Not sure where to start? Answer five quick questions and we’ll match your family to the right spots around Boston — plus what’s actually on this week.
Pick Your Own Near Boston: What’s in Season, Month by Month
Everyone knows about apple picking in October. Almost nobody realizes you can pick cherries in late June, blackberries in August, or flowers straight through to the first frost — and that the strawberry season most families miss entirely is over before the Fourth of July.
Here’s the whole Boston-area picking year in one place: what’s ripe when, which farms grow it, and the one habit that keeps you from driving 45 minutes to a closed field.
Updated September 2026 — apples and pumpkins are what's picking now. Strawberries, cherries and blueberries are done for the year.
Written by Boston Family Calendar — we round up the best family events around Boston every week. Free.
The rule that matters more than this entire calendar
Check the farm’s picking line the morning you go. Every serious PYO farm posts a daily “what’s picking” update, and most run a recorded phone line too. Fields close without warning — a good weekend can strip a block bare by Saturday noon, and rain shuts things down outright.
Tougas Family Farm picking line: (508) 393-6406
Parlee Farms picking line: 978-649-3854
The windows below are approximate and shift a week or two each year with the weather. The farms say so themselves. Treat this as your plan, and the picking line as your permission slip.
The season calendar
Crop | When | Where to pick it |
|---|---|---|
Strawberries | Late May – early July | Tougas, Parlee, Verrill, Ward's, Brooksby |
Cherries | Late June – early July | Tougas, Parlee |
Blueberries | Early July – late August | Tougas, Parlee, Brooksby, Boston Hill |
Raspberries | July – August | Brooksby, Boston Hill |
Vegetables & herbs | Late June – October | Land's Sake (peas, beans, cherry tomatoes, herbs) |
Flowers & sunflowers | Mid-July – early October | Parlee (flower gardens), Verrill (sunflowers in August), Brooksby |
Peaches & nectarines | August | Tougas, Parlee, Brooksby |
Blackberries | Early August – early September | Tougas |
Apples | Mid-August – late Oct/early Nov | Tougas, Parlee, Smolak, Honeypot Hill, Lookout Farm, Brooksby, Boston Hill |
Pumpkins | Labor Day – early November | Tougas, Parlee, Verrill |
We track this stuff so you don't have to
Picking windows move every year with the weather. Every week we send what's actually open and happening around Boston — farms, festivals, free museum days, library programs. Written by a local parent.
The farms
Tougas Family Farm
📍 Northborough | 👶 All ages | 💲 Seasonal PYO pricing | ☀️ Outdoor (late May–early Nov)
The longest picking season near Boston — seven crops running from strawberries in late May to pumpkins in November. Kids ride the wagon out to the fields, and there’s ice cream, a bakery, and a farm grill for afterward. Open Wednesday–Sunday, 8am–4pm, closed Mondays and Tuesdays. About 45 minutes west. No dogs.
Parlee Farms
📍 Tyngsborough | 👶 All ages | 💲 Seasonal PYO pricing | ☀️ Outdoor (mid-June–late Oct)
Newsweek ranked it the top orchard in the country. Seven crops including cut-your-own flower gardens that run mid-July into October. Kids visit Annie’s Animal Barns and the sandbox between rows. The most polished operation on this list, and therefore the busiest — go at opening.
Belkin Family Lookout Farm
📍 Natick | 👶 All ages (best 3–10) | 💲 ~$33–$37/person (ages 3+); under 3 free | ☀️ Outdoor (late July–Oct)
One of the oldest working farms in the country. Admission is all-inclusive — picking bags, tractor play area, and corn maze are covered, so nobody’s nickel-and-diming you once you’re through the gate. Pre-purchase online to save $4/person. Taproom for the grown-ups.
Verrill Farm
📍 Concord | 👶 All ages | 💲 Farm stand free; PYO seasonal | ☀️ Outdoor
Four generations since 1918. Strawberries in June, sunflowers in August, pumpkins in October, and a farm stand open daily 8am–7pm the rest of the time. Pro tip: reserve strawberry field passes online 24 hours ahead — they sell out by 9am on June weekends.
Smolak Farms
📍 North Andover | 👶 All ages | 💲 $10–$45 depending on the day | ☀️ Outdoor (late Aug–Oct)
Hayride out to the apple trees, then the farm animals on the way back. About 35 minutes north.
Honeypot Hill Orchards
📍 Stow | 👶 All ages (best 2–10) | 💲 ~$15–$25/person | ☀️ Outdoor (seasonal)
Apples, a barnyard play area, a corn maze, and cider donuts. Less corporate than the big farms — it feels like visiting someone’s actual orchard. Weekday mornings in early October get you peak apples and no crowds.
Wilson Farm
📍 Lexington | 👶 All ages | 💲 Farm stand free; PYO seasonal | ☀️ Outdoor
Fifth-generation farm with seasonal pick-your-own and free kids’ farm tours — call 781-862-3900 to book, limit 10 kids. Farm stand open year-round, which makes this the easiest one to fold into a normal errand day.
