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!

We just pressed another fresh batch of apple cider last night. Our friend Jay and his daughter, Taylor, were kind enough to lend us a hand. We're at the peak of our cider season so we kept busy last night. We also had a visit from Pat Fischbeck from the Speckled Hen Inn, www.SpeckledHenInn.com, who took pictures of the cider making process. They should be posted on her website in the next couple of days.

My babysitter's daughter had a baby boy late Tuesday night...Trexton Neil, 8lbs 30z, mom and baby are doing fine. (Congratulations Jeff & Nicole!) She needed a day off to be with her daughter and grandson (understandably so) so, my mom is here for a few days to watch the girls. Cedi is very excited to see Grandma Van. I'm sure Capri is too, but she's a bit too little to talk.

If anybody reading this gets the Poynette Press be sure to check out this weeks Opion article, A Black Sheep. Amber Tyler is kind enough to write her entire editorial about how wonderful Lapacek's Caramel Apples are. If you haven't tried them I strongly recommend that you do. You can now buy them not only at our store and the farmer's markets we attend (DeForest, Waunakee, and Sun Prairie) but at Treinen's Farm (http://www.treinenfarm.com/) near Lodi, WI. They have an AMAZING corn maze you should definately take your family to for a fun fall adventure!

We have our last two groups of the season today. Should be a nice day for it...maybe a little chilly, but hey, it's fall!

Have a wonderful day and weekend! Don't forget to stop by the orchard for your apples, cider, caramel apples, squash and pumpkins!

Well, we have really started to get into our tour group season! We had two tours go through this morning. Diane leads the tours but it seemed like everyone was enjoying it. We have a rather large group coming at 9 tomorrow morning so I have to lead the orchard portion of the tour. I don't mind doing it since I love talking but I'm much better at the one-on-one stuff :)

Diane also put up a really neat corn shock tunnel for the kids to play in. She added some fun things to it like broom corn and huge sunflowers. I think it turned out very well. Frank and Diane have also been picking pumpkins, gourds and squash whenever they have a minute. It's really starting to look like fall around the orchard! Frank picked up a bunch of beautiful mums again at the auction this week. Stop by and decorate your garden/yard!

After we got the girls to bed, Jared and I made another batch of caramel apples...we're really starting to get the hang of things!