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Apple picking
Oct. 14th, 2008 12:14 pmOn Saturday, we went apple picking at Russell Orchards in Ipswich.
You take a tractor-pulled hay wagon to get to the orchard:
( more photos, mostly animals not apples )
It was a nice orchard, rather crowded on a beautiful October day but I would go there again, though more likely on a weekday. I got some lovely apples and ate a fresh cider donut and also picked up some wines and jam and chive blossom vinegar at the store. I can now say I've had dandelion wine. It isn't bad, but it's not something you need much of. Saying you're drinking it makes you feel like an elf or fairy, though, so that counts for something.
Funny moment: a young girl, maybe four-ish, ran up to a flock of chickens yelling "Hello chickens!!!" and flapping her wings. She followed them back around their coop, and her dad called out to her, "Don't go back there, honey, that's where the scary inbred backwoods people live!" Which perhaps was not that appropriate a thing to say, but the look on her face was priceless--she had no idea what that meant, but it sounded pretty bad and so she got out of there pronto!
In other news, Big Brown has been retired. During a workout, he whacked one of his front hooves with one of his back hooves and sheared a pretty big chunk of it right off :-( I suppose it's the old trouble with the relative weakness and brittleness of his hooves. It's not expected to be life threatening as long as it can be kept from getting infected, but given his stud value, it is certainly career-ending. He really did do some incredible things as a racehorse and it's sad not to get to see what he'll do next. I hope his feet problems aren't genetic...
You take a tractor-pulled hay wagon to get to the orchard:
( more photos, mostly animals not apples )
It was a nice orchard, rather crowded on a beautiful October day but I would go there again, though more likely on a weekday. I got some lovely apples and ate a fresh cider donut and also picked up some wines and jam and chive blossom vinegar at the store. I can now say I've had dandelion wine. It isn't bad, but it's not something you need much of. Saying you're drinking it makes you feel like an elf or fairy, though, so that counts for something.
Funny moment: a young girl, maybe four-ish, ran up to a flock of chickens yelling "Hello chickens!!!" and flapping her wings. She followed them back around their coop, and her dad called out to her, "Don't go back there, honey, that's where the scary inbred backwoods people live!" Which perhaps was not that appropriate a thing to say, but the look on her face was priceless--she had no idea what that meant, but it sounded pretty bad and so she got out of there pronto!
In other news, Big Brown has been retired. During a workout, he whacked one of his front hooves with one of his back hooves and sheared a pretty big chunk of it right off :-( I suppose it's the old trouble with the relative weakness and brittleness of his hooves. It's not expected to be life threatening as long as it can be kept from getting infected, but given his stud value, it is certainly career-ending. He really did do some incredible things as a racehorse and it's sad not to get to see what he'll do next. I hope his feet problems aren't genetic...
