This year’s gracious weather provided a
bountiful apple crop and the pickings are great for those
adventurous enough to venture north to the shady orchards of
historic Date Creek Ranch. Picking tools, wheelbarrows and boxes are
provided. The fruit is raised without pesticides. Tree ripened fruit
is always best, so pickers are encouraged to sample as they select
fruit to take home.
Date Creek Ranch is a 120 year old cattle
ranch owned by the Knight family. They have received a number of
environmental and conservation awards over the years for their
improvements to the health and well-being of the land, including the
reintroduction of beaver to Date Creek and wild turkey to the
riparian habitat supported by the creek. The beef raised on the
ranch is grass-fed. Healthier for the cattle, healthier for you.
Orders can be placed while you visit to pick fruit, over the
website, or by phone.
The Knights will open the orchards for the
U-pick on the first weekend in September. Saturday and Sunday hours
are from 7 AM to 3 PM. Keep in mind, the earlier you start, the
cooler you’ll be. The season remains open until the apples are gone.
The Knights help sponsor Prescott College’s
CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) and students from that program
harvest for their co-op. You may come across them amongst the trees.
The students also harvest a portion of the crop on behalf of the
Arizona Pioneer’s Home, a home for Prescott’s elderly citizens. Date
Creek donates that fruit to the home.
In addition, there is a wonderful Apple
Festival the second weekend of September, sponsored by the Rainbow
Girls of Wickenburg. Their service organization for girls ages 11 to
20 picks fruit, bakes it into pies, cakes and butters, and sells it
to Date Creek Ranch’s visitors as their main fund raiser of the
year. Plan to attend that sale for great apple treats, cute arts and
crafts, and a Rainbow Girls cookbook to add to your collection of
recipes.
Admission is free. You can hike the
cottonwood-lined creek bed, looking for those wild turkeys I
mentioned, eat your picnic lunch at a mesquite-shaded table, feed
and get acquainted with livestock, pick delicious apples for
$1/pound. You must admit, this is NOT the way you usually spend the
weekend, so why not give it a try?
Date Creek Ranch is 22 miles north of
Wickenburg on Hwy. 93. Turn right between milepost 178 and 177 on
Date Creek Ranch Road. The turn is marked with a large sign
advertising the ranch. Four more miles on a maintained dirt road
bring you right to the orchards. Before you leave home, call the
hotline at 928-231-0704 to be sure the fruit is ready and still
available. Or check the website at
