i've always wanted to pick apples. i love anything that smacks of fall and i have a penchant for picking fruit, a side effect (although pleasant, and no itching to speak of) of going to u-pick all sorts of things as a kid. the berry farm of my childhood was an amazing place - not just the berries, but the roaming, the shady moist areas under the windbreaks, the off-limits pond that had frogs that peed on your hands (which you only found out about when you went to the off-limits pond), the rotten strawberry fights... but i've never actually done u-pick tree fruit, a few stolen peaches aside.armed with our too-zoomed out google map and a baby who didn't want to take a morning nap, jamie drove us way out to abbotsford to a lovely farm called the apple barn. if you just want apples, you can just pick apples, but if you want kid fun palooza and country fest ahoy, you can pay $3 and get access to a hayride, petting farm, an amazing looking bouncy thing, big slides and a zipline and all manner of delights.
we pretty much just did the apple picking and visited the petting zoo, because i like to dawdle and cole was excessively tired by the end, but it was totally a fun trip. i will ignore the fact that they were playing country music, because although i abhor country music with all the fibres available to me, it seemed relatively fitting and festive somehow. they have fresh pressed cider too, and these delicious apple cider sluhies that are really, really good.
different apples are available at different points in the season, which lasts september and october. we picked honeycrisps and they are amazing! huge, so juicy and crispy and the picking was a breeze. i think i got the "duh" look when i asked how long it would take to pick a 10 lb bag (i had a napless baby and many amusements to consider!). it would have taken about 3 minutes, but we paced ourselves and took our time. 
we stuffed our bag to the point of ridiculousness and it only cost $8.00! i can't wait until fuji's are ready - early october, i hear - to go back again.
