doodledee

Saturday was one of those days where the weather climbs up on a chair with a megaphone and makes the following announcement: "Attention Apple Lovers: There will never be a better day than today to go pick apples. I'm serious. Check out my blue skies and lack of wind and my nice warm temperatures. And don't forget the honeycrisps are ripe now, too. So go pick apples. That is all." And really, who am I to disagree with the weather?

For those of you still debating about which orchard you should go to, allow me to introduce: Fall Harvest Orchard. And yes, we've done the Minnetonka Orchards routine and the Apple Jacks routine and the Krumbees routine and they're all nice enough and, seriously, if those types of places turn your cider crank, then by all means keep going back. But for my apple-picking dollar, the team out at Fall Harvest is absolutely my go-to family fun orchard getaway weekend destination of preference.

Fall Harvest is a working farm that gets a little extra help from friends and family during the 'open to the public apple and pumpkin season'. They've got the chickens and the cows and the pigs and goats and all that and it's neat because you can just kind of wander around and do your own thing while you're there. Wanna go into the henhouse? Have fun. Down to the pasture to feed a cow? Go get 'em. Drag a wagon out into the orchard to pick apples? Me, too! And that's only the beginning. They've got lots of other animals to see and pumpkins to choose and arguably the best wagon/hay ride ever. (Including a stop where the driver dude gets down and *teaches* about what's going on and another stop where the kiddies can pick a gourd and an ear of popcorn (!!) to bring home. I know!)

So it's fun, but not in that overwhelming apple-orchard-meets-vegas kind of way. And don't let me oversell it - though maybe just a little - just recognize it for what it is: a small orchard that does all the right things to cater to simple, fun loving rubes from the city.

I'll see you there. And don't forget to stuff their donation box. I'll be watching.

Fall Harvest Orchard [fallharvestorchard]
mini-reviews of several local orchards [considertheegg]