Apple picking

Dominique teacher from last year invited us and the cousins back out to her farm to pick apples.  Ivan was so excited since he missed the picking last year (school had already started) and because he was so excited to see cousin Kellen.

It's surprising how much can get picked in such a short time with so many helpers.  This year didn't seem near as difficult as last.  I spent one evening cutting and freezing some and another morning with Mrs MacPherson's applesauce tool and a house full of kids (mine and the neighbors- who thought it was totally amazing to be making applesauce- they loved the smells and tastes and ate applesauce all day!)

I was seeing that we had more than enough for us, so I also got to pass along some apples and share the joy.  I remember last year when our neighbor shared tomatoes with us and thinking he'd just given us gold on a platter!  The veggies just taste so much better from the garden.  I have been really surprised by how much.  Dominique is eating the carrots straight out of the garden.  I'm not a huge fan of green beans, but the garden ones taste amazing, the tomatoes are incredible too.  One thing I don't like is trying to keep up with it all and where to put it and today- the kids and I were getting totally grossed out picking little green caterpillars off the broccoli we had harvested.  There were so many! and they are hard to see and to remove- ugh.  But the broccoli does taste so much better and I really hope we don't get any extra protein in the deal!

After apple picking, the kids got to ride a horse (Ivan didn't want to) and have treats Mrs MacPherson had made.

They held the horse and when the realized he wanted to eat...

They held the rope down low to help out.  Such good little ranchers.

Mrs MacPherson then told them all about taking care of horses (they just retired from keeping cows and quite miss them- so it was fun for her to tell the kids about the cattle squeeze and fun for them to learn- ok fun for me too!)

The ferrier came that day too, so we watched as she clipped some huge nails!  I've never liked cutting the kids' nails for fear of hurting them, but it could be worse!