When it comes to U-pick farms, Bend is considered a bit off the beaten path compared to areas like Hood River, Sauvie Island, or the Willamette Valley. While we have a ton of fabulous farms in the area (seriously, check out the farmer’s markets, and you’ll see so many incredible people supply us with fresh food), we don’t have all that many U-pick options.
Luckily, our fortunes are starting to change just a bit. And if you want to get the kids out to pick their own produce, then there are some outstanding options right in our backyard.
U-Pick Farms Near Bend
Well Rooted Farms
Opening in 2021, Well Rooted Farms is a new addition to the Central Oregon farm scene. They specialize in producing local, organic produce, eggs, pasture-raised pork, and beef.
The best part about Well Rooted Farms is their outstanding U-pick farm located just north of Tumalo.
Upon entering the farm, you’ll find a small shed with baskets for collecting produce, clippers, fridges to hold their eggs and meats, and a self-serve checkout stand.
From there, you’ll have free reign of the farm as you can walk through dozens of rows containing carrots, potatoes, flowers, eggplant, melons, cucumber, tomatoes, pumpkins, and so much more.
Our kids love exploring the rows to see how each vegetable grows and picking their produce. The clear favorites this past year have been pulling up the carrots and digging for their potatoes!
Once you’re finished picking (I guarantee you’ll have so much fun that you’ll end up with overloaded baskets), head back to the shed where the scale and computer are located. The checkout process is based on the honor system, so you’ll be responsible for ringing up and paying for all of your produce.
If you’re looking for bulk produce for pickling or canning, they also offer special pricing for quantities over 20 pounds.
Tip: When you look up directions to the farm on Google make sure you look up the Well Rooted Farms U-Pick, not just Well Rooted Farms, or it will take you to their old farm location.
Rareloom Farm & Garden
Rareloom Farm is a small organic farm also located just north of Tumalo. The owners of Rareloom focus on heirloom vegetables and heritage breed animals, so visiting their farm means finding new varieties of produce that you may not be able to find anywhere else.
The farm can be visited by appointment only so that you will have a very intimate experience exploring the farm and picking out your veggie starts in the spring or U-picking vegetables in the summer or fall.
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Our Favorite U-Pick Farms Outside of Bend
While we love our Bend U-pick farms for veggies and melons, it is tough to go through summer and fall without picking some berries and apples. This is Oregon, after all!
After living in Oregon for over a decade now, we have managed to scout out some amazing U-pick options a couple of hours from Bend.
Fordyce Farms – Salem, OR
After living in Portland and getting accustomed to paying the rather high U-pick prices on Sauvie Island, finding this U-pick berry farm near Salem has been a godsend.
Only a 2-hour drive from Bend, we have made visiting this farm a new summer tradition. We come armed with a cooler and every container with a lid that we can come up with.
The best part is blueberries are only $1.30 per pound!
The blueberry bushes are so loaded at Fordyce Farms that we can easily pick 30 – 40 pounds of berries in 2 hours. And this includes picking with little ones who are determined to eat every single berry that makes it into their picking buckets.
The farm also has strawberries, blackberries, marionberries, raspberries, and currants for U-pick at amazing prices.
Mountain View Orchards – Parkdale, OR
Mountain View Orchards is one of our two picks for apple and pear U-picking near Hood River.
We love mountain view orchards for their laid back feel, huge selection of apple and pear trees and the stunning grounds.
Seriously, you’d be hard pressed to find a more beautiful farm anywhere in the country with Mt. hood perfectly framed behind the farm.
The owners of the farm have also build up a cider/brewing company, winery, and event space on the grounds. After picking your apples and pears you can grab a table, send the kids to the playground, and enjoy a snack lunch with a freshly brewed beer or glass of wine.
This is one of those must visit places if you are entertaining guests from out of state as it is tough to think of a more quintessential Oregon experience than this.
Mountain View Orchards offers up 125 varieties of apples, 15 varieties of pears, and other produce throughout the summer and fall so there is always a good time to visit.
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Kiyokawa Family Orchards – Parkdale, OR
Kiayokawa Orchards are just around the bend from Mountain View Orchards and are also worth a stop if you’re heading over to Parkdale from Bend for apple and pear picking.
This farm is much more fruit focused and its a good thing because they knock it out of the park. The orchards feature cherries, peaches, apples, and pears with a specialty in hard to find Asian pears.
We love wandering through the farm stand and to pick out a sampling of different pear varieties to try. I can’t stress this enough, if the only pears you’ve ever eaten were the supermarket variety, pick out a few different varieties at the orchard and try them. You will be amazed by how incredibly juicy and sweet these are as opposed to the grainy options that you’ll typically find at the grocery store.
We hope this inspires you to get out and try some local produce this summer and fall. Oregon is an incredible state with an abundance of fresh produce and there is no better way to do so than by picking your own straight from the farms.
