Apple Picking & Carnivals

[Viansa Blake]

Yesterday was a long day, long and lovely. Started off with the breakfast of champions (pancakes, courtesy of my mom) with my 8 yo niece.
The two of us then set out for a music filled two-hour drive to Ochs Orchard
in Warwick, NY. http://www.ochsorchard.net/ I’ve
only been apple picking once before, a very long time ago, and don’t really
remember much about the place, and so, don’t have much in which to
compare. With that said, Ochs seemed… OK. The pumpkin patch was
cute but most of the pumpkins were small. The gravel road to get to
the store and orchard was long and quite narrow in parts. All of the
workers were nice and friendly. The best part of visiting Ochs was the
lesson in humanity. I was reminded that there are good people in this
world, when a lovely Asian family, who barely spoke English, shared the
strawberries they had just picked with us. The woman opened my hand and
put a napkin filled with strawberries in it. I was touched by their
generosity and kindness and that inspired me to share with the next family we
passed. We all got to enjoy sweet strawberries and a smile.

Once we picked our apples and pumpkin, we set out to find Heaven Hill Farm in Vernon, NJ, which is only five miles from Ochs Orchard. http://www.heavenhillfarm.com/ ;
This place was lots of fun! My niece had a blast going on all the rides
and watching the pig race. All of the pigs had names that played off
famous people like, my niece’s favorite, Taylor Ham. We saw horses
and goats, baby ducks and baby chicks. They also had face painting and
sand art, as well as a big Halloween store and tons of pumpkins. Giant
pumpkins! If you have little ones in your life, I would recommend
visiting Heaven Hill Farm.