Maryland’s Farm Fresh Escape Has Pick-Your-Own Produce, a Bustling Market, and an Adorable Petting Zoo

There are Maryland farm trips where you buy a bag of apples and leave, and then there are places determined to occupy most of your afternoon.

This family farm combines a busy orchard market with seasonal pick-your-own crops, a bakery turning out handmade pies and pastries, playgrounds, and a free petting zoo populated by pigs, sheep, emus, peacocks, ducks, rabbits, and famously adventurous goats.

As of late August 2026, the farm is currently listing pick-your-own apples, blackberries, cut flowers, and sunflowers, although availability can change with weather and demand.

That means a supposedly simple produce run can become fruit picking, animal feeding, bakery shopping, and several rounds of explaining why no, the goat cannot come home.

Maryland has definitely found a more entertaining way to grocery shop.

Strawberry Fields That Kick Off the Season

Mid-May is when everything here wakes up. Strawberries are the first pick-your-own crop of the year at Baugher’s, spread across more than 20 acres of low green rows that run toward the tree line.

Picking strawberries is deceptively easy work. The berries sit close to the ground, so expect to crouch, kneel, or shuffle along on the dirt between rows.

Wear pants you do not care about.

The season usually runs from mid-May into June, though how long it lasts depends entirely on weather and how many people show up before you. Hot spells speed everything along.

A cool, wet stretch stretches it out.

Pick-your-own hours generally run from 9 AM to 5 PM, and Thursday through Sunday tends to be the window for most crops. Calling ahead is genuinely worth it, since field availability shifts day to day based on ripeness and demand.

A tip that saves regret later: pick more than seems reasonable. Strawberries do not keep long, but they freeze beautifully and turn into jam, smoothies, and pie filling all summer.

Kids do well in strawberry rows because the reward is instant and the plants are at their eye level. Not much waiting around involved.

Sunscreen, a hat, and water bottles matter more than any fancy gear. The fields are wide open with almost no shade, and mornings tend to be cooler and calmer than the middle of the day.

Cherry Picking, Sweet and Sour, in a Blink

Cherries here are a bit of a race. Sweet cherry season is famously short, sometimes only a matter of days once the fruit hits its peak, which makes catching it feel like winning something.

Late June into early July is the usual stretch for both sweet and sour cherries. Sour cherries hold on a little longer, and they carry a fun bit of history at this farm.

The pick-your-own tradition at Baugher’s actually started back in 1976 with sour cherries. Everything else grew out of that one idea.

Picking from trees changes the whole rhythm compared to strawberry rows. Instead of crouching, you are reaching up into the branches, working around leaves, sometimes using a ladder for the higher fruit.

Sour cherries are not for eating straight from the tree unless a serious pucker sounds appealing. Bake them, though, and they turn into something remarkable.

Pies, cobblers, and preserves all benefit from that tartness.

Bring a container with a handle or a bucket that can hang from a branch. Two free hands make the whole job faster and less frustrating.

Because the window is so narrow, checking on current conditions before driving out is smart. Crops can close early once picked over.

My honest advice is to treat cherry season as a happy accident rather than a plan. Show up for something else, and if the cherries happen to be on, count it as a bonus worth bragging about.

Blackberries and the Berry Patch Nobody Expects

Blackberries carry the long middle of summer here, ready from July right into early September. They are glossy, heavy, and stain fingers within about four seconds of picking.

What surprised me most was the lineup beyond blackberries. Black currants, red currants, gooseberries, and jostaberries all show up in July, and those are not fruits found at most farms in Maryland.

A jostaberry, for the curious, is a cross between a gooseberry and a black currant. Slightly wild tasting, great in jam, and a solid conversation starter.

Those specialty berries tend to have short or limited seasons, so availability really does depend on the week. Some years the picking window is tiny.

Long sleeves help in the blackberry rows. The canes can be prickly, and pushing deeper into the bushes is usually where the biggest berries hide.

Ripeness matters more with blackberries than most fruit. A berry that comes off with a gentle tug is ready.

One that resists needs another day or two, and picking it early means sourness with no fix.

Currants and gooseberries reward patience since they are small and clustered. Bring a shallow container so nothing gets crushed underneath.

Peaches, plums, nectarines, and even peas rotate through the pick-your-own fields depending on the season too. The variety is honestly part of the fun, because no two visits land on quite the same list.

Pumpkin Patches and a Field Full of Sunflowers

Fall does something to this place. The pumpkin patches open up, sunflowers stand tall in their own field, and suddenly everyone is walking around with an armload of something orange or yellow.

Picking a pumpkin straight from the field beats grabbing one off a pallet. There is a small satisfaction in finding the one with the perfect stem, still attached to the vine.

Sunflower picking is the sleeper hit. Cutting a few stems to bring home costs nothing in effort and brightens a kitchen table for a solid week.

Practical note for the pumpkin field: bring a wagon or be ready to carry. Pumpkins get heavy faster than expected, especially with a kid trailing behind who insists on the biggest one available.

Footwear deserves thought here. Pumpkin fields can be soft or muddy after rain, and vines are easy to trip over when eyes are on the fruit instead of the ground.

