As 2011 is starting to wind down it’s hard to believe that our family has lived on the Orchard for a whole year, so it’s time to consider 2011 in review! Living in the country definitely has it’s perks and as a family we’ve really enjoyed being on the orchard and interacting with all our wonderful customers who stop by, as well as our awesome crew of employees (who’ve become like extended family to us!) I wanted to take some time to share with you some of the highlights from this year in pictures– enjoy!
2011 began with snow, snow, and more snow. Our children loved playing and exploring in the bountiful fluffy white stuff. The plentiful snow did create some adventures here at the orchard though, the most memorable one was the milk truck getting stuck in our lane after a delivery. The boys loved watching the process of hauling it out. Until it was all said and done– it took a tractor and two pick-up trucks to haul the brave truck out the driveway!
After all the remnants of late winter storms melted away, spring planting could finally begin! Our spring delivery of red raspberry bushes from the nursery was met with much excitement from our boys– our older son enjoyed helping Daddy unpack a few of the plants. He loves “helping” his Daddy work around the orchard.
Spring flew by in a flurry of activity and was met with an extremely stormy summer. Although the weather was a fruit grower’s nightmare– the stormy skies did provide quite a few breathtaking pictures. Here’s one of my favorites:
Despite all the rain we were able to sneak in a few sunny days around here for some big events! One was our company picnic. Our family was so blessed by being able to meet all the families of the employees as well as their beautiful children. Miss Linda (from story time) even helped us have a giant candy scramble!
Our family was also very pleased to get a beautiful day for the wedding of my sister in law Janell to her wonderful husband Alfredo. They were married on the new dock that was built in the spring by the orchard pond.
With a hectic growing season and a summer full of weddings (our family attended eight) our summer quickly flew by. Before we knew it, it was time for our fall festivities! We enjoyed the fresh cider and even had some of our friends over to share the experience of pressing cider.
Our youngest’s favorite fall activity was playing in the bins of corn with all the tractors that we had set up as part of our Family Fun Days.
Unfortunately our Fall festivities were brought to an abrupt halt by our unusual Halloween snow. Snow?!?! Yes, that’s right we had a massive snow storm in October, we measured a whole foot.
As 2011 drew to an end, the busyness picked up a bit more in our farm market and bakery. Baker Heidi and her assistant– my sister in law Kim –worked through the night to bake her scrumptiously famous Thanksgiving pies. This year they baked 1,396 pies for Thanksgiving orders all from our tiny bakery– I’d say that’s an accomplishment!
