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Next up to talk about it the Fireside. Now, the Fireside’s are big apples and are a bit more tricky to get through my peeler, corer, slicer...
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When I first started to work in the apple business one of the most important lessons I was taught by the Lapacek’s was to be extremely gent...
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Showing posts with label blueberries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blueberries. Show all posts
Monday, July 13, 2009
What's Growing at the Orchard? - ANSWERS
And here are the ANSWERS! This is what's growing at the orchard!
(A) Pears
(C) Apple
Thanks to everyone who guessed! I'll probably do one more round...it should get easier as we go :)
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Apple Blossoms and Blueberry Bushes!
I actually have some apple orchard related news to blog about today! I know...what a surprise!
First...as you can see from the first two pictures below...the apple trees are budded out and blossoms are thinking about showing their beautiful petals.
I'm a little nervous about the blossoms wanting to show themselves already...we've been known to get frost in early May before...if that happens :( But, as I always say to everyone else...nothing we can do about it...
We also recieved 50 blueberry bushes in the mail today. We decided to plant them right away...rain is forecasted for the next few days so we thought we might as well get it done.
Frank and I dug the holes while Diane put the bushes in. (Oh, and I took the pictures!)
Cedi helped haul the bushes from the van for Grandpa to plant. She really likes it on the farm. I'm thinking that Cedi is going to be our planter/grower girl and Capri is going to be our animal lover...we'll see how my predictions turn out!
Have I said before that I am so lucky that I have great kids! It was not the nicest of days out...it was windy and chilly but the girls lasted pretty much the whole time. I think we had about 8 plants left to put in and Capri decided she really needed a nap. By the time I got her in and settled and the food in the oven, the planting was done. Cedi was ready to come in at that point. Between the sandbox and playing in the truck...as long as they're outside, my kids are happy. 
Thursday, October 2, 2008
September's Recipe Winner
As some of you have noticed I have a box on the counter at the orchard to collect recipes containing; apples, squash, cider, pumpkins, blueberries, raspberries, zucchini, peaches, pears, and plums (anything we grow at the orchard), for our next cookbook. Each month I am holding a drawing. This month's winner is: Roger Dorman, with his recipe for Dried Apple, Apple Pie. He will recieve a gift certificate to $5 off any bag of apples. Be sure to drop your recipe off or email it to me at lapaceksorchard@gmail.com to be entered in next months drawing!
Thanks!
Thanks!
Labels:
apples,
blueberries,
Cider,
contest,
cookbook,
peaches,
pears,
plums,
pumpkins,
raspberry,
summer squash,
winner,
zucchini
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Thursday, August 14, 2008
Opening Day
I just sent out the email announcing our opening for the season. (If you'd like to be on our list, email me at dlapacek@gmail.com.) Right now we have Paulared, William's Pride and Viking apples. They've been really slow to ripen this year, but we should have a really nice crop...and with 37 different varieties there should be something for everyone.
I've also added some of my own homegrown vegetables. Tomatoes, cukes, peppers, summer squash, and cabbage for right now.
I'm also still working on the washout from that dyeing session. My clothesline is full of colorful garments and I have a load of hoodies in the washer. The goal is to get all that excess dye washed away. When the water runs clear, I give them one more washing to be sure they don't bleed when you take them home. Then I hang them up to dry and run them through once more. Time consuming, but worth it.
I need to go out to pick the blueberries and green beans today, too, and work some more on getting everything in place in the store. And I need to get the info to my sister Barb for the registration packets for her quilting retreat held in Wisconsin Dells in November. I teach there and packets need to go out soon. http://www.quiltsbybarb.com/quiltretreats.htm
So, I guess I'd better get at it. Hope to see you at the orchard.
I've also added some of my own homegrown vegetables. Tomatoes, cukes, peppers, summer squash, and cabbage for right now.
I'm also still working on the washout from that dyeing session. My clothesline is full of colorful garments and I have a load of hoodies in the washer. The goal is to get all that excess dye washed away. When the water runs clear, I give them one more washing to be sure they don't bleed when you take them home. Then I hang them up to dry and run them through once more. Time consuming, but worth it.
