Which sounds better: Apple Picking or Picking Apples...?? or Apple Pickin' or Pickin' Apples..?? Or how about some alliteration...Absolutely Awesome Apples...?? I think I like 'apples' at the end...regardless of what you do with the 'picking' part. Just call it nit-pickin' extraneous worthless details that don't really matter!
Alright already...I love the sign above...APPLES. There.
First, we must find a perfectly picturesque orchard in a beautiful setting perhaps overlooking a tranquil lake with boughs of the juiciest, tastiest apples around...
And the cutest, quaintest little orchard shop scented with the smell of fresh sweet apples to browse in while the friendliest, most knowledgeable of proprietors weighs our bushels of apples....
And...OK, I know this is a stretch...but how 'bout this shop also just happens to attach to a wonderful Victorian farmhouse with a wrap-around porch...sporting some happily painted red wicker chairs....well, hey, what can I say? So much the better!
And guess what! I happen to know of an orchard that fits this description to a tee! We just happen to have this very orchard only two miles down the road from us! But I'd travel much farther to get to it if I had to, for sure! It's just too perfect to miss out on!
Yes! It's Avalon Acres Orchard and Farm. Mark and Wendy Sheriff purchased this orchard 3 years ago and have just done amazing things with it in this short time. Mark, in past years, was immersed in rose gardening...and has now switched over to the rose's distant cousins...the apple trees. Did you know that roses are related to apple trees..??? I didn't know that either! See what I mean about knowledgeable proprietors?
Wendy is out and about doing the promotional end, attending numerous farmers markets and fairs. They have even been written up recently in the Bangor Daily News. So we consider Avalon Acres a little jewel sitting in our own backyard!
Here I am the Romantic Mom and my poor children have only these plastic bags that the orchard was so nice to provide for us to put our apples in! Scandalous - I know!
Second, we must make and carry along this darlin' apple picking tote I discovered on Purl Bee this week. Yep, it's sewing project #43,357....but, I have to say, it ranks right up there in the top 10 for me! Sewing class here I come!
What do you think, Wendy? Wouldn't these go great in your little shop? (Now stop fretting, folks, we all know that Mark doesn't manage the Apple Picking Tote Bag Dept.) Personally, I know it would be a sensational hit...but we'll discuss this later.
Oh! And wouldn't those Apple Tote Bags just look too perfect in this blue wagon...???!! I'm seein' prodigious photo-ops aplenty here!
And those unbelievably cute Apple Tote bags certainly wouldn't be allowing all this spilling and tumbling to the ground action to be goin' on. No siree!
Uh Hum! I must say it now, Fall's not over yet...and this won't be the last apple picking session either! But it just might be the last without adorable-beyond-words Apple Picking Tote Bags!
Third, you simply must come out to St. Albans (off Dexter Rd.) and visit this lovely, lovely Avalon Acres Orchard and Farm...that offers much, much more than just apples, too. There are many other locally grown and homespun products to choose from....and a beautiful Autumn countryside to imbibe while you're there!
Click on my Apple Picking Slideshow to get the full effect...I even captured the apple trees this year at Avalon in Spring's fluffy pink bloom...oh! and their perky red tulips next to the porch! And thank you, Mark and Wendy, for making your orchard such a delight to visit!