Where? Butler’s Orchard, Germantown, Maryland, USA

Hours

Reservations are required. Per the information on their website:

“Sundays at 5:00 pm: online reservations will be available for the following Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Thursday at 5:00 pm: online reservations will be available for the following Friday, Saturday, Sunday.”

Therefore, you need to go to the reservation page to see what time slots are available. Click here to access the reservation page.

FYI!!!! I don’t like making reservations too ahead of time. Therefore, I booked the tickets to this farm three hours before arriving there. Finding last minute availability is hit or miss but I am under the impression that during weekdays, the farm has plenty of tickets to reserve on short notice. The weekends do go fast, which means that during weekends it’ll most likely be crowded.

How much? Their current admission fee is $4.00 pp It’s funny that when you book the tickets it breaks down as a $3.00 + $1.00. I have no idea what each fee accounts for, but the total is $4.00. This includes accessing the play space and animals in the farm. To pick your own blueberries you do need to buy one of their containers, which ranges from $5.00, $6.00 and $30.00, depending on size. According to their website, there are larger containers available if blueberries are abundant.

There’s also goat feed available for purchase to feed the animals! That’s $2.00 per cup!

Open/Closes: According to their website, as of now, the blueberry field is open from 8:30am-2:00pm on Weekdays and 8:30am-6:00pm on Weekends.

Currently, there’s also black raspberries available. To stay tuned to the pick your own crops available, check their calendar here!

There’s also a Sunset Picking option during specific dates. Click here for more details!

Pets: No pets allowed.

Restrooms This is the only thing I don’t like about Butler’s Orchard. They don’t have real restrooms available to visitors. They do have a portables throughout the farm, including accessible ones. There was hand sanitizer next to the portables by the entrance.

There’s a hand washing station near the animals.

Tips to visit

• Bring the following essentials:
  • Sunscreen
  • Hats for everyone: There isn’t any shade at the blueberry field.
  • An umbrella: ideally, a sun protective umbrella but if not, a regular one is better than nothing.
  • Shades to protect your eyes
  • Water and/or juices that can fit in your purse so everyone can stay hydrated.
  • Wipes because I always carry wipes. They can clean any mess!
  • Cooler: big enough to store the fruit and keep it fresh, especially if you plan to let the kids play for a while.

• Baby carrier: If your children are too little and don’t walk, consider bringing a baby carrier just to go to the field and once you are back to the play area, you can get your stroller from your car since the parking lot is right in front of the play area.

• Stroller: f you need to bring your stroller, I believe it’s allowed since I saw at least one mother with the stroller on the wagon that takes you to the blueberry field.

• Wagon: If your children don’t need the back support that a stroller provides, I suggest you bring a wagon because it’s easier to carry stuff there. I almost always have it in my car during summer time. I also carry with camping chairs which I put on the wagon. Why? Because, your children will move around the farm. The distance between where the animals are is far from the playground and slides. So you can’t just watch them from one place. Therefore, I move with them and sit on my chair while they play at a particular spot.

• Food: There’s a food kiosk on site with ready to eat food such as hot dogs, burgers and chicken tenders with fries. There’s also drinks being sold like Butler’s slushees which I love and apple cider donuts!!!! If you can’t bring your own food, then this food kiosk is a life saver.

• Drinks! Don’t forget water, juices and/or fruits to keep everyone hydrated.

More details of Our Experience

Butler’s Orchards is located in Germantown, Montgomery County, Maryland, USA. The drive to this farm is bumpy. The road that takes you to the farm is in serious need of TLC.

Nonetheless, the farm is absolutely beautiful. There’s not a lot of walking involved because you drive and park right beside where all the farm fun is: playgrounds, slides, animals and food concession. That’s also where you wait in line to get on the wagon that takes to you to the blueberry field.

My tickets were for 11:30 AM and it was relatively busy. When in the open areas at the farm, it felt totally safe and you could easily distance from others. But when riding the wagon it felt too crowded. At the moment, masks are not required anymore. Half of people were wearing masks and the other half wasn’t. Different from Baugher’s Orchard, the wagons at Butler’s are bigger, so they can fit more people. And they do fill it to capacity!

Therefore, if you feel uneasy by being too close to strangers that are potentially not wearing a mask, be advised. On our way in, the people next to us were wearing theirs, but on our way out, not. That was very uncomfortable because the staff at Butler’s told people to squeeze in and all. Too close for comfort!!!

The blueberry field was beautiful, well maintained and abundant. The kids had a lot of fun hunting down the big ones. In about 20-30 minutes we had filled our quart container. If you happen to feel incline to pick more blueberries, there’s staff on site with more containers available for purchase

Back on the farm, the kids spent about an hour and half playing in the open fields, slides, playgrounds and feeding the animals.

All in all, this is a great farm. The pick your own experience was enjoyable and totally worth the cost. The only thing I really wish this farm would consider adding is real restrooms! Down the farm (or right by the entrance depending from where you come), there’s their market which you should totally check out!

For another Pick Your Own farm experience, I recommend Baugher’s Orchard in Westminster. Check my blog post here.

I hope you have a great time visiting this beautiful place. Being in contact with nature is proven to make you feel better and happier. Let me know if you go how it goes and remember that the easiest way to stay on the loop is to follow me on insta, where I also share videos and more on my stories/highlights!

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