From two sweet Fairies and a crazy octopus!  (and the rest of us at the orchard of course!)

Next up on the Sauce-sational Applesauce Experiment is the Granny Smith.
Of course, I took a picture of the peeled/cored/sliced Granny Smith without the memory card in my camera – awesome.  One thing I want to point out is that they were very HARD.  A few times the suction came loose on my apple machine because I was pushing so hard to get the apple in.  Once the peeling, coring, slicing was done the apples stayed directly in their coil – definitely kept their shape.
This particular apple smelled REALLY GOOD while is was cooking.  A very pleasant apple aroma filled my kitchen.  I stirred the sauce around the hour mark and the apples were really firm.  At the 3 hour mark, you can see that the apples had cooked down quite well. 
Now this sauce was mouth puckering tart.  Definitely too tart for me but my daughter Cedi loved it.  I do think as far as a tart sauce goes it had better flavor than the NW Greening did.  I could definitely see how this mixed with some sweet apples would create some amazing sauce!

Past apple tests:

• McIntosh
• Gala
• Tolman Sweet
• NW Greening

Even with the dreary cold, rainy weather we ended up with today – Apple-Palooza 2011 was a success!  People enjoyed the old-fashioned cider pressing demo’s, hearing about Rock n Wool Acres, learning about Hard Apple Cider, visiting with The Glitter Workshop and of course, trying out some apple pie once the judging was complete.  Thank you so much to everyone that came out to participate or just watch from the wings!  If it weren’t for our fabulous customers and supporters none of this would be possible.

 

Thanks again to everyone for your support and an extra big thanks to our Pie Judges! I never dreamed I would have NINETEEN pies for them to judge for the first year of this event! They definitely had their work cut out for them!

And now – the moment you’ve been waiting for…the Winner’s of the Apple Pie Baking Contest

Taking home $25 to Lapacek’s Orchard, a gift card for a large pie from Market Street Diner in Sun Prairie, a Baking Spice Gift Box from Penzey’s Spices, and of course a fabulous ‘Grand Prize’ Pin from The Glitter Workshop was…

Melissa Walsh with her ‘Cranberry Apple Streusel Pie’.  Melissa used Lapacek’s Baker’s Mix apples for her pie and it was a new recipe for her!

Taking home $10 to Lapacek’s Orchard, a gift card for a small pie from Market Street Diner in Sun Prairie, a bottle of Penzey’s Cinnamon, and a fun 2nd place pin from the Glitter Workshop was…

Carolyn Brown with her ‘Last Minute Apple Pie’.  Carolyn used Granny Smith and MacIntosh Apples for her pie.  It was a last minute pie!  Carolyn changed the recipe at the last second!

And taking home $5 to Lapacek’s Orchard, a gift card for a small pie from Market Street Diner in Sun Prairie, a bottle of Penzey’s Cinnamon, and a fun 3rd place pin from the Glitter Workshop was…

Gen Bancroft.  Gen used Idared apples and she got the recipe for her pie from a friend in Arizona.  Gen was very excited about the pin she won and is already planning to wear it for coffee in the morning!

I just checked out the weather and it looks like the rain is going to hold off for most of the day!  Which is absolutely fantastic as today is Apple-Palooza!   There is LOTS and LOTS of fun things going on today so be sure to check out the ITINERARY so you don’t miss what’s most important to you!

 

I’m really excited about our first Apple Pie Baking Contest.  I have a special room all set up for the pies.  In fact – I already had one pie delivered this morning!

Melissa and her son Easton were here bright and early to deliver a delicious looking pie for the contest!

I’ve gotten some great ‘Pie Stories’ from some of the participants too:

Monica Freng shared with me her story,

My apple pie is pretty basic: tart apples, a little sugar n cinnamon, and a double crust using my moms family recipe for crust. We are self proclaimed pie snobs in our family - nothing ever comes close to moms homemade pie, it's always fruit or pumpkin (no chocolate mousse, etc) and it's always better for breakfast. :) we have been known to judge potential spouses by their love of such things. The first time my (now) husband came home with me we were in the kitchen while mom put together pies for Easter. I turned to him and asked, "you DO like pie don't you?" and his responded taken aback, "you might as well ask me if I like good things!"
I am certain that was the moment I knew he was a keeper!

