Tuttle Orchard-Oct. 4, 2012

Tuttle Orchard-Oct. 4, 2012

We had a GREAT time at Tuttle Orchards!  They really gave a wonderfully informative tour.  I learned a lot myself; and I thought I knew a bit about this type of thing.  Some of the information was more appropriate for this year; since we had an early spring followed by a late/ surprise frost that left a "frost ring" on some of their apples.  Then because of our drought this summer, the size of their apples (and quantity) were directly affected.  She held up a specific variety (I forget now which 'crisp' it was) and it was about the size of my hand and she said normally they are at least twice bigger than it was.  I had been wondering how exactly the drought would affect an apple farm.  The pumpkins seemed fine though.

This was my favorite stop--See her puppet bee!!  She gave the best lecture on bee's I've ever heard.  Both sides of the room were full of big, blown-up pictures/posters on bees and apples.  There is a pvc pipe that goes out behind the glass case of bees.  These bees can fly in and out of this glass exhibit.  They put a little colored spot on the Queen Bee so we could easily find her in the middle of all those bees.

This is one of the many rooms/buildings the newly picked apples go through after they are picked. 

This is the back of their gift store.

Isn't this a funny "Hay Ride"!!!!  We were pulled by a tractor out to a pumpkin patch.

Good talk on pumpkin blooms--some are girl blooms; and some are boy blooms-- I didn't know that.

She showed us many pumpkins and gourds and gave a good description of each

Last stop--the playground!!

Tuttle Orchard was really amazing.  They had us go to different educational stations.  One station was on how pumpkin plants get fertilized.  They showed us around 20 different gourds and pumpkins and discussed them.  There was a bee station-- this was probably my favorite.  They covered how bees make honey; and all sorts of great details about bee life.  They had a live bee exhibit--with a tube for the bees to fly out and back.  They walked us through each stop the apples go through--from being on the apple tree, being picked, washed, sorted, sorted and washed again, and then to their different locations as a result of their sorting--the apples with any imperfections are turned into cider, the pulp that is left over is taken back out to the trees as compost.  One thing I didn't know, was that cider is actually a special mix of different apple juices mixed together to create a full, rich flavor.  The most perfect apples are sold in bags at their store. 

We had a late frost this year; so many of their apples that had started early had a 'frost ring' that makes the apple look un-perfect.  Hay ride through the pumpkin patch and we picked out a pumpkin to bring home.