Maple Leaf Orchard

This is the best orchard ever, and I grew up on a small Minnesota orchard!!! Mark and Sue work so hard to be there to help their customers. Su e works all week at, 3M and then l. Week end at the orchard. Maple LeF donates latge amounts of apples to area food shelves. If you want to buy, apples from people who afe easy to like. Visit Maple Leaf Orchard !!!

With the apple trees, vineyards, raspberry bushes, and pumpkin patch, my family had a blast. It is small and walkable enough to not be overwhelming for parents of young children I would think. The fresh apple cider cake doughnuts ALONE are worth the trip. My mouth is still watering thinking about those warm doughnuts.

My bf and I searched high and low to find an orchard with cider that didn’t have preservatives in it so that we could make hard cider. I searched the depths of Unilocal and google and we called a butt ton of places to no avail. We did find one place that you could get the cider on the day they make it before they add the preservatives that was closer to Minneapolis (Pine Tree Apple Orchard, in White Bear Lake, on Tuesdays, in case you wanted to know — but I say go for Maple Leaf if you can make the farther drive) but while on the phone with some random orchard we hit the jack pot — a woman from this other orchard told us about Maple Leaf Orchard and how she goes there to get cider for this same purpose. Not only this but she said it was also unpasteurized (sweet!) and that they mix the different varieties of apples in such a way that the cider is oh so delicious — I mean this woman was spewing the virtues of Maple Leaf Orchard high and low. We were already convinced pretty much by this, but of course I checked out Unilocal and Tori’s review confirmed that we indeed needed to make the trip.
The drive was well worth it and gorgeous too. Like Tori said these people are supremely nice! We called ahead to ask about the cider to make sure that all of these attributes we were told of were indeed true (would hate to make an hour drive to find that there were preservatives or no cider this season or who knows!) and while at the orchard, after we had paid for our 6 and ½ gallons of cider and other purchases, Mark came and introduced himself to us and asked if we were the ones who had called about the cider for making hard cider, we confirmed, and we all had a nice chat. These are good folk! He talked to us about their cider, the frost this year, their beautiful St. Bernard, and *secret tip* they MIGHT bring their cider to the St. Paul farmer’s market next year! They are already at the market with other products too though so you can also check them out there and get some of their other delicious stuff but no cider yet — hopefully next year but I still thought going there was worth it and would like to make it a yearly trip. This is the way that an orchard should be, not too busy or too big but with enough liveliness and things to do that make it worth while and fun. It was very serene while we were there.
While on the trip we picked pumpkins, sampled an array of apples, and took home both of these plus maple syrup and of course the cider — which, by the way, is utterly amazing. I am drinking some as I type this, mmmmm…, and our «hard cider» is bubbling away in the closet, being made «hard» as you read this.

This is my favorite orchard of all time. Mark and Sue are the nicest people and they really take the time to get to know their customers, always welcoming and sweet.
They have the best apples, with a huge selection from Honeycrisp to Haralson, everything. They also sell a great variety of homemade jam, honey from their apiary, and maple syrup. They also bake up pies (Saturdays!) and apple crisps (Sundays!) that will make you want to buy every single one and gorge yourself. And who doesn’t love a good handmade-​caramel caramel apple?
They also have pick your own berries, apples, and pumpkins~ great kids’ stuff. And the hay ride is super fun even for jaded old ladies like me.
A great weekend drive out in the Sconnie countryside AND wonderful things to bring home to enjoy all autumn long.
Did I mention their cider is the best too?