Wednesday the kids and I went to pick apples. Since it was allowed, we tasted our way through the orchard in order to decide what we like best. Snacks knew about all kinds of apples from his recent trip to an orchard with school and decided on Sweet Tango apples which, he said, taste like a banana split...and I have to agree.
I chose Haralsons to take home for both eating and baking and, of course, who could leave an orchard without at least a few Honeycrisps?
We visited the goats and chickens, ate apple cinnamon donuts, and picked out a pumpkin, some gourds, and some Indian corn to take home along with our apples.Thursday we went to Heritage Village for the Harvest Festival where the kids got to visit a museum for old tractors and farm equipment, ride on a horse-drawn trolley, pick an ear of corn right from the field, make corn husk dolls and wooden boats, and do some old-fashioned print-making.
Friday John took the day off and took the kids to Cherokee Park to hunt for fossils where they climbed around in a clay pit and came home soaking wet, filthy, and happy with their pockets full of treasures. (And because John typically refuses to travel with a camera, we will just have to imagine what their fun looked like.)Saturday the big chicken coop project began with John pulling out the old lilac bushes with his old truck and a big chain--a project which included taking apart the back fence and repeatedly running over my poor peony bushes (you can't see them in this picture because, in fact, they are under the truck).
Today the kids and I put our Dowling plot "to bed" for the season while John continued work on the coop. Sissy insisted on driving her car all the way to the garden. Thankfully, it was a gorgeous fall day so Snacks and I didn't mind that the walk had to be leisurely.
We ended the perfect weekend with pastured brats on the grill, chips with homemade salsa, and homemade pumpkin pie the kids and I baked this afternoon.
Life here is good.