 

Fred Geisler wrote:

I am planning an entry in your pie baking contest.  As far as my story - my Norwegian grandmother operated a boarding house in North Dakota.  She always made homemade pie and one of my favorites was Dutch apple made with apples from the trees in our back yard.

I’ll have more stories to share along with an update on how everything goes today!

 

I hope have some time to stop out to see some cider pressed, learn about a new winery, get some good info about making your own hard cider, get a hair feather, check out the pies, get a last minute pumpkin or two…and course stock up on apples!

It’s not often that we get a picture of our whole family but the other weekend when Jared’s sister, Karma, was home Cory from Friends in Photography was over and did a family photo shoot.  And here we are!

from the left: Karma, Great Grandma Lapacek, Jared holding Persimoni, Me (Kim) with Mercedi in front of me, Diane with Capri in front of her, and of course, Frank

Don’t forget to use your WIC and Senior FMNP Checks up!  They expire on October 31st, 2011.  We accept them at our shop AND at the farmer’s markets.  I’ll be in Sun Prairie this Saturday from 7-12.

Lapacek’s Orchard has been teaming up with a local CSA – Burr Oak Gardens to provide an ‘apple share’ to their clientele. This was the last week they picked up apples from us for their shareholders.  It was a huge decision for me – what would be the last ‘featured’ apple for this year’s CSA Share. I finally decided that it would just have to be Empire’s.

Before I tell you about the Empire, I just want to say that we hope the share holders enjoyed their apple share as much as I’ve enjoyed figuring out the ‘perfect’ apple to send for the week. I hope we continue to do this in future seasons as I barely was able to even touch on all the varieties we have to offer.

THE EMPIRE: Creamy white, juicy, moderately subacid flesh. High quality – fantastic ‘keeper’. Stores in refrigerators until March and will keep its crisp. Farmer Jared’s FAVORITE APPLE!

McIntosh x Red Delicious

 

Have you heard about Apple-Palooza 2011?

Next up on the Sauce-sational Applesauce Experiment is the NW Greening. NW Greenings are another heirloom apple, like the Tolman Sweet. It’s a large, green apple. It’s flesh is dense and tart.

I cooked it on high for 3 hours – admitted this was probably too long to cook the sauce at it was quite mushy in the end.

I was out sorting apples and I completely forgot to go check and stir at the 2 hour mark. By the time I got to it – it was boiling. I definitely cooked it too long. I might try again later but we’ll see. The flavor of the sauce was way too sour for me. It almost didn’t have flavor in my mind because of the sourness.

I do have to tell you that my daughter, Cedi, liked the NW Greening Sauce more than the Tolman Sweet sauce. This is the only reason I might try again – cooking it for a shorter time – Cedi would eat it.

My Personal Overall Rating (POR) (scores are out of 10)

Flavor: 4.5

Texture: 7

Color: 7

AVERAGE POR: 6.17

Past apple tests:

• McIntosh
• Gala
• Tolman Sweet

On Deck – Jonathan, October Baker’s Mix, Valstar, Granny Smith

I’m going slightly out of order for my next apple in the Sauce-sational Applesauce Experiment.  I wanted to go to the Tolman Sweet since we’re running low and if my analysis seems like something you want to try – don’t wait too long.
The Tolman Sweet is a heirloom, antique variety that is very sweet, tender and rich.  This is probably the absolutely sweetest apple we have to offer at the orchard.  I haven’t heard of many other orchards that carry this particular variety so don’t hesitate to stop by for a sample.
After my gala experience I was sort of afraid to see what would happen with these SUPER sweet apples.
But, I peeled, cored and sliced them up in my apple machine and put them in the crock pot for the test.It was definitely not the ‘prettiest’ apple sauce.  The apples did not really cook down too much either but it wasn’t a ‘hard’ chunky sauce either.  And then there is the flavor – and I just want to remind you here that I enjoy ‘sweet’ apples’ – WOW!  This was amazing!  I just LOVED the flavor!  The sweet did not get lost during the cooking at all.  It was missing the ‘depth’ that you get from the mix but it was such a good, rich sweet flavor that I’m going to forgive the sauce for that.  I put this one in a special container so that ‘mommy’ gets to enjoy it. 

