At Wilkens Fruit & Fir Farm, 1335 Whitehill Road, a Fraser fir on the Saturday after Thanksgiving takes a reservation. The reservation system for that opening weekend is expected around the first weekend of November, and the farm expects to start taking Thanksgiving pie orders online in early November too.
Pick-your-own apple season at Wilkens is winding down this month. The farm stays busy afterward, and the dates that shape the holidays fall in early November rather than the week of Thanksgiving.
The orchard gives way to the bakery
Wilkens opened for 2026 on August 22, its 110th harvest year, and started apple picking on September 5. The farm told visitors to come in September if they wanted to be sure of finding apples on the trees. On its variety chart, the pick-your-own apples run out around the second or third week of October. Those dates are approximate and depend on the weather, so check with the farm before going.
The apples keep coming after picking ends. The chart lists Pink Lady and Braeburn as farm-market-only varieties for the first week of November, so they come off the shelf, not the tree. The Wilkens markets page lists the bakery's pies, apple-cider donuts, cookies, strudel sticks, brownies and loaf breads. The Apple Farm Market sells fresh unfiltered cider and apples, and the Country Market carries gifts and crafts. During harvest the shops are open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Tuesday.
The bakery also leads into the first deadline of the season.
Two order windows open close together
Wilkens expects to open online Thanksgiving pie ordering in early November. Orders are due at least a week ahead, and pickup usually runs through the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Wilkens hasn't posted an exact 2026 deadline yet, so the one-week rule is the guide for now.
Tree reservations open around the same time. According to the farm's Christmas tree page, Choose-n-Cut starts Saturday, November 28, 2026. Reservations are required on Saturday, November 28 and Sunday, November 29, for both the cut-your-own fields and the pre-cut area. The reservation system opens "around the first weekend of November," and there's a notification list for anyone who wants an alert when it goes live. The page also says opening weekend often has a waitlist because requests outnumber the slots. This year the farm has Fraser firs available both Choose-n-Cut and pre-cut.
Here's how the Wilkens dates line up on one calendar:
| When | What happens at Wilkens |
|---|---|
| Second to third week of October, approximate | Last pick-your-own apple varieties |
| First week of November | Pink Lady and Braeburn at the farm market only |
| Early November | Online Thanksgiving pie ordering expected to open |
| Around the first weekend of November | Tree reservation system for opening weekend expected to open |
| Saturday, November 28 to Sunday, November 29 | Choose-n-Cut opening weekend, reservation required |
| Monday, November 30 onward | No reservation needed, while supplies last |
| Early December | Christmas pie ordering expected to open |
That puts two of the season's biggest commitments, the Thanksgiving pie and the opening-weekend tree, into the same early-November stretch.
Hilltop Hanover keeps vegetables on the table through Thanksgiving
Hilltop Hanover Farm & Environmental Center, at 1271 Hanover Street, is a different kind of farm. Westchester County runs it as a working farm and environmental education center that grows mixed vegetables for a CSA and a retail farm stand. Wilkens is all fruit, firs and baked goods. Hilltop covers the rest of the Thanksgiving table.
The Friends of Hilltop Hanover Farm stand page lists stand hours as Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., from May through Thanksgiving. Its produce list includes winter squash, sweet potatoes, potatoes, greens and root vegetables, and the selection changes week to week. The county's Hilltop page gives a looser schedule of weekends plus selected Thursdays and Fridays from May through November, so check the stand page before planning a trip on a Thursday.
The two farms' days overlap neatly. Wilkens is open every day except Tuesday, and the Hilltop stand is open Thursday through Sunday, so a Thursday-to-Sunday trip can include both, with squash from one and pie from the other.
Hilltop's programs are busiest the weekend before Thanksgiving. The Westchester County Parks events calendar for Hilltop lists these dates for the rest of the year:
- Saturday, October 24: two family cooking classes at $45 each, one with a Halloween theme and one where children ages 3 to 18 learn to cook a dish.
- Saturday, November 21: a free class where participants cook farm-fresh Thanksgiving sides to give to a neighbor, friend or someone else who would appreciate a home-cooked meal. Pre-registration is required.
- Sunday, November 22: the Children's Entrepreneur Market, where kids build their own booths and sell, plus the farm's annual 5K and Kids' Fun Run past the crop fields and through the trails.
- Saturday, December 12: a $25 class on foraging and harvesting evergreens for wreaths and garlands, recommended for ages 12 and up.
- Saturday, December 19: a Yule celebration covering the history of Yule and the role of the Winter Solstice and agriculture, with a $5 suggested donation and optional pre-registration.
The county says programs can change without notice. It also says a master-planning process for the Hilltop site and how it's farmed is underway, though it hasn't published a timeline.
Granite Springs and the smaller stops
Stuart's Fruit Farm, at 62 Granite Springs Road in Granite Springs, has its own stand and bakery. Its site lists fresh produce, hot apple-cider donuts and pies baked every day. The Journal News ran a photo report on family-run Westchester apple farms on October 1. It featured the Stuart's farm stand, the bakery and owner Betsy Stuart, with photos taken September 16.
Stuart's late-season dates are harder to confirm. The farm's produce page says the stand usually stays open until December 24, and its pick-your-own page says picking runs "through November," but neither page is dated for 2026. The Christmas tree page says only "Coming Soon." Call ahead before planning a November picking trip or a tree visit there.
The Town of Yorktown's farm directory lists a few more stops:
- Thompson's Cider Mill, 335 Blinn Road in Croton-on-Hudson, inside the Town of Yorktown, sells sweet and hard cider, pears, apple and pumpkin pies, and muffins. The directory doesn't list seasonal hours.
- White Oak Farm, 680 Croton Lake Road in Yorktown Heights, makes maple syrup and runs a sugarhouse with hours that vary by season.
- The Meadows Farm, 329 Underhill Avenue, runs its market from May 1 through October 31, so October 31 is its last market day of the year.
When The Meadows Farm closes on Halloween, the late-season choices narrow to the farms with a bakery, a vegetable stand or a tree field.
December, after opening weekend
Starting Monday, November 30, Wilkens no longer requires reservations. The tree fields are open Monday and Wednesday through Sunday, with the last group heading out at 3:30 p.m. and the fields closing promptly at 4 p.m. The farm is closed Tuesdays. Its holiday shops sell baked goods, cider, wreaths, roping, tree stands, decorations and gifts. Wilkens recommends visiting any time in December if you'd rather skip the opening-weekend reservations.
Hilltop's December programs pair well with a tree trip. The December 12 evergreen-foraging class teaches how to make wreaths and garlands from the farm's own fields and forests, and the December 19 Yule celebration falls just before the solstice. If the Stuart's stand keeps its usual schedule, it would be open until Christmas Eve, but the farm hasn't confirmed that for 2026.
For an opening-weekend Fraser fir, sign up for the Wilkens notification list this month and watch for the reservation system to open around the first weekend of November.
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