Nieman Orchards

Normally I would shy away from things like apple picking and pumpkin patching in the fall, due solely to the typical throngs of screaming children (sorry, families!). BUT since I do love apples, my boyfriend and I decided to head to Nieman’s on a dreary October Saturday to try our luck.
Nieman’s is a small family farm by the look of it. No giant parking lot or blazing neon signs pointing you toward it. You park along the driveway in or the big red barn (quaint!) and enter the little shop area to either purchase items or get your bag/​bucket for picking. Upon entering, we had a darling woman explain to us all the details:
— Pick your bag or bucket, you pay by the size not by the weight, so fill it as full as you can to get your money’s worth
— You can walk around or else they have a tractor to drive you around if you prefer
— Rows are labelled based on different kinds of apples (she pointed out which had a bunch left vs which were mostly out of season or already gone, with it being October)
— Taste test all you want — they even had samples of the different types in the barn so you could know what kind you wanted to go out to pick
— Currently they’re cash only
And with that, off we went! We walked around for at least an hour, picking and tasting as we went. There were several families out picking as well, but we hardly ran into them since there were so many different rows/​areas. They even had ladders placed throughout the orchard to get at some of the higher up apples. Overall was a really pleasant time. And a great location for some fabulous fall photos too, of course! We also purchased some cider on the way out — I noticed you could get just a to-​go cup with straw of cider for just a dollar, if I’d have seen that on the way in, I’d have bought it to take out picking with me.
Also, used the apples to make a pie and it turned out great — so the apples were good for baking as well as eating!

If I could give this no stars, I would. After doing what I thought was a decent amount of research to take my family apple picking, I decided on this orchard due to their advertising they had their own cider press. We opted to go on a Sunday, Labor Day weekend, during Cedarburg’s Maxwell Street Days. When we pulled in, we could see a few apple trees near the driveway. Pulling up a little farther we found the «parking lot,» which was nothing but the circle drive to the house & barns. The store/​barn wasn’t anything to brag on. They had some cider which was insanely high-​priced, jams, and a few other items, all not even made at that orchard. The lady at the counter lacked knowledge, referring us to the man… The only way I can describe this is the opening scene of a horror movie. This hunched-​over man comes out of the dark & dusty back room area that apparently contains the old cider press. The lady repeats to him my question, and he replies something unintelligible. He just stands there in the doorway the rest of the brief time we were there.
Prices included $ 60 for a large «pick yourself» (die by the hiding axe murderer in the «orchard»?) bag, with smaller bags obvious decreasing in price
Over $ 10 for A GALLON of cider pressed somewhere else in the state
$ 5 for a 3# bag of apples that are actually labelled Nieman Orchards.
In the end, we purchased a bag of apples & a few jars of jam, then got the heck out of there. We will not return obviously!

Went here with my boyfriend and we had a great time. A quick drive from Milwaukee. Lots of different types of apples to chose from. There is a tractor that will bring you far into the orchard. Delicious apple cider. Cute family business.