Testimonials

Great farm market sitting on US 15 in Thurmont.  The produce highlight has gotta be the peaches — they’re perfect, the best fresh peaches I’ve ever had — but they carry everything that’s in season, fruits and vegetables, and it’s always good.  For people who are used to supermarket plums and berries and apples and so on it’s going to be a revelation.

They maintain a big cooler full of different kinds of cider and other beverages, some cheeses and the like, and a big ice cream freezer as well.  They have a pretty large selection of the sort of pickles and preserves and so on that you often find at these markets, snacks and chips and jerky and such too, and while I’m often a little dubious about trying that sort of stuff at a farm market,  I’ve tried several of their offerings and they’re good.

The thing is, when you go in here, the smell of baking pie pretty much causes you to lose your train of thought when you walk in.  And it smells incredible. You can just watch people coming in and then the scent of pie gets ’em, they start off heading for the cucumbers and then they end up in front of the pies somehow.  If you like pie and can’t eat it, for god’s sake don’t come here because even if you come for the peaches you are at least 50% likely to walk out with a fresh baked pie and once you’ve had one the odds go up

Love coming here after going up to Gettysburg, PA.  Bought a Apple/Cranberry Pie that is very good right now, along with some Apple Cider.  My Daughter got a piece of Fudge along with a Cake Lollipop.

Always love coming here and walking along the road a bit in back of the Stand.  Was here yesterday, and the parking lot was full, found a spot on the side and made sure not to park in the no parking spot.

Will be coming here in the Spring when they open up again.  Also, the minimum for CC’s is $10.00, so if you’re under that, make sure you have cash, or get something else real fast.

A family friend was generous enough to give us a 1/2 bushel of summer peaches from Catoctin Mount Orchard, and they were soooo good!  The first 1/2 bu were yellow summer peaches – they were juicy, ripe, and a decent size.  I don’t think we had one bad peach, but of course they didn’t last that long in our household.

Went back yesterday to pick up a couple of 1/2 bushels.  The employees are nice and helpful.  One employee cut up a couple of peaches for us to taste.  The white peaches were sweet and had slightly mild flavor compared to the yellow peaches, which were a bit tart/tangy.  Both were very good.

They have other local produce and items, just as Angela T. mentioned in her post.

If you’re in the are, stop by.

Ok, so technically Catoctin Mountain Orchard is closed until May 1 (though their Web site proclaims that you can still shop online!).  But I think we are all ready for spring, and I know I will be heading back to the orchard when it reopens.

I have been to the orchard several times since I moved to Frederick, and it is always a fun stop (I drive on 15 a lot).  The produce is top notch (check their Web site for what’s available), and the bakery is as outstanding as other reviewers have said.  The store also offers all kinds of jellies, jams, pickles, soup mixes, trail mixes, and sauces.  You can also cut your own flowers.  There is a playground to the right of the parking lot, which I did not realize for my first several visits.  It has a large wooden castle and train, a sandbox, and a big hay mountain for kids to climb on.

My daughter’s kindergarten class went on a field trip to Catoctin Mountain Orchard last fall, and we had the opportunity to walk inside some of the storage facilities for apples (brrr!), and to see the room where the apples are sorted by size.  The owners were incredibly friendly and great with the kids–they handed out samples of apple cider and apples, and drove us up to the pumpkin patch and waited patiently while each child found the perfect pumpkin (this DID require a lot of patience!).  The owners told us some of the history of the farm, which has been owned by the same family since 1961 (the farm market itself has been around since 1948).  The field trip was a great experience, especially for the kids.  They were excited to find out that the apples in Frederick County school lunches come from Catoctin Mountain Orchards, at least for a portion of the year.

I do think the prices are a little steep, but it’s worth it.  I was especially won over after the field trip and meeting the owners, who obviously work so hard at what they do.

Hours are as follows, from Web site:

May-October
Monday-Thursday: 9am-5pm
Friday-Sunday: 9 am-6 pm

November & December
Monday-Sunday: 9am – 5pm

January
Friday, Saturday & Sunday: 9am – 5pm

Closed February, March and April
Reopens May 1

This place is located right off US-15 south of Gettysburg, so we stopped by on the way back to DC from PA.  It was apple harvest time so they had pick-your-own apples and a pumpkin patch.  The farm market was buzzing and had a wide selection of products, almost all of which seemed to be made on-property.  You’d be surprised at how many “farm markets” sell products made dozens or hundreds of miles away.  We bought a berry pie, which was warm out of the oven and excellent.  We also got some cider – also very good.  The only thing this place was missing was cider donuts.  Otherwise Catoctin Mountain Orchard would get five stars.