Cut Worms Convention

One morning as I exited the house to go for a run I was met with a slew of what I thought for a second was a bunch of little mice turds...

 ...but it was a massive take-over of cut worms (moths) crawling around on the sidewalk and drive. 

 So I bent down and looked closer and saw they were in the lawn too.

So then I looked at the lawn from the side and realized it was a convention, ahem, infestation! What?! If I stared in one place the whole lawn looked like it was moving. Because it was. We've had some irregular weather, so I suppose it created perfect conditions for the worms to hatch ALL AT ONCE. We were headed out of town so we couldn't do any kind of pest control so naturally the little pigs completely decimated the yard in September and it has BARELY come back this week.

I'm just glad we don't have any landscaping for them to eat! Welcome to Texas where the bugs are plentiful.

Apple Hill with Adam

Apple Hill is another California specialty that Adam has been missing out on. So we went a couple weeks after it opened. It was beautiful. Most of the orchards were still laden with fruit and even the grape vineyards hadn't been harvested yet.

Naturally we went to Rainbow Orchards for fresh squeezed cider (no additives or preservatives) and hot, made to order cider donuts.

 I ate four. Shhh.

 Many of the farms have a huge collection of squash to purchase as well.

 Next door to the Rainbow Farms are the Larsen Orchards.

Their old farming equipment is on display with Grandpa Larsen sitting in a chair at the entrance to answer any questions you may have. 

We had one question: What is this thing? (Below)
It's a "power house" pulled by a team of horses and powers whatever machinery is attached behind it. What HARD work that must have been...for the horses.

 Inside the Larsen Apple building fresh apples get sorted and boxed while you watch.

Outside of the building you can see where they dump the crate of apples and how they get separated from their leafy parts.

This wall of crates is incredibly impressive. How does it not tip over? I wonder if they know how Instagramable this spot is? (If they did, they wouldn't leave equipment in front of it...equipment I photoshopped out. Ha!)

At another farm we bought 3 variety of apples we'd never heard of, and that's why I can't remember to tell you what they are now. They went from REALLY sour to VERY sweet and they were fresh. And so flavorful that in comparison, Adam's soda had none.  

Most of the farms have piles and piles of apple pies in their freezers. In some cases they look "tossed" in. I was surprised to see this! How totally awesome. I want piles and piles of pies in MY freezer!

We also snuck into the shop where Mom is selling some of her hot pads and quilts and took some pictures of them in action.

It was a lovely drive and day of eating. We purchased a couple of apple butters to try (I've been craving some forever...and then we forgot to take them home with us. Pfffh.) And a caramel apple to share and a jug of fresh apple cider. If we'd had time I'd have bought apples to make a pie too! Sigh, there's no where to pick fresh apples and have a day like this around here. I know. I looked it up.