Apple and Raspberry Picking at Oak Glen

Usually September and October are my least favorite months since it’s normally super hot, right when we want the temperatures to be cooling down, but this Fall has been the coolest in recent memory! Cooler, more fall-like temps have made it seem like we have actual seasons here! It’s been perfect weather for apple picking, which we did a few weeks ago in Oak Glen. We visited Snowline Orchard first and then headed over to Riley’s, all in-time to make our exit by noon when the entirety of the Southern California metropolis was heading up the windy mountain road to descend on the quaint little groves of apples.

Mmmm.. raspberries.

Look what I found!

Showing off their pickings before going in the general store for some fresh apple cider and mini apple donuts.

Meredith was just a baby when we last went to Snowline, so this was her first time experiencing the mini apple donut goodness.

Watching the cider press.

It was still a little early in the season at Riley’s so the crop wasn’t great, but the girls filled up their bags nonetheless. The good apples we ate and the bruised up ones we made into applesauce with the Instant Pot. Applesauce forever!

Much to the girls’ delight, there was a plethora of “olden-type” kids activities at Riley’s farm, with everything from making butter to tomahawk throwing (we stayed away from that section). The girls chose to make and decorate some birdhouses for their activity.

This didn’t end well. Both girls were a little on edge having woken up early to make the drive out here and when the poor helper lady made the mistake of gluing on Samantha’s moss to the birdhouse roof without letting her help, Samantha became, well, unglued. We high-tailed it out of there fast. At least Meredith had a great time!

Burning off the last little bit of energy with a picnic at a really fun local park.

A real teeter totter! YES.

BEST. EVER.

My favorite part of the entire trip was this little unplanned stop at a random old schoolhouse. The free schoolhouse-turned-museum happened to be open, so Amelia (the only one who wasn’t melting down at that moment) and I took a quick tour. We were in love with this ADORABLE school!

My dream classroom, complete with inkwells, a phonograph, and a coal-burning stove for warming little hands. They had photographs of different classes who attended at this school, original cursive ledgers of roll call, handwritten notes from teachers– how Anne of Green Gables!

The girls don’t have desks at preschool, so I had to explain what this was. Amelia liked the idea of a place to keep all her paper and books!

Amelia graciously tolerate posing as my little vintage student. Would love to come back for themed back-to-school photos someday!

Happy Fall, ya’ll!

Lots of love,

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Raspberry Picking in Oak Glen

Since we don’t really have a true “fall” here, we have to make up our own autumn traditions to get our fall fix. While it’s not even close to the beauty of fall in Utah where I grew up and Alaska/Idaho where Jake grew up, Southern California has its own fall goodness, albeit an hour and a half drive from Orange County.

Last weekend, we drove to Oak Glen, an adorable little town with country stores, diners, and apple orchards galore. We stopped at Snowline Orchard because we’d heard they had amazing fresh apple cider and a U-pick apple orchard. While the U-pick orchard ended up being closed that morning, the girls had a blast picking fresh raspberries instead and gorging themselves on apple donuts before working hard in the fields.

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Pretending to pick apples.

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Hooray for fresh, homemade mini apple donuts and hot apple cider!

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So cute and kid sized.

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Meredith was disappointed in the baby food selection, as always.

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Out to the raspberry fields.

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I never knew raspberry picking required such hard work and diligence. They weren’t right in front of you… you had to get down low and really dig to find the juicy ones. I was happy with my five raspberries after about ten minutes of picking, but the twins surprised me– they were occupied for over an hour searching for berries.

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It was like a treasure hunt for them!

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Jake and I switched off wearing Meredith, who was sick and tired of having her face smushed into the raspberry bushes.

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We didn’t end up bringing any raspberries home because the girls ate all of them before we left the orchard.

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Showing off their pickings.

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After getting our fill of raspberries, we stocked up on apples, apple butter, apple jam, apple cider and apple cider vinegar from the farm store. This is about as close to fall as we get around here!

Lots of love,

 

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