Orchard trip



The "fruits" of a wonderful day-
but I was beginning to wonder if the car would hold everything.

 

Quick picture post today- I'm having fun in the kitchen this week drying apples, toasting pumpkin seeds, and making preparations for the upcoming holidays, but I just wanted to share a few pictures of our recent trip to the apple orchard.
Hubby and I usually head toward middle Tennessee to make our fall apple run but this year we decided to take a different route.... my wonderful friend Tammy from the blog Simple Southern Happiness posted last month about her trip to a place in North Georgia called Mercier Orchards, and her pictures looked so wonderful I had to see it for myself. Unfortunately, I didn't get to take any pictures while we were there because a certain bulldog had a very full bladder by the time we arrived, and in our haste to find a potty spot I left my camera in the car. I did take some pictures of the view on our way home, however....


This is part of the North Georgia mountains......

And this is looking back toward Tennessee.... Chattanooga is way off in the distance.

This was about a 3 hour drive for us, but well worth it because the drive is so beautiful this time of year.

Once Lily emptied her bladder and had a snack, she pretty much slept the rest of the way home. (Except for when we stopped at Chik-Fil-A....)

When we got back home and unloaded the car, I took some pictures of my goodies....

Apples, of course- a bag of Arkansas Blacks for my daddy and for Hubby, and a large bag of cooking apples for me.

A bag of yummy sweet potatoes....

Some homemade fried pies from their bakery...

These next items made me squeal when I put them in the shopping cart- harvest nut and grain pancake mix and real maple syrup. *SQUEEEAL*  Oh, sorry.. I did it again....

This stuff is out of this world- muscadine cider. It's so much better than grape juice- it's not too sweet but has a wonderful fruity flavor.

This was Hubby's favorite part of the stash- grape jelly and pumpkin butter for his toast and biscuits plus yummy zucchini pickles and black bean salsa for snacking.

It was neat to see some items in their cold storage that we are very familiar with- fresh sliced bacon from Benton's Country Ham and cheese from Sweetwater Valley Farm- both of them local products from East Tennessee.

And lastly- there was no way I was leaving there without this....

Now my biggest dilemma is... where do I start? *YUMMY*

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I just want to say how thankful I am to have such wonderful blog friends who visit here
and take the time to read about the little everyday happenings in my life....

I hope everyone has a happy and blessed Thanksgiving!