Ward's Berry Farm
📍 Sharon | 👶 All ages | 💲 Seasonal PYO pricing | ☀️ Outdoor (April–November)
A proper destination farm about 30 minutes south of Boston, and one of the longest PYO seasons on this list. Beyond the fields there's a playground, hayrides, a bounce pillow, a farm store, and a sandwich counter with ice cream — which is why this one works when you've got a kid who'll last twenty minutes in a berry row and then need something else to do. Picking daily 9am–6pm. No pets, and no outside food or drink.
🔗 wardsberryfarm.com — check their PYO page for what's picking this week
Land's Sake Farm
📍 Weston | 👶 All ages | 💲 By the pint/quart; herbs per stem; free for CSA members | ☀️ Outdoor (PYO late June–October; farm open year-round, dawn to dusk)
The one on this list that isn't about fruit. Land's Sake is pick-your-own vegetables — sugar snap, snow and shelling peas, bush beans, cherry tomatoes, tomatillos, hot peppers, and herbs like chives, oregano and sage. Peas and cherry tomatoes are shockingly effective with little kids, who will eat them straight off the plant. There's an open farmyard and toddler programs too, and the farm itself is walkable dawn to dusk year-round.
🔗 landssake.org · 781-893-1162
Brooksby Farm
📍 Peabody | 👶 All ages | 💲 Seasonal PYO pricing | ☀️ Outdoor (berries summer; apples Sept–Oct)
A town-owned farm north of Boston with berries and cut flowers through the summer and apple picking in the fall. The reason to pick this one with young kids: there's a free play yard open during business hours plus barnyard animals, so the visit doesn't live or die on how long they last in the rows. Fall weekends add hayrides, a fairytale trail, and campfire s'mores. Open Tuesday–Saturday, 9am–4pm. No pets.
🔗 brooksbyfarm.org · 978-531-7456
Boston Hill Farm
📍 North Andover | 👶 All ages | 💲 Seasonal PYO pricing | ☀️ Outdoor (blueberries mid-summer; apples in fall)
Open every day 9am–6pm, with last entry to the fields at 5pm. Goats, chickens, and rabbits to meet on site — you can buy a grain cup and feed them — plus a year-round bakery and deli at the farm stand. Leashed dogs are welcome outdoors, which is rare on this list and useful if the dog is part of the outing.
🔗 bostonhillfarm.com · 978-681-8556
Going with little kids? Read this first
Strawberries are the toddler crop. Low to the ground, no reaching, no ladders, and they're ripe in June when the weather is still kind. Blueberries are second-best for the same reason.
Apples are easier with little kids than people expect. Most of these farms keep dwarf or semi-dwarf rows that a two-year-old can reach into on their own — ask at the stand which block is lowest. The catch is timing: the low fruit gets picked over first, so go early in the day and early in the season.
Go at opening, on a weekday if you can. Every farm on this list is calmest in the first hour.
There’s much more than just PYO. Any NE apple farm veteran knows about the cider donuts and all the other sweet treats, breads, and more at the farms during the picking season
Want the apple-season deep dive? See Apple Picking Near Boston for the fall-specific rundown. And for the pumpkin fields — which open Labor Day weekend and run into November — Pumpkin Patches Near Boston has the opening dates farm by farm.
For everything else — museums, playgrounds, beaches, rainy-day backups — the 150+ Things to Do with Kids in the Boston Area guide has costs and ages on every entry.
Pick your own near Boston: common questions
What's in season for pick-your-own near Boston right now?
Strawberries run late May into early July, peaking in June. Cherries are late June to early July — the shortest window of the year. Blueberries go early July through late August, blackberries early August into September, peaches through August, apples from mid-August into late October, and pumpkins from Labor Day into November. Land's Sake in Weston does pick-your-own vegetables and herbs from late June through October.
What's the best pick-your-own crop for toddlers?
Strawberries, by a distance. They're low to the ground, there's no reaching or ladders, and they're ripe in June while the weather is still kind. Blueberries are second for the same reason. Peas and cherry tomatoes at Land's Sake work too — little kids eat them straight off the plant.
Do I need to check before driving out to a farm?
Yes, and it matters more than anything else in this guide. Every serious pick-your-own farm posts a daily update and most run a recorded phone line. Fields close without warning — a good weekend can strip a block bare by Saturday noon, and rain shuts picking down outright. Tougas: (508) 393-6406. Parlee: (978) 649-3854.
Which farms near Boston have the longest picking season?
Tougas Family Farm in Northborough runs seven crops from strawberries in late May to pumpkins in November. Ward's Berry Farm in Sharon runs April through November. Parlee Farms in Tyngsborough covers mid-June to late October with seven crops including cut-your-own flowers.
Are there free pick-your-own farms near Boston?
Picking itself is priced by weight or container almost everywhere, but several farms are free to enter with no admission: Brooksby Farm in Peabody has a free play yard and barnyard animals, and Boston Hill Farm in North Andover has goats, chickens and rabbits you can feed. Land's Sake in Weston is free to walk dawn to dusk year-round.
Never miss the good stuff
Every week we send the family events actually happening around Boston — farms, festivals, free days, library programs, and the one-off things that fill up before you hear about them. Free, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
see you out there fellow parents,
T from Boston Family Calendar