I need to go out to pick the blueberries and green beans today, too, and work some more on getting everything in place in the store. And I need to get the info to my sister Barb for the registration packets for her quilting retreat held in Wisconsin Dells in November. I teach there and packets need to go out soon. http://www.quiltsbybarb.com/quiltretreats.htm
So, I guess I'd better get at it. Hope to see you at the orchard.
Labels:
apples,
blueberries,
cabbage,
cucumber,
cukes,
dyeing,
green beans,
paulared,
pepper,
summer squash,
tomatoes,
vegetables,
viking,
washout,
William's pride
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Monday, July 28, 2008
Apple Season is Closing In!
Yeah! Can you believe apple season is almost here? It seems that time has just flyed since last year. I'm sure you're all super excited to meet our new addition, baby Capri...and you should be. She's just adorable. All you have to do is give her a big smile and she'll return it right to you! I think you'll also get a kick out of Cedi this season. She's getting so big...crazy! She's learning to talk and has quite the stubborn streak. She's a very good helper and I think we may have a wonderful picker some day.
Yesterday we started to get the store set up for the season. We have the cleaning and the basic layout complete. Now we just have to stock the shelves with fun apple goodies, crafts, veggies, and of course some apples! I'm not sure exactly when the apples will be ready (you'll have to ask Diane that) but we should have some blueberries there this weekend and some miscellaneous veggies grown by my mother-in-law.
I'm excited to see you all again soon!
Yesterday we started to get the store set up for the season. We have the cleaning and the basic layout complete. Now we just have to stock the shelves with fun apple goodies, crafts, veggies, and of course some apples! I'm not sure exactly when the apples will be ready (you'll have to ask Diane that) but we should have some blueberries there this weekend and some miscellaneous veggies grown by my mother-in-law.
I'm excited to see you all again soon!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Grandkids and Vegetables
Cedi and Capri spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa today. It meant Grandma didn't get much work done, but had an awful lot of fun. I missed out on my usual walk through all the various patches with a hoe. I take care of some weeds and keep an eye out for bugs and other problems at the same time. the pumpkins and squash have had their problems with bugs, but look really good right now.
Cedi was out in the sunflower and corn patch with me on Tuesday. I wasn't sure if she'd like it or not since it's all taller than she is and The leaves were hitting her as she followed the rows. But she thought it was pretty neat. Kept busy for quite some time picking up rocks and putting them in the back of Grandpa's Gator. I think I could have lived with some of those rocks since she picked up everything she considered a rock right on down to pebbles. But it gave me time to work on the weeds and admire the plants as they grow. We're going to harvest part of this area, but the main purpose of the patch is to play in. We started with sweet corn and giant sunflowers, then added broom corn, other varieties of sunflowers and miniature Indian corn. If other kids enjoy it as much as Cedi did, it should be a big hit.
So today I took both girls with me to pick the summer squash. We had a nice collection of small green and yellow zucchini I wanted to cook for dinner. Cedi had several in her hands as we came into the house. I told her to take it to the kitchen. Well, she headed straight for her little kitchen instead of my big kitchen. When I told her Grandma needed to cook it, she let me know she thought it was hers and she was going to keep it. So she ended up standing on a chair helping Grandma cut up zucchini. She threw all the waste in the garbage, then put the pieces in a bowl. I'm sure I'll have a little helper on a chair beside me every time I cook now. Sounds like fun.
Frank and I went out and picked blueberries after the kids went home. Then we got the Gator and took an evening tour of all the gardens. Even when one or both of us have been out there during the day, we like to make a tour together in the evening. It's relaxing and helps us keep on top of what needs to be done next.
Cedi was out in the sunflower and corn patch with me on Tuesday. I wasn't sure if she'd like it or not since it's all taller than she is and The leaves were hitting her as she followed the rows. But she thought it was pretty neat. Kept busy for quite some time picking up rocks and putting them in the back of Grandpa's Gator. I think I could have lived with some of those rocks since she picked up everything she considered a rock right on down to pebbles. But it gave me time to work on the weeds and admire the plants as they grow. We're going to harvest part of this area, but the main purpose of the patch is to play in. We started with sweet corn and giant sunflowers, then added broom corn, other varieties of sunflowers and miniature Indian corn. If other kids enjoy it as much as Cedi did, it should be a big hit.
