Orchard Adventures

What do you do when your kids are out of school?

Last week ours were out with Parent/Teacher Conferences

so we decided to have a day of adventure.

 

Growing up in our family we had one solid and true tradition~

Homemade hot buttery popcorn and grape juice along with the Wonderful World of Disney

every Sunday night.

 

Now it wasn't just any grape juice.

Our parents were huge canners and each fall they made their own homemade grape juice.

Each precious jar held enough juice for each of us to have one cup~and boy was it savored from start to finish.  So my grown up quest began.  Now that our parents live close....so does their distiller....

 

Last weekend in my efforts to find Concord grapes

I stumbled upon the most quaint little farm (well that's if you call 80 acres little!) on Craigslist.

The farm had an apple orchard filled with a dozen different varieties,

some of them the most delicious and crisp apples we've ever had.

After growing up in Washington we have a pretty good idea about what makes a good apple,

these apples were not only beautiful they were also delicious!

Our kids had the opportunity to pick grapes for the first time.

They were completely fascinated with a walnut tree~

Candace's youngest even tried to plant one right there on the spot to grow another one.:)

Each of our kids got to pick out a pumpkin and me~
Well after a few hours of brewing.....
I have 30 quarts of Concord grape juice and a wonderful tradition to continue with my own family.