I can’t believe it but it’s true!  This year we’ll be celebrating the 10th Annual Hand Crafted Hoedown for the Holiday’s.  I know this because that means my oldest daughter will be 10 at the end of November!  Time really does fly!

We once again have a great line up of local artisans for the show this year!   It’s time to start thinking about the Holiday’s and finding that ‘perfect’ gift for that special someone.  We have the perfect event coming up in just a few weeks!  Below is a summary of what you can expect to find! 

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, Holiday Decoration, Baby Items, Hand-Dyed Clothing, Jewelry, Crocheted Hats, Winter Items, Candles and More!
Also, a Mini Quilt Shop and freshly baked goodies from Lapacek's Orchard!

WHEN:

Friday, November 18th from 9am-6pm
Saturday, November 19th from 9am-5pm

WHERE:

Lapacek's Orchard
N1959 Kroncke Road
Poynette, WI 53955
(608) 635-4780

Participating Artist

(I will continue to expand this list as I hear from more folks)

Persimon Dreams – quilted and sewn items, pillows,  jewelry, ornaments, christmas trees, and more!

Diane Lapacek – quilted and sewn items, gourds, hand painted items

Mercedi, Capri & Pip Lapacek – an assortment of ornaments and other fun items!

According to Lucia – 10 year old Lucia Lindner brings you –amazing handmade bracelets and more!!!!  To see more of her fabulous creations check her out on instagram – AccordingtoLucia!

CJs Eco Chic – Soy Candles

The Hammer Factory - design and create custom reclaimed wood art, decorations and signs

The Painted Daisy – upcycled sweater scarves and arm warmers

Pointelle Designs - headbands, winter headbands, fingerless mittens, hats, fabric headbands, fabric covered button earrings, felted acorn ornaments and mini hat ornaments!

Dean Piehl - Woodworking

Cheryl S - fun wine bottle decorations

Lori Cox – Primitive Creations - rustic wood items: bottle openers, picture frames, birthday boards, photo holders, coasters, etc.

Julia J - Uncommon Objects

Jim Muttini - Wood Turnings

 

Another Man's Treasures - Custom Upcycling and Woodworking

Grandma Jean’s Quilt Ladders & Racks

Karol Tomlinson & Cindi H – felted wool mittens

Janet K – Hand sewn bags, pillows, quilts and aprons

Cora H – Bath Bombs

Upcycled Funk – Upcycled random amazing-ness

Donna F - children's  clutch balls, children's  fabric  books, seek and find pouches,  crayon bags, marshmallow shooters and a few other things

Autumn Raindrops – Girls Clothing and bows

Casa&Co - hand stamped pillows

Cheryl P – Hand crafted items for the home

 

Baskets by Becky – hand woven baskets and log snowmen

Wreaths by Chalann

Dianne H – crocheted items

Jane F – Scrabble Tile Jewelry and fun bookmarks

Jenny Blasen Pottery – Pottery mugs, buttons, and wee dishes

Barb Raisbeck, - Quilted bags

Deette K – painted signs

Jan Dorner – pedestal plates & beaded servers

KTBortz - Belt Buckle Bracelets

Fabulous Knit items from Rose & Rows.  be sure to check out her facebook page for more photo’s!

This show is full of so much talent and variety – you’ll be able to cross TONS of folks off your list!  Be sure to mark your calendars for Friday, November 18th and Saturday November 19th! 

Let’s keep right on rolling on the applesauce analysis train.  Next up is another great apple that you’ll have to wait until 2017 to try if you haven’t already – the Melrose apple.  This is a juicy, crisp apple that is just a bit tarter than the Honeycrisp.

 

Into the peeler/corer/slicer and then right into the mini crock pot to be cooked into applesauce.

This was not one of my favorite sauces.  The texture was just not there and the flavor was just not my favorite – tart with a bit of tang to it perhaps.  I’m sure it would add another dimension to an applesauce if it’s mixed with a few other varieties though – just not one I would use for a solo applesauce.

Happy morning everyone!  It’s a bit overcast looking outside but the air sure feels great!  Hopefully it will be a wonderful day to head to the orchard to get apples and pick a pumpkin in one of our five patches!

We have some really unique and fun pumpkins in our patch!  Once you’ve picked your pumpkin you just bring it to the weigh station we have set up between the two sheds, under the lean (near the glittered sewing machines), weigh the pumpkins, fill out the sheet that is at the station, put your pumpkins right in your car and just bring the sheet into the shop to pay.  It gets to be a clutter to have all the pumpkins and wagons hauled into the shop so we’ve decided to trust folks and do things this way.

Apples!  Of course we have apples still!

Final call – Jonathan, Bonnie’s Best, Jumbo and Sno! It is unlikely that these varieties will be around longer than the weekend … if even through the end of Saturday.

Let’s see … are you still super sad that the honeycrisp are all gone?  Seriously – come on in and give the Snow Sweet a try.  I think we’ll have your new favorite apple (at least until next September).  The flavor of the fireside and gala is also quite incredible if you are into sweeter apples.

Do you want something tart?  The Northern Spy and Winesap have been pleasantly surprising many folks!  The Haralson is also a safe bet!

