The Apple Ranch Field Trip!

We had such a great time traveling to Los Rios Apple Ranch in Oak Glenn. We were blessed with a cold, crisp perfect Fall day and were so excited to be out of the classroom and enjoying God's gorgeous creation.

We were so excited to find icicles hanging from the trees when we arrived. It was so cold the night before that it froze the water from the sprinklers! Too cool! :)

We met Johnny Appleseed who took us on a tour of the orchard. He told us all about the ranch, how apples grow and even about the "neighborly" bear who lives in the area. Above is a picture of Arkansas Black apples growing in the orchard. YUM! We found out that this was Walt Disney's favorite apple and was the reason why he used it as THE apple in the movie Snow White.

The apple packing house is the original packing house on the ranch. It is still used today to clean, pack and store the apples for the season.

Ben's mom and Mr. K volunteered to sort the bad apples out from the good ones. It was a lot harder than they thought...but they did a great job! :)

The apples we chose were brought back to school for our caramel apple making party the next day!

In the packing house there is a very cold walk-in refrigerator where the apples are stored for the season. It was freezing for the second graders but felt ohhh so good to their teacher! :)

Mrs. K wishes she could keep the classroom this cold all year through! :)

We learned that the non-organic apples we eat from the grocery store can be anywhere from 6 months to 5 years old! :( Can you believe that? I guess that's why the fresh apples from here taste soooo good!!! Anyone wanna help Mrs. K plant an apple tree outside our classroom? ;) hee hee

After the packing house, we headed to the little farm area. We loved the baby goat and laughed at the rooster who was happy and content on the piggy's back! :) We learned that there are many WILD animals in the area including bobcats and bears.

We then headed to the cider making station and made our very own apple cider! Mayanie's and Hannah's dad's helped crank the old cider press as we threw in apples to be crushed! It was so much fun making FRESH apple cider.

Mrs. K was so bummed that she did not charge her camera battery before the field trip and therefore missed that part of our tour! Lesson learned! :) But she knows there are AWESOME parents out there who took great pictures of the day. If you have any pictures you'd like to share from the day, please feel free to pass them on to Mrs. K! :)

Thank you to all the wonderful parents who helped to drive and chaperone on our field trip. We wouldn't be able to experience such a great day without YOU! :)