Past apple tests:

• McIntosh
• Gala

Next up for the Sauce-sational Applesauce Experiment – one of my favorites for fresh eating – Gala!I peeled, cored, and sliced the apples with my apple machine and put them in the min slow cooker. 4 hours later…I had a juicy, chunky sauce. 
That had very little flavor.  The sweet deliciousness of a fresh gala seemed to disappear with this sauce.  I was not impressed…  I did like the chunky consistency but that’s pretty much where it ended.  I never would have predicted this.   I made MacIntosh and Gala sauce in the same day and the Mac was the clear winner between Jared, Cedi and myself.

Past apple tests:

McIntosh

As you hopefully know by now (and if you don’t I’m glad you’re reading it now) this coming Sunday, October 30th, is the first Apple Pie Baking Contest at our orchard for Apple-Palooza 2011. Not only will everyone that brings a pie receive a free 1/2 peck of Baker’s Mix apples and a fun “I Baked an Apple Pie” pin made by The Glitter Workshop but there will also be a 3rd, 2nd, and of course GRAND PRIZE for the top three pie bakers.

Judges

First, I’m going to tell you who are judges are:

Becky Gutzman, WNEP Coordinator for UW Extension – read a great interview with her HERE

Alan Otto, Capri’s Godfather and he’s had 32 years of pie eating experience

Patricia Fischbeck, the inn keeper of a beautiful Bed and Breakfast – the Speckled Hen Inn

Bob Lapacek, Frank’s brother and LOVER of all desserts

Prizes

And now – onto the prizes.

Prize list updated 10/27/11

Grand Prize

The best pie maker will take home a new Apple Machine: Peeler, Corer, Slicer from Lapacek’s Orchard (if you already have one you can have $25 towards apple products at the store instead). These Machines make baking with apples easy peasy!

I have heard from many, many customers about how amazing Penzeys Spices are/is. I recently found out that there was a new Penzeys Spices store that opened up on the East Side of Madison. So, yesterday morning I headed out to run some errands and stopped at Penzeys to get another part of the Apple Pie prizes. When I told the folks working there about our Apple Pie Baking Contest they donated a Baking Mini Gift Box for the Grand Prize winner! What an amazing donation - thank you Penzeys! Baking Mini Gift Box includes 1/4 cup jar each of their Powdered China Ginger, East India Ground Nutmeg, Ground China Cinnamon, and Ceylon Cinnamon. Not only do you get the spices but you also get cards taht include handy tips for each spice. What a fantastic little gift box!

Also, I’ve noticed that a lot of the best pie maker’s in my life don’t necessarily eat the pie they’re famous for. So, the next part of the prize is a gift certificate to Market Street Diner in Sun Prairie that will get you one of their largest pies!This way you can choose your flavor AND enjoy a pie without having to make it yourself!

Second Place

Our second place winner will take home a gift certificate of $10 good for any Lapacek’s Orchard Apple products, a gift certificate for one of Market Street Diner’s smaller pies, AND a jar of Penzeys Cinnamon.

Third Place

Third place will take home a gift certificate of $5 good for any Lapacek’s Orchard Apple products, a gift certificate for one of Market Street Diner’s smaller pies, AND a jar of Penzeys Cinnamon.

If you want to enter a pie please have it to the orchard by 12:45 on Sunday, October 30th. Please feel free to email me {lapaceksorchard (at) gmail (dot) com} to let me know to expect you!

Thanks to everyone for their support of our upcoming Apple-Palooza!

I decided to start my Sauce-sational Applesauce Experiment with the MacIntosh Apples.  As you’ve all heard, we have a five month old (six months on the 28th – WOW – time goes by fast!) and she’s starting to eat food.  What can be better than making her some delicious applesauce – no sugar or preservatives added!? I didn’t want to have to put the sauce through a food mill so I decided to start with the MacIntosh – an apple that mushes when cooked.  I put the Mac’s through my Apple Machine (peeler, corer, slicer).  They were a bit difficult to put through the machine – it seemed like the peels kept getting jammed in the peeler portion so I had lots of skin still left on my cored and sliced apples.  I could have just peeled the skin that was still on by hand but I decided to make a Taffy Apple Cake at the same time.  Then – the portion of the apples with the skin still on went in there (we could deal with it…) and I put the skin-free apples into the saucing crock pot.  I left the apples in the crock pot, on low, stirring whenever I came upstairs for a break from donut making for four hours.  At that time I had a nice smooth sauce (the chunks you see easily break down when you mush with a spoon).  
Time for the taste test! 
DELICIOUS!  A wonderful smooth sauce – I personally prefer my sauce chunky though, so if this wasn’t for Pip I probably would have mixed some other apples that kept their shape (we’ll find out which ones do this as I continue my experiment).  The flavor was fantastic though.  Slightly tart but still plenty sweet (remember I’m a sweet apple eater typically).  It did not make my jaw tingle and too me – that’s fantastic. 
What did Pip think?  She LOVES it!  She gobbles it down!  If there are other foods she’s not that into (carrots), I just add a little sauce and it goes right down the hatch with no fight. 

