Today we went to Maple Leaf Orchard in Spring Valley, Wisconsin.  It's quite a distance from our home, but it was worth it.  We went with a homeschool group that just formed this year.  I've known two of the moms now for some time.  It's nice to be connected now through homeschooling.

The weather was very cold for being outside...about 38 degrees and light rain.  There were even some snowflakes mixed in.

Anyways...there were 3 families and about 8 children who went on the hayride through the orchard and farm. 

The farm has over 4,000 trees - 3,500 which are apple.  The rest are maple, pear, and cherry trees.  There are also grapes, bees, and a whole maple syrup operation. 

The hayride was really nice.  Absolutely beautiful.  We stopped a couple of times to taste some apples, learn about pest management, pruning trees as a natural way to reduce insect damage (they prune the trees every year so air and light move through the trees). 

Came back to the building where the apples and other products were.  The children watched the apple polishing and sorting machine.  The girls each chose 5 apples each. 

Then Olivia and I picked three bags of apples from the seconds (only 40 cents per pound!).  Chose about six varieties for applesauce, apple pie, and drying.

I also let the girls pick out some miniature pumpkins, Indian corn, and a couple of small gourds to decorate the home.  Then we chose 2 birdhouse gourds. (I'm curious to see if we can get them to dry and then use them for birdhouses next year.)

We got a quart of maple syrup and a gallon of apple cider (both of the products are made there at the orchard). 

Driving home we saw the big bison ranch.  The homeschool group thought that a field trip in the spring to see how maple syrup is produced plus a visit to the bison ranch would be interesting.

Came home and added the miniature pumpkins to the fall display. Now it's done.  The girls really like looking at the display while they eat their meals.