Yesterday we took our annual trip to the orchard to pick a half-bushel of our favorite apples for baking pies! Even though it had rained pretty much the entire day on Saturday, the orchards were in beautiful condition on Sunday…which was perfect for the Apple-Butter-Stir Festival at MacQueen’s! If you’ve never been there before you’re in for a treat! On festival day, there’s so much to do…plenty of activities for kids including pony rides, some fun fall shopping, goodies for eating, and of course–apple picking! Even if you missed the festival, you won’t be disappointed when you meander into the rows of twisty apple trees to pick some fresh autumn fruit…followed by a sip of apple cider and a doughnut! It has for years been a favorite family outing…and we now have the picking process mastered like a finely tuned engine! With one boy climbing & one boy catching we can fill a bag in a matter of minutes leaving plenty of time to snap some photos for Christmas cards (often when they’re not looking!) and make a pit-stop at the bakery counter! Once home, we’ll get ready in a day or two to peel the lot and whip up some of my grandma’s apple pie filling to pop in the freezer…a great way to have pies at the ready all year long! Have a peek at our fun…
in the apple orchard!
having the opportunity to head to the orchard yesterday was an unexpected treat…due to the yucky weather on saturday, the baseball fields (yes, i did say baseball–my boys play all year) were unplayable–giving us some extra hours to do as we pleased! it’s one of my favorite places to go…it wouldn’t feel like fall to me if we missed our apple outing!
since we were able to get there early it wasn’t too crowded yet (with the exception of the bakery!) so we went right past the festivities just getting underway and headed straight into the orchard!
i love this orchard…it’s so naturally beautiful!
the gnarly branches of the jonathan apples are my favorite…they look so spooky!
i like to use a mix of apples in my pies…
our bag runneth over…
now we head over to the granny smiths…
and if you don’t feel like pickin…
we can’t leave without some cider…
a couple little pumpkins & gourds…
and maybe a treat…
yum!
stay tuned…i’ll be cookin up some pie filling soon and trying a new twist on my traditional pies!
i can’t wait to get in the kitchen…
after picking a peck…or two!