When the weather starts to cool, there is no better weekend activity than apple picking. The orchards are the perfect place to enjoy the last of the summer sunshine and take in the best of what fall has to offer. After you and your kids have roamed the apple orchards and selected the best apples, you can bring them home and make tasty pies, cobblers, breads and cakes. Here are the 4 best apple picking farms in the Tri-State. By Holly Rosen Fink.

Outhouse Orchards

130 Hardscrabble Road
North Salem, NY 10560
(914) 277-3188
outhouseorchards.info

Outhouse Orchards is a family-operated apple farm that happens to be open all year. But a visit to the orchard in the autumn is very special. Aside from perfect apple picking (they have a great selection), they also have an animal farm, a bouncy pumpkin, a duck pond, a playground and hayrides. They also feature vendors with home made pumpkin cheesecake (out of this world!), turkey legs, pie, funnel cake BBQ, pizza, curly fries, ice cream and donuts.

Stuart’s Farm

62 Granite Springs Road
Granite Springs, NY 10527
(914) 245-2784

Stuart’s Farm in Granite Springs is another good choice for family apple-picking outings. They have smaller trees so the kids can pick the apples themselves, or you can take a hayride around the orchard, pick a few pumpkins or have a picnic. If there’s any corn left in their store, be sure to get some.

Silverman’s Farm

451 Sport Hill Rd
Easton, CT 06612
(203) 261-3306

Founded in 1920, Silverman’s Farm has a hayride that takes you up the hill to an orchard where you can find a wide variety of apples, a gourmet food market and a petting zoo.

Wightman’s Farms

1111 Mt. Kemble Avenue
Morristown, NJ 07960
(973) 425-9819

If you’re not interested in long lines and crowds, Wightman’s Farms is a good choice. You and your kids can pick apples and pumpkins, ride hay rides and run around a corn field puzzle maze. Kids have a ball here.

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Holly Rosen Fink is the founder and managing editor of The Culture Mom.