Apples and Cider, and Pears Oh My!

   Fall offers some season neat things we look
forward to every year.
   One of them is visiting any number of the
Apple Orchards in our area which have come
to realize that their produce, coupled with a
few simple attractions can bring out their
small farms into tourist destinations!
   We stopped by one on Sunday and were
lucky to find a place to park!
    You can stop any weekday at this time of
the year for apples, cider, pears, pies, pumpkins,
and donuts. I'm always tempted to get some
of each.
    But on weekends the place looks more
like an amusement park that an apple orchard.
    There are horse and pony rides, a sort of
petting zoo, hay stacked up in an outdoor
shed with tunnels for the kids to crawl
through.
     There's a corn maze. These have become
a popular draw at a lot of farms over the
past ten years or so.
      As I've already mentioned in a previous
blog I generally stay out. They all remind me
of "The Shining"  and I'm convinced Jack
Nicholson is in there somewhere waiting
for me.
     And talk about innovations,....this
particular farm has set up a large
sling shot that's planted in the ground.
     For a couple of bucks the kids get
to take the smaller, un-salable apples
and launch them into a field (or take
out a crow or two!).
     There's an old song called "How
you going to keep them down on the
farm!?"  We found it hard to get the
grand kids away from this one.
    Fall can really be fun around
these parts......as long as you stay
out of the field right in front of the
sling shot!
    Hope all you apples are ripe
and that all your NEWS is good!