Temples at the Farm

Last week I got the brilliant (no that's not sarcasm) idea to take the family up north to pick apples from an orchard. I'd never gotten to do anything so mainlandish as pick fresh fruit for a fee. So I looked around at rental car agencies in the area only to discover that they had drop off times on Saturday around noon and were closed on Sunday. Because I'm not smart like Nadiya who told me about her method after the fact, I didn't look at agencies an hour out of the city in order to get a cheap weekend deal. Instead I went with Zipcar which while more expensive was awesomely convenient. The Zipcar people at the Manhattan office were friendly and helpful. I know. NYC. Surprising. One girl gave Keahi a rubber frisbee which we later had fun with zooming around the house. I'm still a little unsure about the whole using your zipcar card to open the car. Does that mean anyone with a card could open my car while I'm away? Or does only my card work on this particular car during my reserved time? Hmmmm. Anyhow, picking up the car went smoothly since it's in walking distance of the house--another plus for living in Park Slope. The one snag was my ever slowing gait due to my oven-shrunk shoes giving me heel blisters and numbing my toes. Note to self: do not dry sodden sneakers in the oven even though it works for Israel's shoes.

So we loaded into the tiny Rabbit car named Rita (yes, actual name--not picked by us)with enough books and activities to keep the kids occupied for 2 two hour trips. The car ride went mostly smoothly except that the kids didn't grove quietly to the jazz music as Iz had hoped. It felt wonderful to see country again. Thick forests sprinkled with fall colors and "tall, tall mountains" as Keahi called them. I told him we'd go to Alaska someday and he'd see what tall and big really meant. We saw some deer along the way--though Keahi missed it because according to Iz all he could have seen were deer-like blurs at the speed I was going. I do love the open road with no cops in sight.

As we got closer to the farm (Lawrence Orchard Farm), Iz and I talked about how hard it would be to decide where to live permanently in the event that we somehow didn't end up back in Hawaii. There are so many beautiful places. After the cramped living in the city, we kept getting space envy looking at all the large properties with their manicured lawns and two car garages. A swing set in the front yard? Is that a soccer goal? Yeah, as much as I love the convenience of living in Brooklyn, I do long for open spaces and the privacy of living anonymously. I can't wait to not hear people walking, repairing, talking, washing, and other private activities through the thin walls of our cubicle apartments. Divisions like walls are really mostly for show and you have to train yourself not to hear things.

Soon we arrived at Lawrence Orchard Farms. Rolling hills covered in fragrant ripening fruit.

We picked up a wooden wagon for the fruit and the kids and set out on our first apple adventure. Keahi kept jumping out of the wagon to pick dandelions and Jarom couldn't keep his fingers off the rotting fruit on the ground, but it was a joyful family outing.


We let the kids munch on a decent apple from the ground--really, they've got to expect that kind of thing--and picked ourselves some huge Fujis and Granny Smith apples. We couldn't find any pears and were distracted from our goal of peaches, but we did manage to get sweet and hot peppers, an unintended eggplant that Keahi picked too quickly for us to stop, corn, one tomato and pumpkins.

I'm sad we missed out on the hay bale maze and the horse-carriage rides but maybe another time. The boys enjoyed feeding the swans in the picturesque pond/lake. I called it a pond but Keahi said ponds were smaller.


The boys and I also picked a bunch of pretty fall leaves that I will hopefully make into wrapping paper for Christmas while Iz took pictures of the tire mountain, red wagon graveyard, and other not so pretty parts of the farm.






I am officially in love with autumn. I started out freezing in the chilly breeze in the morning but by the afternoon I was down to the first layer of clothes. I can't wait to see this place covered in snow when we (if we can afford it) come back to get a Christmas tree. Our first one ever. Yay.