 

We have squash too!

As I’m sure you’ve heard us advice you before, the best apple to use to make sauce is – as many different varieties possible (aka our ‘Baker’s Mix’). This is the same reasoning behind our amazing unpasteurized, unpreserved apple cider – all those different apples create such an amazing, delectable blend of apple goodness it’s hard to imagine anything else.

Well – since I live on an apple orchard and we grow 55 varieties I’m going to test our theory of the mix and sauce making. I’m going to make a mini crock pot of sauce out of each variety we have and then share with you my opinions and observations. If the rest of my family is present I will also share with you their thoughts on the subject. Please remember when reading my comments – I’m a sweet apple girl. My favorite apples are Silken, Sansa, Honeygold, Gala, and Fuji – all super sweet apples.

For the most part, I will be running the apple through our peeling/coring/slicing machine and putting in the pot. I will never add any seasoning or sugar to the sauce (I may do some random pots of sauce with other ingredients along the way but I’ll be sure to be very clear when I do this). Not only will this help stock my fridge with sauce for my kiddo’s for awhile but it will give me a better idea as to how each type of apple cooks.

Since I’m starting mid-season I should be able to test about 20 different apples for sauce this season… This whole experiment will probably take a few years but I promise to get through it for you and by the end, we’ll all know the truth about which apple(s) make the best sauce.

First apples on deck: MacIntosh, Gala, and Jonathan – stay tuned…

Before I go any farther I’ll start by assuring you that emus are fine and they’re happily back in their pen. 

 

At about 8:45 I get a call from Frank - “Is Jared there?  The emus are out.”  Me, “Crap, I’ll get him…”

I yell for Jared and we both bundle up quickly and head outside…of course I grabbed my camera. We’re walking over to the emu pen area and Diane is organizing the pumpkin area – we quietly tell her the emus are out. Diane and I get the dogs into the shed so they won’t scare the emus. If you remember reading my earlier emu post, emus can sprint up to 30mph so we didn’t want to cause that to happen… Mac never went too far from the pen and it was fairly easy to lure him back in – a little food will do just the trick.Tosh turned out to be a bit more work.  She headed over to where the underground building used to be and decided to do a little grazing.  Luckily for us our Emu Whisperer (EW), aka Frank, was on the top of his game.  He grabbed to sticks to emulate longer arms.  If you can be taller than the bird they feel that you are dominating them and will sort of go where you direct them.

    If you listen close at the end of the video you can also hear that EW (Frank) is real good at calmly talking to Tosh and gets him to go the direction he wants. Once we got Tosh fairly close to the pen the whole venture slowed down – she didn’t really want to go back. So, taking his dad’s advice, Jared got behind her and wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug and carried her over.  Of course – I barely got this shot, let alone a picture at all.   Jared said she wasn’t heavy – just boney and awkward to carry.   Soon, we had both of the emus safely back into their pen and the door securely shut. 

 

Just another day at the orchard…

The Apple-Palooza 2011 has turned into more than I initially thought it would. Because of that, I’m providing you all with an ‘itinerary’ for the day so you don’t miss any of it that you were hoping to see, do, learn about.

ITINERARY:

10:00—Store & The Glitter Workshop Open for Business

10:30—Old Fashion Cider Pressing Demo

11:00—Hard Cider Info Booth Opens until 2:00

11:30—Rock ‘N’ Wool Acres: A Wisconsin Winery Talk

12:00—Releasing of the Homing Pigeons (weather permitting)

12:30—Old Fashion Cider Pressing Demo

12:45—Apple Pies Arrive for the Contest

1:00—Viewing of the Apple Pies

1:30—Apple Pie Contest Judging Starts

2:00—Hard Cider Info Booth Closes

2:30—Old Fashion Cider Pressing Demo

5:00—Store Closes

Lapacek’s Orchard has been teaming up with a local CSA – Burr Oak Gardens to provide an ‘apple share’ to their clientele. This week they will be receiving the Fireside apple from us!

