Saturday, September 17, 2011

Appleberry Farm

Some friends from Caleb's work invited us to go apple picking with them this weekend. I haven't been apple picking since I was a kid, and this was a fun way to get my reluctant self used to the idea of fall. Four types of apples were available for picking this weekend: Cortland, Macintosh, Empire, and Jonathan. We stuck around for lunch: cider infused brats with apple onion relish on hearty buns. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable way to spend a Saturday. Appleberry Farm is open on the weekends for PYO (pick your own) and would be a great place to take kids.


Caleb getting a high up one. This picture reminds me of a book I had as a child that had to do with Tom Thumb.  Anyone remember it? Mom? It was kind of I spy ish and had lots of fruits. "Each peach, pear, plumb, I spy Tom Thumb." It was that book. 

Took this one for my brother. I'd pick him any day. 

Beehives-- you don't get apples without bees. This was the first stop on our hay ride around the orchard. We learned a lot about bees-- the lifespan of a bee in the summer time is nine weeks. The queen bee has to lay 1,000 eggs every day during the summer to get the numbers of the hive up to 50,000-70,000 bees. 

I really liked the guy who gave us the tour/hay ride. He was very knowledgeable and told us all kinds of interesting things about apples. For instance, I had no idea that they could change the roots of the trees. They can graft the tree to certain kinds of roots to make it dwarf-sized and that's better for air circulation and reaching the apples. They can engineer roots to be hardy for the winter, too. 

Map of the farm. 

They also had a couple of pear trees! I will definitely be going back to pick these when they are ready, especially after looking at the slideshow of fall desserts on the Better Homes and Gardens website. A lot of them use pears.  

Apple donuts. Yum. 

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