Thursday, October 23, 2008

A Trip to the Apple Orchard

It is apple season so what better to do then go apple picking. We went to Orchard Home Farm which is located about 15 minutes north of Brantford. We have picked apples there for 3 years now and they always have quality apples that are very large and at a reasonable price. On this outing we picked 30lbs of apples with equal amounts of Northern Spy, Cortland & McIntosh apples. We will probably go back in the next week or two to pick 50lbs more which should be enough to last through the winter/spring months.

It is nice to get out of the city and visit u-pick farms. It brings you in contact with where food comes from and makes you realize that produce is actually seasonal. It is also nice that it is at its peak of freshness.

Here are some photo's I took well there:









There honey bee's. This is located on the side of there barn right by
the front registers. The black pipe is the entrance so you can observe the
bee's without disturbing there activity. They have been really active
in previous years but this time it has been cold so they were not
moving much.

10 comments:

  1. Those trees in the background of the first picture were beautiful. The bee hive was very interesting! I've never thought about anyone doing that....I'm guessing that you make apple sauce, apple butter with all of those apples? Mabye even freeze some for apple pies? Great pics...thanks for sharing!

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  2. It looks like such a lovely day. Is that Boston Ivy growing up the tower? Sure has pretty color.

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  3. EG - Yeah the bee's kind of freak you out at first and with all the allergy problems you would think it would be a bit of a liability. Most of the apples will be just eaten and I make apple pies too. I like to make up a few at a time, freeze them unbaked and then bake them as needed.

    tina - You guessed correct, it is a Boston Ivy. It has a little bit of purple in it, it was really pretty. I want to plant Boston Ivy on my shed next year, it is one of those vinyl sheds they sell at HD. The no maintenance idea is nice but it sure doesn't look so nice.

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  4. It was a nice day....love the large apples you get picking them ourselves..Great photos... you got ... :)

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  5. Hi, your pictures show such a fun day! I found you from Tina's blog. I was wondering how you store the apples to last the winter. Your garlic looks great by the way. I just ordered some that I hope comes quickly so I can get it in the ground.

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  6. cindy - I'm in a 1 3/4 story house that has good sized storage area's in the eves/attic. I store apple there, it is insulated but not heated so it remains about the temperature of a fridge or colder from late fall to early spring.

    Being in an century old home it is easy to find storage places, I could probably store them in the kitchen cupboards in the middle of winter. If you have a more modern home it can be difficult to find storage place with the best place probably being the fridge. They are best stored from 0c(32f) to 4c(39f) with 90% humidity.

    Thanks for visiting my blog!

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  7. Beautiful pictures Dan! Today I picked the last apple off my last producing apple tree for the season. :(

    Sandy

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  8. What a beautiful place to be! How completely awesome! So many beautiful photos and apples--makes me yummy for one now.. :-)

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  9. sandy - Your so lucky to have your own apple trees!

    DP - welcome back, it is a really nice farm. I'd like a farm like it one day.

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  10. We had fresh warm apple cider while in Williamsburg, VA last week! It was so yummy and hit the spot for a cool tourist...

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