Hello everyone,
Just as I promised, here are the pictures and notes from our morning of apple picking.
We have wanted to do this since the first day we arrived, so last night we made plans to head out after going to an early Mass. We found a 7:30AM Mass (I think I am becoming more like Dad as I get older), which was in the basement/crypt of
St. Columnbkille Parish. He was an Irish monk and if memory serves me, started many monasteries which helped save many great works of literature during the "dark ages" (protestant term).
A second, and probably stronger motive, to heading for an orchard was the prospect of "cider do(ugh)nuts." I ate one of these with Heather when I visited Philadelphia in the fall of 2006 (right around when Thomas was born), and I have been wanting more ever since. Regina's co-workers have also been raving about them, especially since they only come out this time of year. This part of our quest met with success as well.
God was kind to us concerning the weather: it was a high of 62, but when we arrived it was around 55. With our wool sweaters, this did not feel too bad at all, and it made for perfect driving weather through the wooded, country-esque roads of Massachusetts.
We arrived a little after 10:00am, and the parking field was already filling up with vehicles. After buying our 10lb apple bag, we set out into the orchard. There was a sign that said to grab a ladder so that we could get the largest, juiciest apples, so Regina promptly tossed one over each shoulder and headed off into the deepest part of the orchard (read: Dan got a ladder and maneuvered over the heads of lots of little children and short Bostonians).
Of the three kind of apples available to us, McIntosh, Spartan, and Courtland, we decided that we should focus mainly on the latter two. We knew that we could buy McInt's in the store, so we didn't want to pick too many of those. This didn't take us more than 30 minutes, so by 11:00 we were back at the Orchard store, ready to buy "us some do(ugh)nuts."
We were treated to a little bit of New England manners when we asked one of the workers, "Are the hamburgers and hot dogs available now?" His answer was, "NO....(waiting).......(waiting more)....."
Me: "...when?"
Him: "Whenever we get the grill ready...11:30, maybe 12:00."
We decided we should wait a little bit, so we meandered around until we noticed the "farm animals." Regina seemed rather excited, but since I was already quite familiar with farm animals, I was not. However, I didn't have any strong objection to it, so we toured the small area and saw goats, a duck, chickens in a smaller coop than Mom's, and three pigs. The pig houses were great: One was of straw, the other was of stick, and the third was of brick. There was even a cutout of a
Canis lupus next to the pig houses.
After our short tour, we decided to head inside the store to see what we could find. They had some very interesting wares, including fresh apple and pumpkin butter, Apple Blossom Honey, fresh tomatoes, peaches, pears and (you guessed it) apples. They were also selling hot, fresh apple cider, so we grabbed a cup each, a small crate of pears, a gallon of chilled cider, and one cider dozen do(ugh)nuts. We decided not to wait around for the grill, and headed straight for the car. What followed was a leisurely drive through the hilly, wooded roads back into the city, during which we enjoyed the hot cider, and 1 or 3 of the cider do(ugh)nuts.
Now, we are just about to enjoy some hot 17 Bean and Barley soup, and afterwards we will probably snack on a cider do(ugh)nut and apple cider.
A small review of the cider do(ugh)nuts:
The do(ugh)nuts were not very "cider-y" tasting, but they were very good. This orchard was very large and commercialized in a sense, and one reviewer on the internet called it the "Disneyland of orchards." Thus, I think they may be using their reputation and prestige to sell regular do(ugh)nuts branded as cider do(ugh)nuts, thinking that no one will know the difference. We intend to try several small operations in the next month or so to see if we can find a better specimen.
P.s. We also saw but did not go in a hedge maze:
