Windy Brow Farms

The Story Behind Windy Brow Farms

The first fruit trees at Windy Brow Farms went into the ground in 1920, planted by the Inslee family on the breezy ridge in Fredon Township that gives the farm its name. The land had run as a dairy since the late 1800s, but after a barn fire in the 1940s the family turned fully to fruit and built one of the first retail fruit farms in Sussex County. Jim and Linda Hunt bought the roughly 130-acre farm in 2000, and Windy Brow Farms has since become a favorite stop in northwestern New Jersey for apples, ice cream, and fresh-baked everything.

What Windy Brow Grows and Bakes

The orchard runs deep, with roughly 4,000 apple trees and 3,000 peach trees spread across the property. Windy Brow grows more than 45 apple varieties along with peaches, nectarines, plums, and cherries through the season. In fall, pick-your-own apples and scenic wagon rides down to the lower orchards draw families from across Sussex County apple picking and beyond, and there is no admission, parking, or per-pound fee to pick.

The Bakery and Farm Market

The farm store is where most first visits begin. Apple cider donuts come out warm, and the counter fills with artisan breads, pies, pastries, and jars of local honey and jam. It is a proper Sussex County farm markets stop, with seasonal produce stacked by the door.

Ice Cream, Bread and Cider Donuts

Cow’s Brow Creamery

Jake started the creamery in 2013 to bring hand-churned 14 percent butterfat ice cream to Sussex County, after building and managing an ice creamery at the University of Delaware. Madagascar vanilla, dark chocolate, mint chip and salty caramel stay on the board year round, while the rest of the flavors turn over every week or so. Vegan options are built on a pea protein, oat milk and coconut cream base.

The Bakery

Bread is baked from scratch Wednesday through Sunday, with French country, baguettes and focaccia midweek and seven grain, einkorn sourdough and seeded sourdough added on weekends. Pies come out primarily on weekends, and the apple cider donuts run Wednesday to Sunday starting in early summer. The donut reputation around here is not one we’re going to argue with.

Pizza Nights and Pick Your Own

The wood-fired kitchen fires most Fridays and Sundays from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. through mid-October, running counter service on a first come, first served basis, with takeout available if you order in person. The oven burns oak and ash logs from the farm, and the seating looks out over rolling pasture and the old barn.Apple picking typically opens the first weekend in September and runs into late October, with no admission fee, no parking fee and no per pound charge, just the bag.

Worth knowing this year: an April freeze hit the 2026 crop hard, and the farm expects an abbreviated pick your own season. Call before you plan the trip. It pairs well with a morning at Kittatinny Valley State Park, and it belongs on any short list of Sussex County farms and orchards.

Visiting the Farm

There is no indoor dining at Windy Brow Farms. Tables sit outside under a gazebo with picnic tables beyond it, the policy is BYO, and on good evenings live music plays while the orchard glows behind you. The open-air kitchen centers on a dome pizza oven fired with oak and ash logs from the farm, turning out wood-fired pies alongside the ice cream. Dogs are welcome on the property and in the fields, just not inside the farm store or under the pizza pergola. Parking is right on the farm, and the ridge-top setting makes a sunset over the apple rows part of the deal on a warm evening. Farm dinners run on select evenings into the fall, an easy pairing with a day of other Sussex County ice cream shops and back-roads exploring.