Maple Hills Orchard

Maple Hills Orchard Where memories are made! The orchard will open for the 2026 season on Labor Day Weekend beginning September 5th! Hours: Saturdays 10-5 & Sundays 11-5

Maple Hills Orchard is located in west central Minnesota between Detroit Lakes and Frazee. We are a family-owned and operated seasonal business. We will have a variety of Minnesota apples, orchard honey, Fall raspberries, and maple syrup available. A Healthy, Happy Fall to All!

Don't sleep on early-season apples. The Zestar (aka Minnewashta — "good waters") proves the first apple of the season ca...
08/27/2026

Don't sleep on early-season apples.

The Zestar (aka Minnewashta — "good waters") proves the first apple of the season can also be the best one. Rich flavor, serious crunch, memorable bite.

Bred right here for cold climates, this one's a true Minnesota original. Every seasoned apple afficionado must try the Zestar!

Back to School Treats: Pair it with peanut butter in an apple cinnamon sushi roll, melt it into an apple cheese quesadilla, or just eat it straight off the tree!

The Apple House Store opens for the season Saturday, September 5th.

08/26/2026

Apple season isn't just one harvest — it's three!

A lot of folks don't realize our apples don't all ripen at once. Here's how our Minnesota-grown season breaks down:

🌱 EARLY SEASON (mid-to-late August)
First up: Zestar! and First Kiss — crisp, juicy, and tangy-sweet. These don't store long, so grab 'em fresh and enjoy them fast!

☀️ MID SEASON (September)
The heart of the season: SweeTango, Honeycrisp, Sweet Sixteen, McIntosh, and Cortland — balanced sweet-tart, firmer bite, good for weeks in the fridge.

🍂 LATE SEASON (October)
Last but not least: HaralRed, Fireside, and Snowsweet — true Minnesota keepers. Tart, firm, and bred to hold up in cold storage for months. Perfect for pies, sauce, and eating fresh well into winter.

08/21/2026

Our climate is changing - this season proved it.

🌱 Earlier springs, later frost risk. Warmer early temps push our trees to flower sooner — but late frosts haven't gotten the memo. Blossoms open too soon, frost still comes, damage follows.

☀️ Hotter, drier stretches. Longer heat and drought windows stress the trees and vines, and mess with pollination timing — pumpkins especially don't love flowers dropping before the bees even get to them.

🧊 Three hail events. One summer. Our apples took a beating. Not just cosmetic — hail damage opens the door to rot down the line.

🎃 Pumpkins are feeling it too. They handle moderate drought better than you'd think, but heavy rain and flooding are the real threat — one bad wet stretch can undo a whole season fast.

Same pattern, four crops, one story: bigger swings, less predictability. It's why we're watching veraison, crop thinning, and mold/pest pressure closer than ever this year.

Farming in a changing climate means adapting in real time. 🍇🍎🎃

08/19/2026

Weather is what is happening in the atmosphere right now-today’s temperature, this week’s rain, tomorrow’s forecast.

Climate is long-term patterns such as the average weather conditions for a place over typically 30+years.

“Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.”

All farming is effected by drastic climate changes!

🍓 A SWEET PAIRING ~ THINK BEYOND DESSERT! 🍓U-Pick opens September 5th at Maple Hills Orchard — and there's more to do wi...
08/14/2026

🍓 A SWEET PAIRING ~ THINK BEYOND DESSERT! 🍓

U-Pick opens September 5th at Maple Hills Orchard — and there's more to do with raspberries than you might think!

🐟 Salsa – with jalapeño and lime, perfect on grilled fish or chicken
🍖 BBQ sauce – swirl some in for a sweet-tart kick
🍫 Chocolate mint cake – garnish your favorite slice with an easy, elegant flair

The orchard season begins Saturday, September 5th!

🕐 Fall Hours: Saturdays 10am-5pm & Sundays 11am-5pm

📸 Tag us in your raspberry creations!
💬 What's your favorite way to eat raspberries?

