A Trip to the Orchard

Fall is my favorite season for so many reasons: the first whisper of cool, crisp air, enormous harvests from the garden, the warm, earthy colors of the leaves as they change, making soup for the first time since spring, and last but not least....apples. There's something so delightfully simple and pure about an apple. I can't think of anything else I would rather eat in the fall than a crisp, juicy, slightly tart-slightly sweet apple.

And even though we've been busy eating the apples given to us by my parents (and we still have plenty of apples to get through yet), I really wanted to take a family outing to the Collegeville Orchard to enjoy all things fall, and in particular, apples. I had never been to the Collegeville Orchard before, even though I spent four years of my life driving by it each day as I traveled from the St. Ben's campus to St. John's.

What a local treasure the orchard is! With weather this perfect and an atmosphere that quaint, we couldn't go wrong today. Between the pumpkin patch, the petting zoo, the massive hay bails, the tractors, and the local musicians, I felt like we were walking through the pages of Minnesota Monthly magazine. The day truly was picturesque. Eli loved the animals, and he was also quite excited to paint a pumpkin, although his attention span for painting was about 2 minutes long. Ainsley, on the other hand, is a little too young to really appreciate the orchard, but I'm hoping to make this a yearly tradition, and next year will be her year to feed the llamas and the goats.

It was nice knowing that we were supporting a local farm and business. As I write this blog post, I am sipping some delicious apple cider and basking in the warm memories from the day.....




Our little pumpkin, Ainsley!


These guys were playing some folk music, perfect for this beautiful fall day...


This kid loves tractors!


So, this is not the best family portrait, but it's tough to get everyone looking and smiling at the camera at the same time!