A YEARLY TRADITION.Going to the apple orchard, that is. Its hard to believe its that time of year again! Apples, pumpkins, donuts, cider--a day out in the country.

This place is about our favorite, although there are dozens of orchards around. This particular one is busy, but not so over crowded that all you do is walk elbow to elbow with hundreds of others, like a few other places we've been. Each place has its own unique activites and specialties, but they all seem to have the best apples, cider, and donuts.

Every year, there is a batch of kittens. I don't know where they go once they are grown, but they are always in abundance.
And of course, each year they have new ducklings. So cute!


And then there were the baby goats this year. Also very cute as they frolicked around, begging for treats.

And then there were the rabbits. The kids actually have a rabbit just like this, a Himalayan. You can always tell when cold weather is coming because its nose and ears turn dark. In the summer months, they are almost white or a very pale gray.

And one of those "fun" kid activities--milking the cardboard cow. You can tell he's thrilled.

And no photo op is complete without the farmer and his wife cardboard cutout pic. (Again, thrilled, you can tell.)
Now this looks like fun! A ride around the orchard in the moo train.


Then it was out in the pumpkin patch to find that perfect pumpkin.

And finally, the best part of the day, donuts and cider!

We were also able to buy fresh produce right down the road from there--sweet corn, peaches, tomatoes, green beans, pears, etc. You could also have picked a peck of peppers if you were so inclined, since they had bushels and bushels of every kind of pepper you could imagine! I've never seen that many or that many varieites at one time.

And the best part of this time of year is baking those pies, cobblers, and muffins with all the delicious fresh picked produce. Last night it was a peach cobbler. Yum. Soon it will be apple pies and anything else I can come up with for apples,pears, and plums.

I'm off now to go look for some good recipes.