So today I took both girls with me to pick the summer squash. We had a nice collection of small green and yellow zucchini I wanted to cook for dinner. Cedi had several in her hands as we came into the house. I told her to take it to the kitchen. Well, she headed straight for her little kitchen instead of my big kitchen. When I told her Grandma needed to cook it, she let me know she thought it was hers and she was going to keep it. So she ended up standing on a chair helping Grandma cut up zucchini. She threw all the waste in the garbage, then put the pieces in a bowl. I'm sure I'll have a little helper on a chair beside me every time I cook now. Sounds like fun.
Frank and I went out and picked blueberries after the kids went home. Then we got the Gator and took an evening tour of all the gardens. Even when one or both of us have been out there during the day, we like to make a tour together in the evening. It's relaxing and helps us keep on top of what needs to be done next.
Friday, May 9, 2008
The Adventures in Blueberries
This past weekend Jared, the girls and I were in Michigan to pick up the blueberries that we planned on planting at the Kroncke Road Orchard. When we arrived at Hartmann's Plant Company we discovered that not only did they not have anything ready for us, but they did not have ANY of the varieties that we had ordered. This was quite an annoyance because I had called three previous time to confirm the order and pick up time…including the previous day, only to be told everything was ready. So, they ended up finding us other varieties of blueberries that should grow in this area and they threw in forty extra plants as well. They loaded our van with as many plants as they could (200) and shipped the rest for free since they were not prepped in the boxes they had told us they would be.
Once we left we were still upset about what had just happened and were just mindlessly following the directions of the GPS. About twenty or so minutes into the drive I realized we were heading north…we needed to get to Wisconsin, not Canada so this didn’t make too much sense. Earlier in our trip though, the GPS kept trying to take us off of the freeway and we ignored it thinking the freeway would be faster only to be stuck in construction for thirty to forty-five minutes. After that incident I decided to believe the GPS. Well, it continued to take us farther north and we finally realized that when we had chosen ‘fastest route’ the GPS figured that the fastest route to Wisconsin was if you took the ferry. At this point, we were almost to the dock and figured we might as well check it out and see if that’s what we wanted to do. Also, the girls really did not want to be in the car anymore. Just because nothing could possibly go our way at this point in the trip, when we arrived at the dock, they were just closing the gates and the ferry was leaving…we had missed it by a mere five minutes. The next one wasn’t going to be loading for over five hours. We had a decision to make…either wait it out and let the girls play at the beach or throw them back into the van and drive through Chicago at rush hour. We decided to wait it out. The rest of the day went smoothly…Cedi really enjoyed the sand…she even tasted it (she didn’t enjoy that quite as much) and the ferry ride was really nice. We finally arrive home just after 10. One thing we learned was that next time we were going to chose the option ‘cheapest route’ instead of ‘fastest’.
Once we left we were still upset about what had just happened and were just mindlessly following the directions of the GPS. About twenty or so minutes into the drive I realized we were heading north…we needed to get to Wisconsin, not Canada so this didn’t make too much sense. Earlier in our trip though, the GPS kept trying to take us off of the freeway and we ignored it thinking the freeway would be faster only to be stuck in construction for thirty to forty-five minutes. After that incident I decided to believe the GPS. Well, it continued to take us farther north and we finally realized that when we had chosen ‘fastest route’ the GPS figured that the fastest route to Wisconsin was if you took the ferry. At this point, we were almost to the dock and figured we might as well check it out and see if that’s what we wanted to do. Also, the girls really did not want to be in the car anymore. Just because nothing could possibly go our way at this point in the trip, when we arrived at the dock, they were just closing the gates and the ferry was leaving…we had missed it by a mere five minutes. The next one wasn’t going to be loading for over five hours. We had a decision to make…either wait it out and let the girls play at the beach or throw them back into the van and drive through Chicago at rush hour. We decided to wait it out. The rest of the day went smoothly…Cedi really enjoyed the sand…she even tasted it (she didn’t enjoy that quite as much) and the ferry ride was really nice. We finally arrive home just after 10. One thing we learned was that next time we were going to chose the option ‘cheapest route’ instead of ‘fastest’.
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