For apple picking.
Which this year also included tomato picking, eggplant picking, and grape eating.
Last weekend, we headed to Barton Orchards located about an hour and 20 minutes north of the city. The name sounds quaint and country like but this place was designed for lots and lots of people. As we entered the property, we learned that not only does Barton Orchards offer apples, but starting in July you can pick just about any fruit and vegetable that can grow in NY State - blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes, corn, beans, zucchini, squash, peppers, eggplant, peaches...and about 20 different varieties of apples.
Now, I didn't even realize that there were so many different varieties of apples until the last few years. Likely because I have never purchased apples that much. Before we had kids, I'd occasionally buy apples and then eat 1 and let the other 3 sit in my fridge for likely weeks eventually tossing them in the garbage. Now, we go through a lot of apples (and bananas, bread, and milk - but today, we'll focus on apples).
We were with good friends on this apple adventure - together we scoped out the varieties that we liked and that were in season and headed to the trees. Probably one of the coolest things about apple picking is that you can eat as many apples as you want while your picking. I realize that the orchard probably doesn't love this, but it's also not something they police. With this orchard, we could taste test apples - which was a very good things because there was a good mix of yummy and really not yummy apples. The other cool thing about this orchard is that apples were within reach - so the kids could pick too without being hoisted by parents.
After we stocked up on apples, we headed back to the main area with a detour in the tomatoes and eggplant. Most of the tomatoes were well beyond their prime though we did find a few good ones. The kids loved the eggplant, but generally gravitated toward the light brown ones which we opted not to keep. While in the tomatoes, the kids found a gigantic caterpillar. After examining it, we kindly returned it to the tomato plants. Back at home, I looked up the caterpillar and found that it was a tomato hornworm. And that these worms can quickly cause a boatload of damage to a tomato crop. Oops.
After all of our harvesting, it was time to play. The kids road in cow cars, drove peddle cars (this isn't the real name, but no idea what they are called - they were something like bigwheels, but taller and on metal frames), and threw baseballs and footballs. The big hit was a big slide made out of black piping. It kept the kids entertained for a while - and let the parents relax a bit.
Finally, we were all spent and headed back to the city to relish in our apples and veggies. Yum Yum.
Which this year also included tomato picking, eggplant picking, and grape eating.
Last weekend, we headed to Barton Orchards located about an hour and 20 minutes north of the city. The name sounds quaint and country like but this place was designed for lots and lots of people. As we entered the property, we learned that not only does Barton Orchards offer apples, but starting in July you can pick just about any fruit and vegetable that can grow in NY State - blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes, corn, beans, zucchini, squash, peppers, eggplant, peaches...and about 20 different varieties of apples.
Now, I didn't even realize that there were so many different varieties of apples until the last few years. Likely because I have never purchased apples that much. Before we had kids, I'd occasionally buy apples and then eat 1 and let the other 3 sit in my fridge for likely weeks eventually tossing them in the garbage. Now, we go through a lot of apples (and bananas, bread, and milk - but today, we'll focus on apples).
We were with good friends on this apple adventure - together we scoped out the varieties that we liked and that were in season and headed to the trees. Probably one of the coolest things about apple picking is that you can eat as many apples as you want while your picking. I realize that the orchard probably doesn't love this, but it's also not something they police. With this orchard, we could taste test apples - which was a very good things because there was a good mix of yummy and really not yummy apples. The other cool thing about this orchard is that apples were within reach - so the kids could pick too without being hoisted by parents.
After we stocked up on apples, we headed back to the main area with a detour in the tomatoes and eggplant. Most of the tomatoes were well beyond their prime though we did find a few good ones. The kids loved the eggplant, but generally gravitated toward the light brown ones which we opted not to keep. While in the tomatoes, the kids found a gigantic caterpillar. After examining it, we kindly returned it to the tomato plants. Back at home, I looked up the caterpillar and found that it was a tomato hornworm. And that these worms can quickly cause a boatload of damage to a tomato crop. Oops.
After all of our harvesting, it was time to play. The kids road in cow cars, drove peddle cars (this isn't the real name, but no idea what they are called - they were something like bigwheels, but taller and on metal frames), and threw baseballs and footballs. The big hit was a big slide made out of black piping. It kept the kids entertained for a while - and let the parents relax a bit.
Finally, we were all spent and headed back to the city to relish in our apples and veggies. Yum Yum.
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