Fall Ritual - Carpenter's St. Croix Valley Nature Center

When I was growing up in Adams County, PA - a fruit capital, my Mother would make trips to the local orchards for cherries, and peaches in the summer, and apples and pears in the fall. She did a lot of canning and freezing. And in the fall, she made apple crisp, apple pie and applesauce from all of the apples purchased at the orchards. I missed all of them when I came to Duluth. I do know that many people from here go to WI for apples, and especially Bayfield which isn't too far from us here. But, I never really went. Bayfield has an apple festival that many from this area go to every fall, just like the apple festival that I always went to in Adams County!

As you know, our daughter and her family live in Hudson, WI. A few years ago she starting going in the fall to a place in Prescott, MN, a pleasant and beautiful drive not far from Hudson. The beginning of October I was visiting them, and she and I went to the orchard to get our apples. It's actually the Carpenter's St. Croix Valley Nature Center, and is located along the St. Croix River. The posted photos come from there. They also had raspberries and pumpkins. It was good to see they make "Apple Butter" also.