Not ready for the Christmas spirit yet? Believe that fall ends after Thanksgiving? Visit Deal’s Orchard, where they are still celebrating the fall spirit with their fresh cider donuts that are the “quintessential taste of fall,” according to Christy Deal, the Orchard’s communications and marketing specialist, who also works at Iowa State in the office of biotechnology.

Deal’s Orchard in Jefferson City, about an hour from Iowa State, has been selling apples for over 100 years. Throughout this time, they’ve morphed into a fall destination with family activities, animals to feed and a huge flower field, but their roots are still apples.

“We really are trying to center on a welcoming, small-town town friendly atmosphere,” Deal said, “It really reflects our farm roots and focuses on our relationship with the customer. We’re not a huge commercialized experience, but we still want to offer people a lot to do while they’re there.”

Not all orchards make their own cider. Many ship in the juice, but Deal’s Orchard proudly handpicks the apples and turns them into cider on site. 

“The apples are handpicked because they are delicate, we don’t want them bruised,” Deal said.​​ They are then graded by quality, and the blemish-free ones are sold, while the others are washed, finely chopped and pressed until all the juice is extracted, eventually becoming their famous apple cider.

Depending on the time of year, the apple cider will taste different.

“Earlier in the season, it’s gonna taste a little more tart just because we have more tart apples that time of year,” Deal said. “So later in the season it will taste a little sweeter.”

A unique feature of Deal’s Orchard is the flower field. This originally started with just sunflowers, until about three years ago, they added zinnias. They’ve found that zinnias are the perfect height for photos and attract tourists of all ages.

Deal’s Orchard is open for about nine months out of the year. Summer is sweet corn and potatoes, fall is pumpkins and apples and winter is Christmas trees.

The flower fields and apple acres are now closed for the season due to the weather, but the apple barn is still open until Dec. 23.

That’s where you can purchase apple cider donuts and other tasty fall treats, along with a gift shop to start your Christmas shopping. Keep an eye out in mid-November when Christmas trees will be available for sale at the farm.

To learn more, their website is here.