per bottle.)
We entered the field to find that there were very, very few good strawberries to pick. Most were half-​eaten and left on the plant, pulverized, or moldy. The air smelled of rot and fermentation. We resolved to pick in spite of this– Bowman’s already had our $ 4, so why not make the best of the situation?
This attitude quickly shifted. The place had been picked clean of almost anything usable– it was too hot to stick around searching through pounds and pounds of rotten mush for the occasional acceptable berry. We made our way back to the retail farmhouse (where tiny disposable cups for tap water were being sold for a nickle per!) on an even longer, dustier tram ride than before and paid $ 5 for two pounds of strawberries. With picking fee, then, these berries were about $ 4.50/lb.
Of the strawberries we picked, a significant number, upon closer examination, were also a bit rotten. Nice.
Avoid Bowman’s! Beware! Beware!