Kristy’s Barn

We visited Kristy’s Barn this weekend with family who were in town for the weekend. They were craving apple cider donuts and wanted to check out some farm stand goodies, so we did a little searching and settled on Kristy’s. The cider donuts were a little more than $ 6 for a dozen. The donuts we bought were pretty tasty, but definitely not the best I’ve had in the region. I bet they would have been better if we had them while they were still hot and fresh. The farm stand has plenty of varieties of apples, eggs and produce. We ended up buying two sacks of apples (they were buy one bag, get the second half off). They also stock a great variety of homemade jams, pickles and sauces. We picked up two kinds of honey at a great price and my sister in law grabbed a jar of portobello mushroom pasta sauce. The staff was great and answered all of our questions. It’s a nice place, and I’ll stop by again next time I have a hankering for some special jams or local honey.

Decided to stop by Kristy’s to give a local farm some buisiness and am extremely disappointed. I feel taken advantage of, there were no price signs and upon check out the two young girls rang up our 2 medium sized pumpkin and charged us over 30 $. We asked about the price but didn’t want to push. I’m not sure if that’s how much they charge every customer but am extremely disappointed. 30 $ for two average size pumpkins is ridiculous.

I absolutely love this place. You can tell immediately that it is a family run business. The staff is all so nice. They really care about the community and take pride in their place. They raise a wide variety of produce. Offer Oscar’s Smoke House meats (so good). They ever raise their own pasture-​raised chickens. If you have never had pasture raised chicken, it is a must! So much different than the «chicken» you get in the stores. They are also practice really responsible farming techniques. They spray only when needed, which on some of their products means not at all! You will find the best peaches around right here. Last year they were amazing and I cannot wait for them to come back again. What else… In the fall they have cider doughnuts (best fresh obviously), pumpkin and apple picking. On the weekends they have free hayrides, a petting paddock (great for the kids).
You have to check this place out, I think they do a bunch of the farmers markets around the capital district. Keep an eye out for them!

To our grandparents it wasn’t «organic food» it was just food. Kristy’s has a sign that boasts that it has been feeding the community for over 100 years, but what I like is that it is a low or no spray apple orchard (apples are notoriously difficult to grow without the assistance of pesticides and Kristy’s sprays its crop as infrequently as possible if at all). They have Macs, Red Delicious, Cortland, Empire, Macoun, Gala, and Honeycrisps (no Granny Smiths which makes me sad). In October apples were $ 1.49 a pound (or $ 6.25 for a ½ peck,) except for Honeycrisps which were a little more expensive. They also have a plethora of other vegetables and fruits including pears, berries, winter squashes, and leafy vegetables.
The apples and squashes that I have purchased have been very high quality and worth the price, which it doesn’t seem like it costs much more than grocery store veggies.
They do have some baked goods including apple cider donuts, but I wasn’t a fan of the donuts; too dry and not enough apple cider taste to them.
They have a CSA which I might look into next summer.
The only reason I hold back 1 star is my own fault. They have a «petting zoo» which I think costs $ 2. I haven’t been to the barn when I’ve had time to pet the critters. I know i will end up giving the 5^th star because who doesn’t love petting baby animals?!

Kristy’s is a small, family owned market and orchard. They’ve got a great variety of produce, each fruit and veg labeled with it’s point of origination — either their own, local, hudson, florida etc. Much better than the other local farm stores where they’ve got tomatoes in June and make it out like they grew them. Great greenhouse in the spring (Kris is really knowledgeable about the plants, but also really honest. If she doesn’t know something, she’ll tell you the truth). Lots of pick your own fruits and free hayrides during apple picking season. The only negative is that they’re closed from Nov. to May 1^st every year.