When I arrived, our group had already toured the orchards and was about to come up the long path back toward the store, restaurant, ice cream shop, etc. We hurried down to meet them as we saw them from the top of the hill where we parked.
Mapleside Farms in Brunswick has beautiful acres of apple trees and an amazing view, which you may be able to approximate from my terrible photo. :-)
The children had been able to pick a couple of apples in the orchard and received a very basic explanation of what a couple of varieties were and how they grew.
When we arrived back in the warehouse, we were able to view the machine that washes and coats the apples in wax to make them shiny. It also sorts them by size.
We walked in the huge cooler where they store their apples and other produce while waiting to sell it. Each child received another apple, a Gala this time, and we were escorted to an empty dining room in the basement under the main restaurant. Here, we were all given apple cider donuts and apple cider, served by the moms attending the tour. Each child was also given a small pumpkin to keep and a coloring book about apples.
My girls especially enjoyed the play area and straw bale slide erected at the end of the building, so we stayed a little after and played with some other field trippers.
There was little information and education involved in the tour, and the tour guide seemed to be not used to teaching children. Most of the children didn't mind this too much and had a good time anyway. The cost was a little more than most farms, $7.00 per child, and $4 per adult. Strollers are a definite no-go, due to the long walk through the often muddy orchard and the long haul back up the hill.
We ended our day with a long drive back home so we could stop at one of my favorite ice cream places ever, Country Maid Ice Cream on Rt. 303 in Richfield. I remember stopping here to get ice cream before we went to the Coliseum to see the Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey Circus when I was a kid. I still remember their pistachio, and I have to tell you it is still just as good as it ever was. Mmmm... that was a nice ending to a field trip.
