We have some fun and adorable little goats at our orchard this season!  I’ve finally managed a few decent pictures of them so I can introduce them to you all.

Pumpkin Pie Sweetie, named by Pip

Whoopie Pie, named by Mercedi

Hippo, named by Kim

Andes Mint, named by Capri

Next time you’re at the orchard be sure to stop by and say hi to these guys!

#lapaceksorchard

We had our first decent crop of Akane apples this season and they were a hit.  These apples are crisp with a sweet, sharp taste.  They’re a little too tart for my purely sweet taste buds but I would say that 90% of the folks who tried a sample purchased a bag to bring home. 

Of course, I did my saucesational analysis of the Akane when they are all gone for the 2015 season … but at least you’ll know to look forward to it in 2016.

I did my standard procedure – peeled, cored and sliced up the apples and put them in my mini slow cooker.  A couple hours later I had applesauce!

This was a sweet but sharp sauce … similar to the apples!  It kept it shape and made a decently chunky sauce.  I think this is one I would definitely mix with other apples just to add a bit more depth to the flavor.  Overall though, it was a good sauce.

Not only is there an ‘apple season’ but there is a ‘season’ of the apples.  Currently we are in the ‘early apple season’.  September is ‘mid apple season’ and October/November is ‘late’ apple season.  Why am I distinguishing between these periods?  It tends to make a difference in the storage of the apples.

The early apples don’t tend to store very long.  And by very long I mean not for months and months.  If you refrigerate your apples they typically will store for about 2 to 3 weeks.  Again this will depend on the variety … the Duchess, even when refrigerated will go soft fairly fast … but considering these are meant to be a good apple for cooking sauce and pies that doesn’t matter too much. 

As we move into later seasons, the refrigerated storage life of the apples tend to be longer.  Certain apples will store for months and months.  Later in the season – stock up on Idareds, empire, golden delicious and red delicious for refrigerated storage life into the spring months. 

Have you noticed that I’ve been emphasizing ‘refrigerated’ storage for the apples?

I found a really interesting article about the storage of apples here. 

Apples ripen 10 times faster on the counter … so if you prefer a softer apple this would be the way to store them.  If you want your apples to keep there crisp – put them in the refrigerator loose and away from other fruits.

I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion about the storage life of apples … or at least maybe you discovered a few fun facts!

Lapacek’s Orchard is not only a great place to visit for delicious apples – we have a little gift shop too!

One of our best selling items are these great hand carved stick colored pencils.  These are handmade and the color pencil goes about 3/4 of the way through the stick. 

Kids love collecting them!  They would definitely be fun to start school with!  Speaking of school – what a great addition to a teacher gift!  Perhaps a gift certificate tied to one of these fabulous rustic colored pencils?

Throughout the next few weeks on this blog I’ll be sharing with you other great, unique finds you can count on the little shop at the orchard to supply you with!

And next time you need a unique gift … perhaps stop at the local shop down the road instead of heading into the big box store.  You can even munch on an apple while you browse!

Every year we try to add some fun new things to the orchard for you all to enjoy.  They’re not always huge things that everyone notices but I’m really excited about two new things we’ve added this year!

We have a boat!  Yes!  We acquired a boat at the end of last season.  It was no longer in any condition to be used on water so we decided to make it a playground for everyone to enjoy! 

We did a bit of work on the boat to get it ready for you all but I hope that the kids (and adults) enjoy it this fall!

The other fun playground addition we added was a rope ladder course.  We combined four rope ladders with some sturdy posts (which we put in using our post pounder).  The purpose of this obstacle is to climb underneath the ladder without letting your feet or hands touch the ground.  Even Cedi can’t get all the way across!  And she’s my little monkey!

I can’t wait to here what everyone thinks of these two new addition to the playgrounds. 

Not only do the months fly by between apple seasons but the years fly by in our family too!

This shot was taken at the end of October in 2011 by Cory Schuren of Friends in Photography.  As I was preparing for this apple season I saw this picture and realized we probably needed an update shot since Pip is now four instead of 5 months! 

We had to change the pose up a little bit … but we got our updated shot!    Cory no longer lives in Wisconsin but luckily she was in town visiting and had a few minutes to squeeze us in for a up to date photo by the sign. 

I can’t believe how much the girls have grown!

Also … here’s a sneak peek at some new play equipment at the orchard this season.  We buried a boat in the backyard by the tire playground.  We’ve almost finished child proofing it for everyone to play on.  My girls have been enjoying it all summer!