The Apple Orchard

 Growing up, we used to sing this little diddy every morning to thank God before breakfast -- the Johnny Appleseed Song, which goes like this, "Oh! The Lord's been good to me. And so I'll thank the Lord for giving me the things I need like the sun, and the rain, and the apple seed. The Lord's been good to me. Amen, amen, amen!" Well, a few weeks back, Kiel and I did a study in his preschool work (Oh! Have I STILL not posted about that? Okay, I will do that soon. It's been reeeeally fun!) on apples, and it was a huge deal to go to the apple orchard in Sherwood, Oregon this Saturday to do some apple picking of our very own.

 

We picked a total of 22 pounds from about 5 different varieties. Apple pies and applesauce and apple muffins and apple cider were in our future here!! 

 We took them home for a good wash and then proceeded to eat our weight in them.

 I used our favorite cider recipe (from Willows Lodge, a place dear to our hearts, as that is where we stayed on our wedding night and our first anniversary) and cooked up some deliciousness from these beauties.

  There's nothing like the smell of homemade cider on the stove -- so comforting!

Amazing way to welcome in Fall!