Apple-goodness

The kids and I took a trip to a local apple orchard today. We have our standard one that we go to each fall where we pick Jonagold apples. We've always been happy with the results - but this year we decided to try something new...

The orchard today was fabulous and well-worth the trip. Maybe this will become our new favorite orchard to go to each year!

They allow visitors to take "self-guided tours" of the farm, using golf carts. Great fun, if you ask the kids. We puttered around the farm, between the rows and rows of apples, checking out the outbuildings and the picking operation.

On our golf cart tour, we discovered some beautiful horses. Very tempting to feed them an apple or two, but the sign said not to.

More rows of apples...

The only bad part about this orchard is that they don't have any u-pick available. Let me tell ya, it was hard to resist as we went between the rows. I had to hold Henry back! :-)

At one point, we came upon all these huge crates... Hmmm?Then we came upon more crates, which were full. Of apples, of course! Aren't they beautiful? I read that they have over 25,000 trees and harvest 1.4 million tons of fruit each year.
After we got back to the main barn, we checked out the "packing shed" where they pack over 200,000 lbs of fruit a year. A big conveyor belt with boxes ready to be loaded up.

Then we took a look at the "juice parlor" where they make fresh pressed cider. I've had this orchard's cider many times before as we buy it each year from our local grocery store. It's incredibly good. We also took a peek at the kitchen where they were busy making apple pies, apple turnovers, cookies, etc.. In the store, we bought 2 of the apple turnovers and they were so wonderful. Apple-goodness!

We also tasted the varieties of apples they have on the farm. Johnamac (Johanthan and Macintosh), Gravenstein (nice and tart for pie), Honeycrisp (my favorite), Gala, Jonagold, and Tsugaru (this is a "Japanese gourmet dessert apple" - very sweet and wonderful). We ended up buying some Honeycrisp and Tsugaru. There are several other varieties they have available at different times of the season - this is still considered "early season." We might have to make another trip in a few weeks!