Top pick-your-own farms in New Mexico

Ideal early fall temperatures in the Land of Enchantment make this a perfect time for a road trip and a day on the farm. Picking your own produce or gathering artisanal products at the source is a fun family-friendly, weekend activity, and visiting these sustainable local farms supports New Mexico’s growers and food producers. Although autumn is synonymous with chile (as it should be), fall brings a cornucopia of New Mexico crops. Fill your basket at one of these spots.

For many New Mexicans, nothing marks fall like the smoky aroma of roasting chile. But have you ever picked chile yourself?

You can at Green Chile U-Pick at Big Jim Farms. The 9-acre farm in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque opened in 2017, but the family behind the field has deep agricultural roots. Owner Jim Wagner is a third-generation farmer who has cultivated family acreage across the state for more than 40 years, including Wagner’s Farm Experience in Corrales where you-pick pumpkins, a produce stand, and a petting zoo make for a multi-faceted outing.

At Big Jim Farm, families can pick their chile (heat levels are divided by rows) and have it roasted on the spot. “We wanted people to be able to know where their food comes from,” says Jim’s daughter Chantelle Wagner, a fourth-generation farmer. 

The Cadwallader family has been welcoming visitors to Cadwallader Mountain Farms in Otero County since 1943. They invite the public to their peach, cherry, and apple orchards to reconnect with where food is grown, says Angie Cadwallader, who co-owns the farm with her husband, James.

The orchard’s 6,750-foot perch offers respite from the lingering summer heat of southern New Mexico as families come to the farm with picnic baskets in hand, ready to pick their own fruit. “A lot of people make an adventure day of it,” Cadwallader says. The farm grows an acre-and-a-half of apples with Gala apples kicking off the season in August and Romes and Fujis concluding the season in October.

They also grow an assortment of golden supreme, McIntosh, and honey crisp varieties. A farm stand offers already-picked baskets of fruit. Call ahead to check on what’s in season before making the drive.

Raspberries may not be an iconic New Mexico crop like chile, but the juicy red morsels grow well in parts of the state. Heidi Eleftheriou, the maven behind the eponymous Heidi’s Raspberry Jam, planted her first raspberry bushes in Corrales in 2000, launching what’s now known as Heidi’s Raspberry Farm.

When she started, Eleftheriou worked out of rented commercial kitchens and ladled jars by hand. Now, the jam is a staple at local grower’s markets and appears in grocery stores in several states. Eleftheriou opened the bucolic Corrales fields in 2010 for families to pluck pints of raspberries straight from the bushes (she also added blackberries for you-pick, which ripen in July.).

While you’re there, you can also grab a few jars of jam from the farm stand, including the multiple-time Fiery Foods and Barbecue Show Scovi Award–winning raspberry red chile jam, which uses chile from Polvadera, New Mexico. 

Visiting McCall’s Pumpkin Patch in Moriarty isn’t just a day at the pumpkin patch; it’s a full-fledged family outing. Plan up to a full day to enjoy the playground, tour the petting zoo, and explore the corn maze.

In 2021, the 15-acre maze has a bee theme intended to educate the public about the importance of these pollinators. Also new this year, the McCalls have added “beelines” (mini zip lines) and an Orbeez (gel ball) Nerf gun court.

But don’t miss the hayride to a 50-acre pumpkin patch where you can pick out the perfect future jack-o-lantern. That’s where this attraction started, after all. The McCalls invited a few kids out on a field trip and were surprised to find the children thought their pumpkins came from Walmart.

“Kids don’t realize where things come from anymore and that you don’t just get things from a grocery store,” says Kirsten McCall, who co-owns McCall Land and Cattle Company with her husband, Kevin. “We’re so many generations removed from being on a farm. A day here gets kids to connect with agriculture.” 

While you can’t harvest honey, Hays Honey and Apple Farm is worth a visit. In 1970, Ken Hays started keeping bees in the hope that the practice might help alleviate his allergies. (For more than 30 years, he was an air-traffic controller, and sneezing on the job was, no doubt, discouraged.) His experiment blossomed and the passionate keeper has served as president of the New Mexico Beekeepers Association for 17 years.

Today, some 150 beehives on Hays Honey and Apple Farm, in Bosque Farms, create the six varieties of honey, creamed honey, and bee pollen sold in the on-site farm store. Traditionally, Hays offers a beekeeping seminar each fall, though the pandemic has led him to postpone his next one until 2022. 

Ashley M. Biggers is an award-winning freelance journalist and editor based in Albuquerque.