One of Iowa's northernmost visitor orchards, close to the Minnesota border, with a confirmed weekend season window and no general admission fee — a solid pick for far-north Iowa despite thin variety and pricing detail.
No general orchard admission charge for u-pick apples
Otter Creek Orchard Farms sits at 4975 Ember Avenue in Saint Ansgar, Mitchell County, and the record identifies it as one of the northernmost visitor orchards found anywhere in Iowa for this research batch, close to the Minnesota border. Phone is 862-274-0886. The orchard’s own site listed weekend hours as open Saturdays and Sundays, September 19th through November 1st, 9:30am-4:30pm — a specific date range, though the exact year wasn’t explicitly attached to that text in what was captured during research, so it’s treated as likely-current rather than fully confirmed.
One detail is confirmed cleanly: there’s no general admission charge for u-pick apples here. Confirmed activities include a pumpkin patch, a sunflower patch, and a snack shack, and the record notes the site was actively promoting 2026 field trip reservations at the time of research — a strong signal the operation is currently active and updating its content, even without an explicit year attached to the weekend-hours text.
For anyone in the far-north part of the state, near the Minnesota border, this record identifies Otter Creek as one of the few — if not the only — visitor orchard option in that specific area within this research batch. That’s useful context on its own: rather than comparing this orchard against several nearby alternatives the way a Des Moines-metro visitor might, someone in the St. Ansgar area is likely choosing this orchard by default for local access rather than picking it over close competitors.
The September 19-November 1 range is a fairly long weekend season by the standards of this research batch — about six weeks, if the dates hold for the current year — even though it’s weekends-only rather than daily. That combination (a longer overall window, but access restricted to Saturday and Sunday) is a specific tradeoff worth planning around: a visitor with weekday-only availability would need to fit their trip into one of roughly nine weekend days across that span, rather than having flexibility on any given day.
The lack of a general admission fee puts Otter Creek in the same category as Upstream Gardens near Altoona — pay only for what’s picked, rather than an upfront entry cost. Combined with active 2026 field-trip promotion, this reads as a farm oriented toward both individual family visits and organized group visits, without erecting a cost barrier for casual browsers. That field-trip activity is also a reasonably good sign that the operation is currently running as described, even if the specific weekend-date range wasn’t tagged with an explicit year in the source text.
No apple varieties are named anywhere in the record, so there’s no way to know what’s actually growing here or which part of the picking season favors which apple. No u-pick pricing is given either, beyond the confirmed absence of a general admission fee. And because the weekend date range wasn’t explicitly year-stamped in the captured text, confirming that September 19-November 1 actually applies to the current season (rather than being a leftover from a prior year) is worth a quick call before making the drive.
Otter Creek Orchard Farms fills a real geographic niche as one of the northernmost visitor orchards identified in Iowa, with no admission fee and an active field-trip program suggesting a currently operating farm. The weekend-only schedule and the unconfirmed year on its posted season dates are the two things worth verifying with a call to 862-274-0886 before planning a trip, especially since no apple varieties or pricing are given anywhere in the record.
The orchard's own site listed weekend hours as 'Open Saturdays & Sundays September 19th-November 1st, 9:30am-4:30pm.' The exact year wasn't explicitly attached to that text, so it's treated as likely-current rather than fully confirmed — check before visiting.
you need a weekday visit — the orchard is open Saturday and Sunday only.
The site listed weekend hours as open Saturdays and Sundays, September 19th through November 1st, 9:30am-4:30pm. The exact year wasn't explicitly stated in the text captured, so treat this as likely-current rather than confirmed.
No general admission fee is charged for u-pick apples, per the record.
Not stated in the record. No varieties are named.
Yes — the site was actively promoting 2026 field trip reservations at the time of research, suggesting an active, currently updated operation.
A pumpkin patch, a sunflower patch, and a snack shack, per the record.
September 19 – November 1, 2026. Sat-Sun. Hours: 9:30am-4:30pm Sat-Sun.
Pricing was not published when we last checked. No general orchard admission charge for u-pick apples
Yes — it's a pick-your-own orchard.
4975 Ember Avenue, Saint Ansgar, IA 50472, in Mitchell County. It is one of 1 orchards we track in Northern Iowa.
There is 1 other orchard we track in Mitchell County. All Northern Iowa orchards →
Map pin is set to the town centre. Navigate to the street address above, not the pin.
ottercreekorchardfarms.com
Checked September 2026.