Visiting the Apple Orchard

Today we finished up our apple week with a visit to an apple orchard. We went with our co-op group, so it was a "real" field trip with the demonstrations/tours and everything. Our group was huge, with more than eighty people. Usually our groups are much smaller, like thirty or less, but I guess since apple orchards are not just for certain ages it drew more of a crowd. Anyway, they started us at they apple tasting table (yay!- I was hungry). We sampled Granny Smith, Winesap, and Golden Delicious. SweetPea liked them all, but I think she liked the Granny Smith the best because it was so crisp. I liked the Winesap the best because it was a "fuller" taste, like it would keep me full longer I mean. And it was sweet without being overly sweet.
After we had sampled the apples, they moved us to the building where they wash, sort, and pack the apples. We got to see the different equipment they use in those processes. They were actually quite basic machines.
Time for more sampling! We moved back outside to the sampling table, this time we gathered 'round the cider maker. This year the cider maker had an electric motor so it went much faster, but the children were disappointed that they didn't get to turn the crank to help make the cider. They didn't mind too awful much since they still got to taste the cider!
After sampling the cider, we passed out apple sacks and let the kids loose in the orchard to try their hand at picking apples. The orchard had already been well picked so we mostly had them point to the apples they wanted and we reached up and picked the apples for them. (No ladders here of course) We did let them pick some of the overripe ones on the lower branches, just so they could get a feel of what apple picking is like.
Time for a hayride! I didn't know they were going to do a hayride, but it was a nice surprise. SweetPea loves hayrides (I'm glad she's not allergic to hay!). After the hayride we had a picnic lunch at the orchard and then headed home. What a fun way to end the week. I think I want to make apple crisp tomorrow!