Wagon rides through the farm run during parts of the fall pick-your-own season, and harvest festival activities pop up alongside them. Combining a wagon ride with pumpkin picking makes for an easy half-day plan.

Photos happen naturally in this stretch of the year. Rolling Carroll County hills, orchard rows, and a sunflower field make a decent backdrop without any staging required.

Availability shifts with weather and demand, so a quick call before heading out keeps expectations realistic.

The Orchard Market Where Everything Smells Like Fruit

Not everyone wants to bend over a strawberry row, and that is exactly what the market is for. The Orchard Market sits right on the farm and stocks the same fruit growing out in the fields.

Hours run Tuesday through Sunday, 9 AM to 6 PM, with Mondays closed. Worth remembering before making the drive.

Inside, the produce shifts with the calendar. Strawberries, sweet corn, tomatoes, cantaloupes, peaches, plums, blackberries, apples, summer squash, peppers, eggplant, watermelons, and nectarines all rotate through depending on what is ready.

Beyond the bins, shelves fill up with the farm’s own apple cider, apple butter, and applesauce. Fudge comes in six flavors including chocolate, peanut butter, and maple walnut, which is a dangerous section to linger in.

Local honey, preserves, canning supplies, plants, and gourmet odds and ends round things out. Cheeses, milk, and eggs from nearby producers sit alongside everything else.

There is a second location too. The Fruit Market in town keeps longer hours, 8 AM to 8 PM daily, which helps when the farm market is closed or the timing is awkward.

Animal feed for the petting zoo can be picked up at the Orchard Market, so grabbing a cup on the way through saves a trip back.

My suggestion is to walk the market first. Seeing what is in season indoors gives a clear picture of what is worth picking outside.

Pies, Fritters, and a Bakery Running Since the 1930s

The bakery started with one person and a lot of pies. Romaine Baugher began baking in the 1930s, and the Orchard Bakery still runs on that same idea of homemade over mass produced.

Pie choices are almost overwhelming. Apple, cherry, blackberry, blueberry, peach, pecan, pumpkin, plus a range of cream and custard pies, with seasonal options appearing and disappearing through the year.

Apple fritters deserve their own mention. Warm, craggy, glazed, and best eaten within about ten minutes of purchase in the parking lot with zero shame.

Cakes, fruit breads, dinner rolls, sticky buns, sweet buns, and apple dumplings fill out the cases. The dumplings are a proper Maryland farm tradition, whole apple wrapped in pastry.

Popular items sell out, especially on fall weekends and around holidays. Going early or calling ahead about a specific pie is the practical move.

Mrs. B’s Sweets window handles the cold stuff with a seasonally rotating menu of slushies, ice cream, donuts, and sundaes. On a hot July afternoon after berry picking, that window is the most popular spot on the property.

A cooler in the car is a small thing that pays off. Custard and cream pies do not enjoy sitting in a warm vehicle while you wander the orchard.

Buying one pie for now and one for the freezer is a decision nobody regrets later.

Goats, Emus, and a Free Petting Zoo

An emu staring at you over a fence is not what most people expect at a Maryland orchard. Yet there it is, along with peacocks, donkeys, and a whole barnyard cast.

The petting zoo is free and open daily from 9 AM to 6 PM, mid-May through November. That combination of no admission and long hours makes it an easy add-on to any visit.

Residents include pigs, sheep, ducks, rabbits, goats, chickens, lambs, turkeys, and cows. Enough variety that even kids who have visited farms before find something new to stare at.

Feeding is part of the fun. Animal food can be bought at the Orchard Market or from coin machines inside the zoo area, so bring some quarters just in case.

The area has grown over time with new playgrounds, goat walks, expanded habitats, a gazebo, and considerably more pasture space for the animals. The elevated goat walks are a highlight, since watching goats stroll overhead is genuinely funny.

The gazebo makes a decent spot to sit while kids burn off energy. Shade and a bench go a long way mid-afternoon.

Hand sanitizer or wipes belong in the bag. Feeding animals is a hands-on activity, and the bakery comes later.

Goats will nibble at sleeves, drawstrings, and anything dangling. Consider that a warning and a promise at the same time.

Five Generations, a Country Restaurant, and Turkey Dinner

Longevity is the quiet story here. The Baugher family has farmed this land since 1904, five generations deep, and the operation has grown to over 1,000 acres without leaving the family.

Growth came in steps. A restaurant and fruit market opened in Westminster in 1948 so farm-grown fruit could go straight to customers, and 1969 brought a packing house with a market, bakery, cold storage, and an apple cider mill.

Then came 1976 and those first sour cherry rows opened to the public. The pick-your-own idea took hold and never let go.

The country-style restaurant stays open year-round, which makes this a destination even in the dead of winter when the fields are bare. A daily Turkey Dinner special is the standout item, the kind of plate that feels like a holiday on an ordinary Tuesday.

Timing a meal around the visit works well. Pick in the morning, eat around midday, hit the bakery on the way out.

Fall visits get the fullest experience with wagon rides and harvest festival activities layered on top of everything else. Spring and summer trade those for berries and warm weather.

Checking current hours and crop conditions before setting out is the single most useful piece of advice. Weather, ripeness, and demand all shift what is open on any given day.

Address: 1015 Baugher Rd, Westminster, MD 21158