apple picking and an apple cider fest

Liesl and I went apple picking at Bell's Orchard on Friday the 26th. They prune the trees so that they are very short - the apples are low enough for toddlers to pick! It was great. It was so great, in fact, that we came home with 27 lbs of honeycrisp apples.  27!

So far I've made baked oatmeal with apples; apple cheddar cobbler; apple oatmeal muffins; apple, carrot, raisin, and walnut muffins; and a French apple cake.  We've also had chunky applesauce, kale and chard salads with apples, apples in pb sandwiches, apples in our oatmeal, braised apples with cabbage, quinoa pilaf with apples and celery... 

I've still got another apple cake to come, and butternut squash & apple soup...

On Saturday afternoon we drove to Champoeg State Park to join our friends Mary and Rowan, Yomari and Milo and Kate, for an apple cider festival.  We got to watch them pressing the apples for cider, and then taste some - it was so fresh and tasty.

 

 

This storyteller captivated Sebastian for a really long time.

And the always fun-to-see apple eating contest! Eat an apple on a string without using your hands.  Rowan tried so hard. It was adorable.