Apple of the Week: Fireside

Very large fruit with a sweet, pleasant flavor and fine-grained flesh. Good for fresh eating, salad, and baked apples. Good storage life.

McIntosh x Longfield

Have you heard about Apple-Palooza 2011?

Photo Courtesy of Friends in Photography

 

It seems lately that there are two main questions on everyone’s mind – do you still have Honeycrisp apples (answer - no) and

Can we pick our own apples?

Answer:  No, we don’t offer pick your own apples but we do have LOTS OF FREE FAMILY FUN!  One of the fun things you can do on your visit to the orchard is to go on the Orchard Walk – in the middle of it, you’ll end up here – at the Look Out Deck.  What a view!

 

A new fun way you can decorate your pumpkins this fall!  Stop by the orchard today from 10-5 to get your pumpkin!

 

Lapacek’s Orchard has been teaming up with a local CSA – Burr Oak Gardens to provide an ‘apple share’ to their clientele. This week they will be receiving the Regent apple from us!

Apple of the Week: Regent

Flesh is juicy and crisp. Flavor is an outstanding balance of sweet and tart. Excellent for fresh eating and cooking.

Red Duchess x Red Delicious

I just munched on a Regent this morning and it was DELICIOUS!  Be sure to ask for a sample when you stop by this week!

 

Have you heard about Apple-Palooza 2011?

I’m sure many of you have heard that we were planning an ‘Old Fashioned Cider Pressing Day’ on October 30th. Well – this event has blossomed into much more…here’s a summary of what will be happening on Sunday, October 30th.

Old-Fashioned Cider Pressing Demo:
“Come Squeeze Our Apples”

Jared will be demonstrating how we used to press our apples to make cider with an old fashioned wood cider press. These demo’s will take place at 10:30am, 12:30pm and 2:30pm and will take approximately 30 to 45 minutes.

Apple Pie Baking Contest

We are hosting our very first apple pie baking contest. Each person that brings a pie to be judged will go home with a free 1/2 peck of Baker’s Mix Apples (to go towards future pies of course…). There will also be a spectacular grand prize for the winner…and I’ll be sure to update you all when I figure out exactly what that will be…

If you ware interested in baking a pie for the contest please send me an email: {lapaceksorchard at gmail dot com} with your name and pie baking story (if you have one – if not , no worries). Plan on arriving at the orchard by 12:45pm with your pie. Pie viewing and photo’s will take place at 1:00pm and judging will start at 1:30pm.

More details on prizes, judges, criteria to come – watch for a blog post soon!

Rock ‘N’ Wool Acres: A Wisconsin Winery – How & Why

At 11:30, our cousin, Shaun Lapacek, will be giving a talk about the winery he and his father are building in Poynette – Rock N Wool Acres. His talk will focus on three things:

1. Starting a winery
2. Creating a vineyard
3. Why a winery in Wisconsin?

Hard Apple Cider Booth

Our good friend Jay Walters will have a booth set up from 11am - 2pm to talk about and answer all your questions on how to make hard cider. Jay has been doing this for years and we’ve helped enjoy many of his products – this guy knows what he’s talking about.

The Glitter Workshop

Some of you may remember the spectacular ‘Craft-Apple-Ar’ that helped our season get off to a fantastic start. My friend, Naomi of The Glitterworkshop, is the reason this fabulous event happened and she’ll be joining us again at the orchard for this fun day. Naomi will be there putting in hair feathers for fun (or perhaps, a good prop for a costume…) and have some fun Halloween/Autumn hand made goods for sale as well!

All of this fun will be happening on October 30th so don’t miss out on all the ‘Apple-Palooza’ Fun!

View the full itinerary of the day HERE.

    

 

Read this blog to find out how to make your very own ‘Caramel Apple Bites’

The Duck Races are one of our best kept ‘secret’s of fun at the orchard.  I haven’t talked about them too much as the pumps tend to jam up and require fixing fairly often (at least last year – I think they’ve been okay this year). 

