Aamodt's Apple Farm

Our take

The short version

Aamodt’s Apple Farm is one of the larger, longer-established orchards in the St. Croix Valley, with nine named apple varieties on file and a set of kid-focused attractions — a barrel train, a small goat petting zoo, wagon rides, and a playground — built around the pick-your-own rows. What the record doesn’t include is a confirmed 2026 season start or end date, or any pricing, so this is a stop worth a quick phone call before you commit to a drive.

Nine varieties, staggered through the fall

The record names Honeycrisp, SweeTango, First Kiss, Zestar, Chestnut Crab, Dolgo Crab, Cortland, Haralson, and Fireside. That list spans the calendar: First Kiss and Zestar are early-season apples that typically ripen in late August or early September, while Cortland, Haralson, and Fireside lean later, into October. The two crabapple varieties — Chestnut Crab and Dolgo Crab — aren’t dessert apples in the usual sense; they’re smaller, tarter fruit more often used for jelly, pickling, or ornamental interest than eating out of hand, so don’t expect them to taste like a Honeycrisp if you decide to try one.

One important caveat from the research notes: Aamodt’s doesn’t open every variety for picking at the same time. The orchard rotates which rows are available for pick-your-own week to week rather than running the whole property at once. If there’s a specific variety you’re after — SweeTango, say, which tends to ripen earlier in the Twin Cities season — it’s worth calling ahead (651-439-3127) to confirm it’s currently open before you make the drive to Stillwater.

Two sets of hours, not one

The record lists two separate hour windows that are easy to conflate. The Apple Barn — the retail store where you’d buy pre-picked fruit, donuts, and other goods — is open 10am to 6pm daily. Pick-your-own itself runs a shorter window, 10am to 5pm daily. If you’re planning to arrive later in the afternoon specifically to pick your own apples, build in that hour of buffer rather than assuming the barn’s closing time applies to the fields too.

Cider donuts, but no confirmed cider mill

Cider donuts are confirmed on-site and, per the research notes, called out on Aamodt’s own site as the retail barn’s signature item. What the record doesn’t confirm is whether the orchard presses its own cider on-site — the cider_mill field is blank, meaning that detail either wasn’t found or wasn’t stated clearly enough to include here. If a working cider mill you can watch in action matters to your visit, that’s a good question to ask when you call.

Built for a family day, not just a fruit run

Beyond the orchard rows, Aamodt’s activities list reads like a genuine kids’ outing: wagon rides, a small goat petting zoo, a barrel-train ride, and a playground. That combination — plus the fact that it’s one of the older, larger Twin Cities orchards, according to the research notes — suggests Aamodt’s leans more toward a half-day family destination than a quick in-and-out apple stop. If your group includes younger kids who’ll want more to do than just walk the rows, that’s a real point in its favor.

What’s missing, and why it matters

Two gaps stand out. First, there’s no confirmed 2026 season start or end date — the site describes picking continuing into early or mid October in general terms, but that’s a description of a typical season, not a dated 2026 announcement. Second, there’s no pricing on file at all, for admission, pick-your-own apples, or the donuts. Neither gap is unusual for a Twin Cities orchard at this stage of research, but it does mean you shouldn’t budget or plan your trip date around anything more specific than “sometime in the fall, into early-to-mid October.”

Getting there

Aamodt’s is at 6428 Manning Ave N in Stillwater, in Washington County, part of the broader St. Croix Valley cluster of orchards. The listed coordinates are an approximate area estimate for the address rather than an individually geocoded point, so navigate by the street address itself rather than dropping a pin exactly where the map shows.

Bottom line

Aamodt’s offers real breadth on variety (nine named apples) and a strong kids’-day lineup, but the record leaves season dates and pricing unconfirmed. A call to 651-439-3127 before you go — to check which varieties are currently open for picking and what the day will cost — is the sensible move here.