An Apple a Day

Last week, Lincoln and I snuck away without Jackson (he was in school) to go to the apple orchard. My MOMS club here in Nashville had set up a farm tour about an hour away. I was pretty excited to spend some alone time with Lincoln and not have my attention diverted by my little kindergartner. I'm certain Lincoln enjoyed the time spent on only him!

We arrived at the farm under less than desirable conditions. I knew it was rainy and prepared by donning the rain boots but when we left Nashville, it was only slightly chilly. When we arrived, the wind had picked up and it was downright COLD. It was great for putting us int he fall spirit but blankets were not on the packing list and we were going on a hayride.

First we spent a little time discussing good ol' Johnny Apple Seed. We colored his picture and giggled about the pot he wore on his head. Did you know legends have it that in an effort to conserve his shoes, he went barefoot in the summers? There is also a legend that he was bitten by a snake and it wasn't able to bit through his tough foot skin. They may be tall tales but they are sure fun to imagine.

The sweet lady at the farm went to her house and brought back a large stack of blankets for us to use on our frigid hayride. Lincoln really enjoyed this part. All wrapped up in mommy's lap, we were pulled by a tractor through the fields and got a glimpse of the cows! We all know how much Lincoln adores COWS! We learned about the different kinds of apples they grow and saw a few of the local bee hives.

Back at the apple store, we started an apple craft. We color at home and occasionally play with play doh but Lincoln is still a little young for organized crafts. Besides, Lincoln has his own way of doing things, he doesn't like to be told how to do it. I'm afraid this may not be a result of age but more of a personality flaw trait. We were making a pig out of a little green apple. We used gumdrops for legs and a nose, fruit roll up triangles for ears, cloves for eyes and nostrils and the pigs tail was to be the stem of the apple. As we tried to replicate it, Lincoln decided that one of the feet NEEDED to go on the top of the apple, then the eyes needed to be adjusted a bit. You can see below how it went over when I tried to explain to him to do it correctly. He was might proud when I finally let him do it his way. Maybe it was a mutant pig.

Next, the farmer showed us the old fashioned way to make apple cider with a hand crank and a bushel of bruised apples. It was cool to see how it chopped the apples coarsely then the simple machine pressed the juice out the bottom into a bucket. It smelled heavenly and it tasted even better. Clear, store bought apple juice has nothing on freshly made cider. It was sweet and good. Lincoln ended up asking for several more cups of it and he got it, using his "sweet face!"

While most of the good apples are picked as they ripen to deter birds and pests, there were a few to be picked off the tree. Lincoln took the liberty to pick them, good or bad. We explained to him that those were bad apples and he toted 3 of them back to the lady at the store, all along the way he chanted "bad bapple" to them. Yeah, Lincoln knows a thing or two about bad apples. Some days, I'd say he is one himself. But not this day, he was too darn cute!