Next time you visit, if you haven’t tried them out already – be sure to stop by the playground to the North of the building and have some fun racing your ducks!

Lapacek’s Orchard has been teaming up with a local CSA – Burr Oak Gardens to provide an ‘apple share’ to their clientele.  The share owners decided if they wanted to opt in for either a 1/4 peck share or a 1/2 peck share.  This means that each week they either got a 1/2 peck of apples or a 1/4 peck of apples.  I’ve personally LOVED this new partnership.  It’s been fun deciding which apple would be ‘best’ for that particular week.  I’ve been trying to include a little information to go along with each bag about the apple and here’s what was included for this week:

Apple of the Week: Cortland

Big with dark stripes, perfumed, slightly acid, very good flavor. Keeps shape in cooking. Pure white flesh stays white after cutting. Stores well when refrigerated.

McIntosh x Ben Davis

Check out my blog to see the fun ‘Apple Cider Apple Cups’ I made out of Cortland’s: http://lapaceksorchard.blogspot.com/2011/09/apple-cider-in-apple-cup-of-course.html

Hopefully the share owners have enjoyed this as well and it works out again for next season.

Tune in to see what next week’s ‘Apple of the Week’ will be!

Yes! We are having the Handcrafted Hoedown for the Holiday’s again this year. I’m excited to be able to share with you some familiar faces and some new ones in this years collection of goods. Can you believe this is the FIFTH year for the sale! How amazing!

I’ll start out with talking the basics:

What: An opportunity to buy unique, locally hand-crafted items for friends and family while listening to holiday music!

Items from numerous artists include: Quilts, Ornaments, Baskets, Bags and Purses, Belts, Scarves, Holiday Decorations, Baby Items, Hand-dyed Clothing, Jewelry, Crocheted Hats, Winter-Wear Items, Stockings, Tree Skirts, Candles and MORE!

Don’t miss the mini quilt shop!

WHEN:

Friday, November 18th from 9am – 6pm

Saturday, November 19th from 9am – 5pm

***NEW*** A Girl Scout Cookie Booth will be set up on November 19th from 9am to 3pm!

WHERE:

Lapacek’s Orchard

N1959 Kroncke Road

Poynette, WI 53955

***NEW***

Gift Wrapping for Children in Need

We are going to be offering gift wrapping this year. The station will be donation only - all proceeds from the gift wrapping will be used to buy gifts for children on the Poynette Bank Giving Tree. I'm really excited about this! Cedi, Capri, Persimoni and I will do the shopping (yes - I love to shop!)

Expect to find Goods from the Following Artists:

Kim’s Crafty Apple – Quilts, bags, Quilted Paper Dolls on the Go, Ornaments, Hand-Dyed Clothing, Belts, plush owls, book wreaths and MORE!

theApple – Crazy, fun, colorful jewelry

Diane Lapacek – Quilts, Ornaments, Decorative Hand-Painted/Stained Gourds, Christmas Decorations

Baskets by Becky – Handwoven Baskets for many occasions

My Poplin – coffee cozies, calming cozies, travel chalkboards, ribbon blankets, bib/burp cloth sets

Nise’s Niche - Bags

CJ’s Eco Chic – Soy Candles

Jen G’s – Handmade Soap

Karol T - Recycled Wool Sweater Mittens and More!

The Painted Daisy – scarves, arm warmers, scoodies (Hood + Scarf = I can’t wait!), wristlets

Glitter Workshop – coasters, hair clips, and other fun randomness :)

Barb Cook - Crocheted Goodies!

Lori Cox - Primitive Art

Julia Jiannacopoulos - Uncommon Objects for the home and body

Bob Tomlinson - Santa Woodcarvings

Jane Fullerton - Scrabble Tile Necklaces

Lilac Hill Soaps & Sundries - Balms, lotions, chap sticks, pincushion rings

Upcycled Funk - upcycled snack bags, hair flowers. mason jar sewing notions kits and snowmen made out of brick pavers

Jenny Blasen Pottery – yarn bowls, soap dishes, mugs and wee dishes

Eric’s Wood Work Designs– tables and doll beds

Concrete Leaves from Peach

***I will continue to update this list as more artists get back to me***