It’s just so cold and blustery and blah here that all I can accomplish today is hiding under blankets and reflecting on warmer days of the past. While I do get great joy out of stick my freezing feet onto unsuspecting passer-by that can only get me so far. Instead, I look back to cheery fall and remember the encounter I had in northern Massachusetts on a kitschy and charming farm.
Apple picking is so. New. England. That is, if you’re a girlfriend who spends too much time on Pinterest and feel you NEED to drag your poor boyfriend to an orchard. Or, if you are a parent with easily amused children (what child ISN’T easily amused?) that have slight ADHD tendencies who want to blow off some steam by running around an orchard.
But why can’t just a couple of twenty-something gals also grab a cider donut and haul home a hundred pounds of apples?! We decided to break through the stereotypes and have a mini trip adventure to Cider Hill Farms in Amesbury last October after a Zorbing plan went awry. No worries, we went with plan B and ended up at this apple picking paradise, complete with bee hives for honey, flowers, a corn field, general store and even a few strawberries left over from the summer. Oh and those crack donuts, AKA fresh and hot cider donuts from heaven.
Is is proper to spell donut like that, or must it be doughnuts?! Has Dunkin’ Donuts ruined my spelling so bad that I think this is grammatically acceptable? Anyway I digress.
This farm had every type of apple under the sun, which we sampled (for science!) until I thought I might go into a diabetic coma. Yes we did get a few odd stares on the hayride from families and couples wondering if we were in some weird lesbian polygamous situation, but other than that it was a blast.
I was high on apple hunting and didn’t get as many photos as I wanted, but here’s a few of the scenery. I love visiting farms in general, so I think I’m going to make an effort to experience more nature next time I get to Europe, South America, wherever. Is apple picking only a thing in the northeast? Can you do this elsewhere in the world?
Gorgeous photos! Glad you had fun apple picking. And yes, you are absolutely right that this is so New England. I was surprised that my seventh-grader’s class went apple picking last fall, but apparently their teacher though that was a good connection-building exercise (it’s a new school for all of the kids.) Personally, I prefer strawberry- and blueberry picking. Apples, meh? Not so much.