Apples!!!

On Wednesday, we moved Gracie back to Big Rock Campground, about 30 miles south from Paul Wolff Campground; both are Kane County campgrounds and both are part of forest preserves. We had stayed the two weeks that we were allowed to stay in Paul Wolff, so moved to Big Rock for a few days before we leave the area.

In the afternoon, we drove over to Kuipers Family Farms in Maple Park, IL, to visit their farm and get some apples.

Front of the shopping area

a truck in the front of the shopping building

inside the building -- the "first" room (of many) - loaded with seasonal decorations and food items and  tchotchkes of all kinds

A picture of some of the trees out the back of the shopping area

after we left the shopping area and were walking back to the parking area, there were a number of interesting vehicles...

These reminded me of tractors we had when I was a kid

This tractor had a crank on the front and people would crank it...

There's some kids cranking it after we had walked past - it seemed to run for a little while after they cranked it!

After doing our shopping, we went over to the "U-Pic" area (which is only open on the weekends)

Some of the trees in the U-Pic area

We had purchased (in the store) 1/2 peck of HoneyCrisp seconds (some bruises and spots) for $9.99. Other varieties were from $9.99-$14.99 for 1/2 peck (first quality), and $19.99 and up for full pecks. We figured if we had come on the weekend and we had picked our own, we would have ended up with 2*1/4 peck or 1/2 peck for 2*$10.99 or $22... So, we didn't have the "fun" of picking, but we got a better deal!

Varieties and what they are good for -- it is interesting that the Honey Crisp indicates they are not good for pies or sauce, but I made "stewed apples" with some of what we purchased and it was very good!

Orchard rules

some of the trees near the U-Pic entrance area

There were some information boards near the U-Pic area -- I found a couple of articles to be interesting so have copied from the photos I took for your reading enjoyment...

This chart gave 10 reasons to adore apples -- I posted each one below. I guess it is true that "an apple a day keeps the doctor away"!

This was a picture of the parking area -- rather empty on a Wednesday afternoon, but they have parking for many, many vehicles in preparation, I guess, for the weekends. This weekend, their pumpkin area is opening up, and it looks like they have additional fun and games for kids available with that.

The 1/2 peck that we bought -- about 1/2 used at this point!

We have eaten a couple, I stewed a few, and I tried freezing one apple (in slices) for use in smoothies (not sure how that is going to work out). I know that I can freeze stewed apples, and that we'll be able to enjoy those further down the road. It was a fun visit to the Kuipers Family Farm - and kind of amazing how large a production (huge amount of gift shop space) they have for a market that lasts from the end of August (August 22 this year) to the end of the year (with Christmas trees being part of their business).