Fall Harvest (and a new blog)

I realized at some point last week that good fall apple picking would soon be coming to an end, and that we hadn't been yet! That was a sad realization, one that I knew needed to be remedied quickly if we wanted any good apples. Learned out lesson last year and waited until early October only to find many orchards were completely picked out.

I found a most awesome family owned place just about 30 minutes from us called Heinz Orchard. My husband had a few things that he had to get done today, so the three kids and I decided to trek off on our own. What was I thinking?! No, honestly it was all good and fine and lots of fun. L of course had to pee within minutes of arrival and there were no bathrooms or port-o-pottys around. But that was our only crisis miraculously. This place was as basic as it could get, a little table where they took your cash and gave you a bag. Honestly I'll go again and again, it's totally worth it if you are in the area. No gimmicks that will cost you a fortune and leave your kids begging for even more rides, just good old fashioned apple picking fun.

L and D had a blast trying to work the apple picking sticks (the long things with the bag and loop at the end to get the really high up ones), A sat in the stroller and munched on tiny apple bits that I broke off for her and I supervised and picked a few. The time flew far too quickly and we left with a peck of apples that included Golden Delicious, a lunchbox favorite at our house, and Empire for all my baking needs. I also found that they had a few pear trees on the property that they were more than happy to have picked so we got a half peck of pears as well!

L tends to enjoy his apples all the way down to the seeds and D ate her fair share as well. No worries though, I think we'll have enough to last for at least a week!