Adventure with Alex

Sorry for the double post today but we’ve been very busy with Fall activities lately and tonight is the only time I’ve had to blog!

Something about the cooler temperatures and vibrant colors of this season invigorates me, and today we took the advice of a good friend to head to Pietree Orchard in Sweden, Maine for some apple picking fun! A very scenic 45 minute drive from Conway, NH, this farm offers “the rich cidery taste of a long proudly cultivated lineage, the crisp never-fresher bite of fruit right off the tree, and a feast for the heart, soul, and eye.”

Alex was pretty excited this morning as I told him we were going to pick apples from trees. His face lit up, and during the car ride he would sit in his car seat pretending to eat apple slices… it was quite comical. We arrived at the orchards just after noon.

Pietree Orchards

Walking into the quaint country store we were greeted with the smell of fresh cider donuts being made, ripe produce, wood-fired pizza, and a warm welcome from the lady behind the counter. We grabbed a bag of still hot cider donuts and picked up a couple “peck” sized bags for our spoils. Each conventional peck was $10.

Enjoying freshly made cider donuts (still hot)

We headed over to the nearby staging area where a woman let us know what types of apples would be available and how to identify them. They marked the trees with a colored tape to show you the variety.

Flags on trees helped with identification

We then loaded into a tractor wagon much like the one from last week’s trip to Sherman Farms! The view to the north was great!

The view from the tractor ride

A short ride had us to the back of the orchard where a farm hand pointed out the areas that had each variety of apple tree. We headed over to the Cortland’s first.

The very first one picked!

Alex was thrilled to be able to pick and eat an apple from each different type of tree. We spent about 30 minutes roaming around the orchard filling our two peck bags to the brink with a couple different varieties.

This way!

After I eat this

This one looks good

Mommy goes high

Apple paradise

Walking to the Golden Delicious trees

You’ll need to click twice on this next photo to see the full panorama in better detail.

Panorama

Golden Delicious

Another family had come out to pick some pumpkins and graciously took this family shot for us.

Ready to ride back with our pickings

When we go back to the main store we grabbed a couple slices of their brick oven pizza, which was absolutely delicious! We then browsed their produce deciding on some fresh kale and some mixed greens.  On the way home we stopped by Country Side Butchers in Fryeburg and picked up some Chourico so Michelle could make us some Portuguese and Kale Soup tonight!

Great store

Yum!

Cider donuts in the making!

The double rocker

We finished our visit with some fresh cider and headed home. We’re so glad our friends recommended this place and we’ll certainly be returning!

Do you have an orchard nearby? Share your favorite Fall farms in the comments below!