Monday, September 24, 2012

Apple orchard fun, and Madeline's secret surprise!

Today we set out to the northern subs to visit All Seasons Apple orchard. While I hope that we get to go to at least one more this fall we all had a wonderful day. Because of late frosts up here this past April not many orchards are letting folks in at all. All Seasons has lots of activities outside the orchard but we wanted simple, autumn fun. So, we skipped the bouncy houses and pumpkin shooters and took the wagon ride to the orchard. I love this age with the kids! Madeline automatically became a detective (just like Fancy Nancy: Super Sleuth, a beginning chapter book we're reading together) and we were her detective team; the mystery? Where had all the apples gone? We talked about the frost, how the tree leaves colors changed, how they hadn't gotten enough moisture and were "crunchy", and roamed the tree lined paths. At the start of the orchard they had labeled bins where we "picked" our apples from since the trees production was lower this year. Some folks made me laugh since they thought that meant the orchard bought the apples elsewhere. Not true! These were definitely fresh off the trees it was just their way to ration apples and make their season last.
The whole time Madeline talked about how her bag of apples was to make a secret surprise! She got this from Apples, Apples, Apples by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. A favorite book in our home this time of year. So when we made it home we got cooking! I diced the apples, Madeline and Benjamin put them in a pot, Madeline measured the maple agave, I added water and we waited as the apartment filled with a delicious aroma. Then she stirred and stirred some more. A quick round with the emulsion blender and we've got 8 pre-filled snacks for the week of very fresh and yummy....APPLESAUCE! :-)

I can't wait for more fall fun! The chill in the air, the crunch of freshly fallen leaves and the joyous laugher of a child's discovery makes this my favorite season of all!