Some plans I had for Sunday fell through so I decided it would be fun to go over to MacQueen’s orchard and grab some cider and some apples because we had been itching for an apple pie. The girls were at their Dad’s place… but I knew they wouldn’t mind. We’ll go at least a couple times this fall because they are only a few miles away.

Haha… what a mistake on my part! To go to a very popular fall destination on a beautiful Sunday afternoon! I do believe there was at least 3,458 people there, all trying to park and see the ponies and buy donuts and cider and all that jazz! Still, the wafting smells of the donuts and the fresh cider and all the little bees buzzing around the hot sticky spills on the concrete pushed me on.

Here’s a little secret you just might not know about the old Moby Woman here… I love ponies! I SOOOO want some ponies some day… with my chickens and my farm. I just love the little dudes. I always wanted equines in my life and have always been horse and pony crazy. We’re going out to my friend Bill’s ranch soon, to photograph the horses and visit and all and I just can’t wait! Soooon!

But I’ve always been a goof about ponies.

I have this dream where I want to have like oh three or four beautiful little sweet pampered ponies that I can bring to birthday parties and dress up in beautiful little outfits and give little girls and boys a chance to have a pony for a day. Just fun for birthday parties or photo sessions or just to have around for a day.

Maybe some day!

In the meanwhile, I just had to go and sit on the hill and watch them from afar. When you spend too much time hanging with other people’s kids and you’re just a single solitary person, people act a little weird. It’s hard to explain to them… “naw, I’m not a weird stalker, I could care less about your little darlings, I’m enjoying the ponies!” So I just watched for awhile from afar. I definitely need to add ponies to my Some Day List…

MacQueen’s is a Toledo tradition. You can pick your own, which the girls and I are planning to do next week sometime…. (apple butter and lots of applesauce I do believe.. and dumplins and a few pies! Oh my!) And they also have the cider pressing operation as well as a country store with all kinds of goodies. And of course, donuts.

The donut line was around the store twice, out the door and up and down the hill four times, so needless to say, I decided that I could easily wait for that treat with my daughters. But I did wander the store a bit and found a jar of sweet pickle relish that fit my hand just right and went into my string tote bag right away. From a company called McClutcheons, out of Pennsylvania. I have had a few of their products before and they are simply wonderful. Apple butters and jams are great as well was their relishes and BBQ sauces. We were out of pickle relish, so I got a jar. (And it’s already found it’s way onto a pair of hot dogs for lunch… very good!)

Yeah, $5 a jar of relish is not cheap. Not the highest I’ve seen, either, but still, it feels good to support a family run business. I like that. I find myself always reaching for the local, homemade or at least family run products if I can. I hope that it is a good karma thing, because I so appreciate those people that seek our company out for our homecrafted products. You know, spending $100 with a small family run company can make their day. Spending $100 at a big box store is hardly even a blip in the moment of their day. In fact, I would even suspect that $100 for the big guys is considered a low average sale!!!

And we don’t use relish like it’s going out of style. Hotdogs? Occasional deviled eggs or a tuna salad. A jar will last us a good while. And let me tell you, it takes great. And it doesn’t have a list of chemical compounds and artificial this and that and corn syrup sweeteners in it. Just good basic stuff in it. I like that. I like that more and more as the days go on.

Grabbed some sweet corn from a big bin and a gallon of cider for the girls. Oh yes and a bag of Amish noodles for some chicken soup I’d like to make this week. All good local stuff. Oh, and of course, a half peck of Honey Crisp apples right off the trees. Oh my, they were wonderful.

I ditched my stash in the van and took a little walk through the orchard. It was neat to see all the families and kids around about, and laughing, picking and having a good day. It’s really easy to clump everyone into stereotypes, but you know, there were a lot of different people out there, from straight laced religious families with all the womenfolk in long skirts, to young urban professionals with gel sanitizer chasing after wayward messy children, to even a pair of young goth sweethearts, and it was just way cool to see them all picking apples and having a nice afternoon.

I was noticing the specialized pruning and limbing of the trees to make it easier to pick and harvest the apples. Pretty nifty. I doubt that I will do such drastic things to my little orchard, but I do intend to keep them top clipped so that they don’t get all tall and leggy on me. They are semi-dwarf trees, apparently with a top hieght of about 15 feet if you let them. I think I will try and keep them to about 8-9 feet max and more outward then upward! That’s the plan at least.

Well, all the groups of people and families and people with sweethearts was kinda getting to me after awhile. I think I was the only single person there. I try not to let that bother me too much, but sometimes it can get a little overwhelming and the “poor Me” can start to sink in. Since I’m not really wanting to wallow in that kind of negative thinking, it was time to ditch and get home and get busy with all these good apples!

The girls were coming home that evening, so I decided that a pie would be a wonderful treat home… so I cut up about 7 or 8 of the apples and dusted them with some brown and white sugar, a little cinnimon and allspice and got my crusts ready to go. I’m not going to post a recepie, because everyone has their favorite way to make pie! I do have a trick though that my Grandma Katherine told me one summer that I stayed at their house for a week. You put a little bit of quick oats in the bottom of your pie crust. They will absorb and soak up any excess juice from the fresh apples. And you’ll never even know they were there, because they will look just like apples and with the juice and spices, will taste just like apples, too! I’ve heard of people using cornflakes too! But oats work good for me.

I do have a secret weapon though. I learned it from Pioneer Woman’s Apple Dumpling recipe, which is just so sinful and is to die for… She uses Mountain Dew and a LOT of butter and sugar. Well, I found that a little drizzle of Dew and some pats of butter in the pie really do make for a good tasting pie. I don’t add a lot of sugar, especially if the apples are already sweet tasting. But a little Dew and some butter really makes the pie taste extra special good.

I like to butter up the top a little bit and add a little white sugar to the top. I cover my pies lightly with a piece of thin foil and cook it about 3/4 the way this way. They never burn that way. And the edges don’t get all hard and overcooked. I take it off at the end and let the top get all nice and brown.

Top with some local dairy vanilla ice cream and you are ready to welcome your children home!!!

They love me. (ha ha ha…)

Okay, they love my cooking. And they think I’m pretty keen, too!

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