I know it's been quite a while since my last post, but as is customary here in the Midwest at this time of year, the weather has been pretty icky and on top of that, I contracted a lovely cold that kept me from even thinking about being in front of or behind the camera. However, yesterday turned it all around! I have been wanting to go apple picking for the past few fall seasons and yesterday we finally went! My mom, sister, aunt, two cousins and I made our way to Hillcrest Orchards for the most perfect fall day I could've ever imagined. In the few hours that we were there, we took a hayride, picked over thirty pounds of apples (and gobbled up a few), got pretty lost in a corn maze, meandered through the pumpkin patches, and had a whole bunch of family fun!
It was the most wonderful of days to do it. After suffering through the bipolar weather tendencies of Northeast Ohio, we had a gorgeous, sunny, crisp fall day. The land seemed to stretch forever; no wonder we needed to take a hayride to get to the apples! There were a ton of families out, mostly with little kids, all enjoying the great weather and taking advantage of all that this beautiful farm had to offer. While apple picking was our main event, the pumpkin patch is another point of interest at this farm, with a huge selection of great Jack O' Lantern material and fall decorations for days.
We loved Hillcrest! The land was so pretty and spacious. Even though I'm really a city girl, sometimes I love getting out in the country and breathing in all that fresh air. Plus, being a Midwesterner, you have to take some time every now and then to embrace your inner country child. Hillcrest has so many activities and being there was so much fun! They even have a market where they sell their fresh made apple butter, cider, and salsa! It's great for the little ones, too. They had play areas, a smaller hay maze, and pedal karts. They really have something for everyone, and we all had such a blast! We will definitely be bringing Charlie back at some point.
We spent a good hour or two in the orchard, sampling the different delicious apples. They had a large variety, from Red Delicious to other kinds I'd never heard of before, such as Empire. They were each a little different, and we got a great medley! I know that alongside my pumpkin obsession, I'm about to look for creative recipes that call for apples. My mom, sister, and I filled a 20 lb bag to the max, and we ended up with around 50 apples! My aunt and cousins filled a 10 lb bag for them to take home, and between the six of us, we probably ate about a dozen. It's so great that at Hillcrest, they let you eat as many apples as you want while you're out in the orchard. It gave us the opportunity to taste each one so that we knew exactly what we were picking. We got some specifically for baking, some for applesauce, and then of course some to just eat by themselves.
Olivia has already made two pies with a few of them, and I plan on trying my hand at an allergy-friendly pie. That means gluten, dairy, and egg-free crust! I'll let you know how that goes. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying our wonderful fresh apples and the memories that we made getting them. Even though this may be the last year I live at home, I'm hoping I'll be able to come back from time to time and go apple picking with my family :)
Have you ever been apple picking? What was your experience?
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