Our Golden Delicious are beautiful and delicious this year! These are a fabulous all around apple – great for eating, baking, and drying!

Are you looking for a good, hard apple with a sweet with a hint of tart flavor – give the cameo a try!

Regents, Empire, and spartan apples are all great choices to make the whole family happy! 

If you are a fan of the Red Delicious ours have been picked and are gorgeous.

The weekends get a bit crazy so if there’s not a sample out on the shelf of an apple you want to try just pop your head into the sorting room and ask for one!  We want you to try the apples so you know you’re happy with the bag you selected! 

Donuts and caramel apples are completely stocked to start the day today!  We’ve been working hard to make sure there are enough to make the end of the day!

Let’s get to another one of those great “early” golden deliicious-type apples for applesauce.  I love a Golden Delicious applesauce so my expectations where high for these exceptional smoothee apples.

I was not disappointed!  The apples were peeled/cored/sliced and then cooked down in my mini slow cooker.

It was a delicious sweet, juicy, and chunky applesauce!  I was a bit surprised by how dark the color of the apples turned but since color really doesn’t effect flavor it doesn’t really matter. 

Be sure to keep an eye out for more Smoothee apples in 2017!

Crimson Gold is one of our newer apple varieties – in fact, I’m pretty sure this year is the first year we’ve had a decent crop of them at all.  It’s a nice hard, sweet apple with just a hint of tart in it.  It seems that most folks that tried it purchased a bag.  There aren’t anymore this year but it’s definitely a variety to watch out for in the 2017 season.

I did grab a few of the apples so I could analysis how it worked in applesauce for you all.

I used my peeler, corer, slicer to get the apples all ready to go in my mini slow cooker.  I put them

These cooked down into a delicious applesauce.  It was fairly chunky and had a great sweet flavor.  The Crimson Gold are definitely on the top of my applesauce list for great apples!

It’s raining again and I’ve been saucing but not finding time to write up about the applesauce.  I’ll get a bunch ready for you today!  I’m going to start with an apple we still have available at the moment – the Haralson.

Haralson Apple:

Good baking, eating and cider apple. Flesh is crisp, juicy, firm. Mildly tart flavor, not acid. Holds its shape and texture in baking. Retains good flavor in keeping.

I peeled, cored and sliced my haralson apples and put them right into my crock pot to make into applesauce.

It took a bit to cook down so I think in a pie they would keep there shape fairly nicely.

The applesauce was slightly chunky and had a great tart flavor to it.  Since I’m a sweet girl it was a bit too tart for me but my daughter Cedi just gobbled it down!  If you are a fan of tart – the Haralson is the apple for you!

Today I’m sharing with you my results from saucing the Golden Supreme apples.  We are out of these apples for this year but they are definitely ones you need to put on your “must try” list for next season!  They really are a great apple!  Let’s get back to applesauce.

I peeled, cored and sliced up some of these gorgeous apples.  They went easily through my apple machine.

And a few hours later I had a delicious, chunkier apple sauce.  It was sweet with a hint of tartness .. I’d almost describe it as tangy.  Definitely an apple I would make apple sauce with again!

Happy October everyone!  I love October at the apple orchard – crisp weather, fall decorations and delicious apples!  Can’t wait!

The rumors are true – we are all sold out of honeycrisp apples.  And no – we won’t be getting anymore.  We only sell apples that we grow and pick at our orchard.  I’m sorry if you’re super bummed about this but I guarantee you’re not the only one.  I would LOVE to have honeycrisp apples all season long if we could but unfortunately a frost in May during blossom time severely damaged our honeycrisp crop.  Luckily – it didn’t affect all of our apples quite to that extent and we still have TONS of amazingly delicious apples to try!

I’m truly not just “Saying” that we have apples that are just as good if not better than honeycrisp left.  We’ve proven throughout this week we can successfully find an apple folks are going to love to eat for the end of the season.  From my personal observations if you like the crisp/juicy/slightly tart side of the honeycrisp you’re going to pick a Jonagold. If you like the sweeter side of the honeycrisp give the Snow Sweet aside.  Sometimes we may ask you what you ate “before” you discovered the honeycrisp. You see – the honeycrisp apple is one of those apples that EVERYONE likes – be it a typically tart apple eater, sweet apple eater, or somewhere in the middle.  A person who liked to eat Cortland’s before they had honeycrisp may want to try the Melrose or Bonnie’s Best (or cortland). 

I’m not sure if the paragraph above makes any sense at all but the main point I’m trying to make is still come on in – we will help you find a great apple (or three)!

Our pumpkin patch is OPEN and there are some gorgeous pumpkins being picked out there!  We have FIVE different areas we grew pumpkins this year which means you get to go on an adventure to find the perfect one!  Grab a wagon if you see one – or bring your own and see what you can find! 

Hope to see you at the orchard! We’re open from 9-6 today – Saturday, and 10-5 tomorrow!

~~~

 

Other events in the area

Creek Bed Country Farmacy – Corn Maze OPEN!

Rock N Wool Winery

Best Practice at the Barn of Dreams 8pm to 11:30pm

Fall Craft Event

Poynette, Library 75 Year Celebration