The gorgeous weather was begging for some outdoor activities. As I sat completing some work this morning, my mind kept wandering to the sunny outdoors. The fall in all its glory was beckoning me to abandon the tedium of work and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

A phone call and couple of visits to the websites sealed the deal to go to Stow. Stow is a lovely, laidback, orchard country between Boston and Worcester. I shut down the idiot boxes (computer and tv), said goodbye to sleepy kitties, jumped into the car, and drove off into the colorful blaze of trees along route 117.

I planned to get to Carver Hill Orchard and wander around their apple trees and perhaps do some apple picking. There really was no agenda, except to get out and enjoy fall. Along the way I found there are five farmlands in and around Stow: Honey Pot Hill Orchards, Shelburne Farm, Derby Farms, and yet another (name escapes my feeble brain).

I got to Carver Hill Orchard around 2pm in the afternoon. The sun was bright and warm. Thankfully, I had my summer clothes on. Yep! Summer clothes at the end of October! Donning my straw hat, I tottered away to pick apples. It was fun to wander around apple trees with their arms dropping with the burden of many heavy, ripe, and red, apples. I think I wandered more than actually pick. In about an hour, I had picked 1 peck of apples (Red and Golden Delicious). When I started my wanderings, we had about 4-5 car loads people wandering around. By the time I was done, we had 10-15 car loads of people drive up and share the farm. I was happy to have picked when I did.

It was too early to head home, so, I decided to head to Shelburne Orchard. It was far busier than the previous farms I have ever been too. This farm had loads of kid friendly things to do, a huge apple picking farm, a large pumpkin picking farm, their own food counter dishing out warm donuts, caramel apples, their very own cider and cheddar cheese. The air was brimming with smells of apples, cinnamon, caramel, pumpkins, and hot cider. Ummmmm! Yum! I did wandered around amongst apple trees away from the maddening crowds, and found a little kitty! Goes to show, you never know whom you meet. Back from the wandering, I could resist 1/2 peck of McIntosh apples for sauce! Yummy!

I tried something new: Created a slideshow in Powerpoint 2007. If you don't have the new fangled Office 2007 then, click here for the PDF version.

{Edit: 10/24/2007} And trying something even newer FaceBook Album 10_21. Let me know if the link did not work or it worked and said "access denied" et. al.