family adventure to the apple orchard!

(Ok, I can't stand it anymore. I'm trying my hardest to catch up on blogging, but I just can't!! And it's killing me to not post things that are taking place NOW b/c I'm trying to catch up on things that took place months ago!! So, I'm posting today! And I'll keep playing catch-up when I can.) :)

We had such a fun day today! We got up, ate cinnamon rolls on the back porch with the cool almost-fall-like temps, packed a picnic lunch, and headed up to Morganton. We found this super cool apple orchard and decided to take the kids! It was a blast! When we got there, the tractor was getting ready to head out for the first tour of the day, so we quickly bought our tickets and hopped on board! It was so beautiful to see the mountains and the apple trees that seemed to go on for ever! It was also pretty cool to hear how they actually run an orchard. The farmer got up and spoke for a few minutes. On of the coolest things we learned was that in the springtime, he mail orders honeybees and they bring them into the orchard to take care of all the pollination so that the fruit will grow. They bring in one hive (which has about 40,000 bees!) per ACRE!!! My question: "how do you get the bees OUT of the orchard once their "job" is done?!" He said they move them at night after they all go back into the hive....and they have to move them at least 3 miles away or they will get confused and come right back to those trees!! Who knew?! 6th grade science lesson coming full circle. Love it.





After the tractor ride, we loaded up in a wagon and headed out in the orchard. We started with the golden delicious trees and then headed over to get some jonagolds and some galas. Reilly kept saying, "daddy/mommy, isn't this so fun?!" It was a lot of fun :)



When we filled our 1/2 bushel basket, we had a picnic lunch and then of course we had to check out the orchard's store! We decided that the homemade fried apple pies and the homemade apple cider donuts, as well as their Apple Hill Orchard apple cider (YUM!!!!!) were a must. We also brought home some apple butter to try out!



When we got home, we baked an apple cake and then made apple baskets, complete with carmel and sticks, to share with the neighbors!! I may or may not have printed out cute little cards with Psalm 17:8 on them "Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings" and they may or may not have been on apple patterned paper :) (ok, I did!!).


Looks like we've just started a new tradition :)