Blogtoberfest, Day 22
It was bound to happen, I missed blogging on Day 20 & 21… a busy weekend, full with a baby shower, family visiting from out of state, necessity shopping (Halloween is almost here, you know), fabric dyeing, laundry… sadly, no sewing. But I made a pumpkin pie (which is what I ate for breakfast today, incidentally).
Every Fall, while we were growing up, we went to an acreage called “the Pumpkin Farm” and climbed on hay bales, took pictures of their cleverly painted and decorated pumpkin “people”, and picked out a pumpkin for each of us kids to carve into a jack-o-lantern.
I haven’t bought any pumpkins for carving, yet, but we did visit an orchard recently, and bought a supply of apples that made their way into pies, applesauce, and some apple cookies. All long since devoured but throughly enjoyed.
We visited this orchard for the first time three years ago on a cold, rainy, dark, Sunday afternoon; since then it has grown by leaps and bounds. They have a new metal building that serves as the main store, complete with coffee shop and bakery:
They have activities for children, but we didn’t take any little ones with us, so we just explored the grounds and the store. Their landscaping is lovely, complete with Iowa agricultural themes (my Dad-who worked at John Deere for 40 years-would be so proud!):
Here is another garden… I wish I had that bike–in restored condition, of course!
The antiques they have collected and displayed are fun as well. One of my faves, is this old wringer washing machine (I remember my Mom washing clothes on a wringer machine in our basement in 1975–can you imagine?!?) Mom’s was slightly more modern looking than this:
And the bathroom signs were quite fun:
We decided next year, we might have to visit here with some of the nieces and nephews and eventually bring sweetie’s grand-baby (expected in December) here, so we can enjoy the kid-centric activities.
Autumn is, by far, my favorite time of the year. It’s been an uncharacteristically warm one here in Iowa (not surprising considering the furnace we barely tolerated living in most of this Summer). The leaves are now past peak, but this was a shot I took on a walk last week:
Do you visit an orchard or a pumpkin patch in the autumn?
Did you as a child? Or when your children were little?
Yes, my mother had one of those wringer machines, bought it new when she was torked at the new fangled one she’d gotten years before. When everyone else got a washer and wasn’t there to help her wash clothes, she bought another automatic. Oh my pinched fingers. Love your picture, I miss the pumpkin patch with the little ones.
One of my favorite memories was apple picking at the orchard in the fall. us kids would climb the trees and throw down the apples to adults and we’d put them in buckets, bags, etc. Apples are the best fresh from the tree… They’re more “gooder”
Beautiful pictures. Today is the first day it seems like fall–rainy and cool. Love it.