🍇 CAROLINE RASPBERRIES ARE COMING! 🍇Caroline raspberries are a fall-bearing variety, ripening from late summer all the w...
08/12/2026

🍇 CAROLINE RASPBERRIES ARE COMING! 🍇

Caroline raspberries are a fall-bearing variety, ripening from late summer all the way until the first frost. Exceptionally sweet, rich, and intense in flavor!

🧺 U-Pick starts September 5th at Maple Hills Orchard

🍓 Fun fact: Raspberries aren't true berries! They're a member of the rose family and classified as aggregate fruits, made up of tiny juice-filled sections called drupelets. That structure is also what makes them such a great fruit to freeze.

🍇 Got seeded grapes? Don't let them go to waste! Here's what you actually need:Jam or Jelly 🫙3–4 lbs of grapes = about 4...
08/07/2026

🍇 Got seeded grapes? Don't let them go to waste! Here's what you actually need:
Jam or Jelly 🫙
3–4 lbs of grapes = about 4–5 cups of juice = 4–5 half-pint jars. Jelly is the easier route with seeded varieties since you strain everything out anyway.
Juice 🥤
Plan on 4–5 lbs of grapes per quart of juice. Bonus: the seeds & skins add extra tannin and depth if you simmer them in before straining.
Homemade Vinegar 🍾
About 2–3 lbs per quart of finished vinegar. Crush it all — skins, seeds, pulp — ferment into wine first, then convert to vinegar with a mother culture.
Moral of the story: Seeded grapes are a flavor upgrade for jelly and vinegar 🙌

08/05/2026

🍇 August in the vineyard

We are preparing to enter the veraison stage where the grapes stop growing and start changing color, softening up, and converting their acids into sugar. It doesn't happen all at once either; you'll see clusters (and even single grapes on the same cluster) ripening at different speeds.

This is also crunch time for a few other jobs:

🔹 Crop thinning — dropping some clusters so the vine can put its energy into ripening the fruit that's left, instead of stretching itself too thin
🔹 Watching for mold & rot — as the skins soften and sugar builds up, they get more vulnerable, especially after rain
🔹 Keeping the birds and bugs out — once that sugar hits, everybody wants a taste

It's a lot of daily walking the rows and checking clusters by hand.

Did you know that the skins of grapes contain natural melatonin and antioxidants?

🍯 How to Use HoneycombGood news: the whole thing is edible — wax and all!Try it:🥄 Straight up, plain🍞 Spread on warm toa...
07/31/2026

🍯 How to Use Honeycomb
Good news: the whole thing is edible — wax and all!
Try it:
🥄 Straight up, plain
🍞 Spread on warm toast
🧀 Paired with sharp cheddar, brie, or goat cheese
🍨 Crumbled over ice cream, Greek yogurt, or oatmeal
☕ Dropped into a hot cup of tea
Fun fact: it takes about 2 million flowers to make just 1 pound of honey — and honey never spoils. 🐝♾️

🐝 July in the Orchard 🐝The bees are buzzing! Our beekeepers checked in on the colonies this week — and they're looking g...
07/29/2026

🐝 July in the Orchard 🐝

The bees are buzzing! Our beekeepers checked in on the colonies this week — and they're looking great. The "girls" have started drawing out frames for cut honeycomb! 🍯

Did you know? It takes about 2-4 weeks for a colony to build out a full frame of honeycomb — drawing the hexagon cells, filling them with nectar, evaporating the moisture, and capping it all with clean white beeswax. Nature's engineering at its finest.

🌡️ Climate check: Warmer, drier summers are throwing off the natural rhythms pollinators and flowering plants depend on.

💛 How you can help:
🌸 Plant for pollinators — more habitat, more food
🚫 Cut back on pesticides
💧 Leave out a water source

"There's no sustainable agriculture without bees."

Address

29355 130th Street
Frazee, MN
56544

Opening Hours

Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 11am - 5pm

Telephone

(218) 844-5445

Website

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