ReNe: apple farm

We went to an apple farm today.

Chudleigh Apple Farm is located in Milton, about 45mins by bus from downtown Toronto. The trip was organized by the International Student Center, which was fortunate for us because, like many places in North America, the farm would have only been accessible by private transport. (That's something I'm finding out every time I think about a trip to some place and start researching transportation to that place.)

We reached the farm around 10am and were told we had four and a half hours to wander around on our own. It's not a very big farm, 100 acres in size, and has both commercial and entertainment (i.e. touristy) sides. There are wagon hay rides, farm animals and so on, but the main attraction, of course, are the apple trees where you could pick your own apples at 99 cents a pound. That's cheaper than most supermarkets in Toronto, where apples start from $1.29 a pound. Included in the cost of our tickets was a small three-pound bag each (extra would cost more), so we limited ourselves to those bags, which turned out to hold approximately six good-sized apples.

Mike on a bale of hay. Notice the moon high up in the sky.



Even though it was late in the apple picking season, which starts in late August and runs till end October, today was a good time to visit the farm as the foliage colors were brillant. It was a little chilly (slightly below 10C), and very sunny.



Can you guess how Mike got the interesting effect below?



When we got to the apple trees, we had a pleasant surprise. The apples right off the tree were wonderfully sweet and juicy, much better than any store-bought apple we've ever tried. Later we found out that the apples we picked could keep for 6-8 weeks refrigerated, depending on variety, which tells you how long store-bought apples have been in storage.

The apple trees were rather interesting; for one, we'd thought they'd be much taller. We've seen apple trees (there are some around the neighborhood) and they were *trees*, where the lowest branch was still taller than average human height. But as you can see from the pictures below, the varieties planted on the farm were shorter, and very convenient. I'm not that tall but I can reach maybe 60-70% of the fruit. The trees, at least the ones in the middle of the rows and the ones least picked, were heavily laden with fruit. At a guess, each tree could have 50 apples?



Later in the day, more and more people arrived and the orchards were starting to look quite crowded.



Something else that's rather interesting. Before 'sampling' the apples, we buffed the one freshly picked off the branch (the dusty looking one on the left, below) with our T-shirt, and the skin became really shiny (right picture, below). I've always thought that the very shiny apples in the stores got that way because of wax, but apparently that may not be the case. (By the way, the apple was picked wrongly; it should not have all those leaves attached. Apparently, the way to pick the fruit without damaging the bud for future fruits is to twist the apple such that the eye at the bottom of the apple faces skywards, and the apple will naturally snap off with a tiny bit of stem left.)

We picked two types of apples: the McIntosh (red, above) and Golden Delicious (yellow, below). The McIntosh was very sweet, almost faintly alcoholic in its sweetness; perhaps that's because it has been ripe and on the branch since early September? The many different varieties on the farm all ripen at different times, which were exactly predicted and printed out on postcards and signboards. The Golden Delicious was more tart, but both varieties were the crispy, juicy type we like (as opposed to the more powdery varieties like the Washington).



It's not far to walk from the main entrance area to the apple orchards, but there were (free) hay wagon rides available and we just had to try. Pulled by a tractor, the wagons had bales of hay people could sit on.



The rides were pretty popular.



For the kids, there are pony rides as well,



... and farm animal exhibits. Feed can be bought from those 'toy-bubble machines' for $1 (the kind that usually holds a plastic bubble containing a small toy; deposit the coin and turn the handle to drop out one bubble). Smart idea; this way, even the exhibits make money. Saw a mother with her kid talking to the animals and Mike was quite agitated. By *talking* to the animals, the mother is teaching her kid to interact with animals on human terms (with human words), and not on their terms. What's wrong with simply looking at the animals as they are, or, for that matter - taking in (obviously, not always ingesting) and appreciating nature in general on its own terms, recognizing its beauty (or otherwise) and other-ness from us, and not imposing a anthropocentric form of relation all the time?


A yarn spinning demonstration, from wool I believe. I noticed, at least within the short span of time I was standing there, that all of the kids that stepped up to take a closer look were female. Why??



Even a scary-looking clown. (Don't you think clowns always look scary?) The farm feels positively festive.



In addition to apples, the farm also sells pumpkins. We got mini pumpkins (munchkins), free with our ticket.



What's with the 'No Smoking' sign near the pumpkins? Are they explosive?



A pumpkin patch.



Lots of retired tractors for the kids, and us, to hop up and take a photo on.


Overall, a very fun trip. Lots and lots of apples. We ate about two apples each as we picked apples, and we also had apple cider and an 'apple blossom' dessert (a small apple pie) with our lunch. In addition to the free bags of apples (about 12 apples), we also bought some apple cider and apple butter to bring home.