Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Apple Picking

Grandma was taking the kids apple picking, so I went along.  This particular orchard also raises its own honey.  The have a small hive set up where visitors can observe the bees. The hive is connected to a clear tube leading outside, so the bees can fly and collect nectar.

Bees!

The larger queen bee in in the center of this photo; can you spot her?


Bria correctly identified the hive as being made of hexagons.
After watching the bees for a while we headed out to pick apples.  The girls quickly picked any apples they could reach from the ground.  After that we had to try new things like climbing trees and using the apple picker.
Taste testing before we started picking.








Eli was very fond of getting apples out of the bag and putting them back in.
 We had to watch to make sure he didn't put any bad ones in there!
 He was also a big fan of eating them! Or at least taking a few bites.


Once we were finished we had picked a bushel of good apples for the bags and probably another bushel of apples the birds or worms had gotten to.  The owner had kindly left a little wagon for us to use to bring them back.
Bria pulling one 1/2 bushel over to get the second bag.


What a load!
Overall I think it was a successful trip!

Bria spelling apples while Grandma was checking out.