It’s been a few years since we’ve been peach picking at Eckert’s, and we almost didn’t go yesterday because it was raining. It was a light rain, though, and I decided we better just go, otherwise we might miss out on peaches for another year. It turned out to be a nice visit in spite of the rain, and it didn’t even take us that long to pick 20 pounds of peaches!
Picking peaches was fun, but we’re already looking forward to picking apples at Eckert’s later this month!
I love blackberry season at Eckert’s! They are by far my favorite fruit to pick…and eat! I’m always looking for new recipes to try with our bounty, and this time, the children really wanted me to make smoothies. I had fun putting this recipe together…I think the nutmeg makes it extra special. The following recipe makes about 3-4 servings, so I had to double it for our family. You could also easily halve it if you only want to serve two!
Combine all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth, scraping down sides as necessary. Serve immediately.
Today was one of my favorite days of the summer…we went blackberry picking at Eckert’s!
We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day, especially after the heat last week. But I think that same heat was good for the blackberries, because they looked beautiful, and we picked two boxes full!
I have been working hard on improving my skills as a photographer this year, mainly using our Canon EOS Rebel T2i DSLR, and I’m pretty pleased with the results. There were five photos taken with that camera that really stood out at me, starting with this view of the Japanese Garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden covered in snow in March:
This water-lily, also photographed in the Japanese Garden, is the best picture I’ve ever taken:
I also love this picture of Bunny at Eckert’s pumpkin patch:
And the gorgeous fall color in Forest Park:
This picture of Chickadee at the Belleville Christkindlmarkt definitely captures her personality!
And because I can never leave a “Top Five” list at just five, here are my favorite photos taken on my iPhone 6, starting with a selfie I took on January 2, after I finally got the courage to dye my hair a wild color(s):
The tulips blooming in Forest Park in April were beautiful!
And my favorite picture from our vacation to Charleston:
Another shot in Forest Park, this time of the Apotheosis of St. Louis, complete with a halo:
And one more from the Missouri Botanical Garden, this time from the Garden Glow in November:
I’ve learned how to use different settings on our main camera, and I’ve learned when it’s better to use my iPhone to get the shot I want. My goal for the coming year is learn more about aperture and exposure, and hopefully next year, I’ll have even better photos to share!
Since Moose had the day off school today, and because it’s Fuji apple season, it seemed like the perfect morning to go to Eckert’s to pick some apples!
First things first, though…some pumpkin pictures outside the Country Store. You can tell when it’s fall in St. Louis, when you see the children in their Cardinals apparel with pumpkins as a backdrop!
We were on the first wagon of the morning out to the orchard, and we got right down to business:
I’m not sure anyone enjoyed it more than Chickadee…I’ve never seen her eat an apple so quickly!
An apple orchard is a beautiful place to be!
We walked around the Garden Center, where we saw this amazing Cardinals Christmas tree:
We also walked through the Country Store, where we got to watch apple cider donuts being made. Of course we had to buy some (they were even still warm!), to go with the gallon of cider we were purchasing!
It was sprinkling a bit, but we still had to visit the Fun Corral, because climbing in the big apple is an important part of my children’s apple-picking experience:
We also stopped to see the animals. These goats were very excited to see us…they all came running as soon as one of them spotted us! I think they were a bit disappointed that we didn’t have any food, though!
Eckert’s has been part of our family traditions for so long, I almost can’t remember a time we weren’t visiting, and we’re always planning our next trip out to the farm!
We headed out to Eckert’s this (chilly) morning, to look for our Great Pumpkin:
Because buying between 80 and 100 pounds of pumpkins every year was getting a little ridiculous, we tried something new. The children all looked for the perfect pumpkin, and then we chose the best one of those to be our family pumpkin. (They each got to choose a mini pumpkin when we were done, too.)
I think this was a great way to handle pumpkin picking, although I will say, it’s hard to get five children to agree on a single pumpkin!
Another school year is complete!
I’ll be honest…I kind of phoned it in this week. We had three field trips (St. Louis Zoo, Missouri Botanical Garden, and Eckert’s), only one of which was directly related to our lessons this year. They were all fun, though, and that’s all that matters at the end of the year, right?
Other than that, we did some religion, some math, some spelling, some writing, and some grammar. I think that’s about it. We finished the year strong, with everyone scoring 100% on their spelling tests today, which was nice. Today really was a great end to the school year in general, with a trip to Eckert’s to pick strawberries and visit the farm animals, and the assembly of our latest addition to our Lego Architecture collection–the Trevi Fountain.
Overall, I think this was a great school year…sure, there were some bumps along the way, but we all learned a lot (even me!), and had fun doing it. We’re taking a break for a few week before we begin our Illinois state history summer school unit, and then we’ll be back in August, with two seventh graders (when did I get old enough to have students in Junior High?!?), and a third grader!
Today we went strawberry picking at Eckert’s, and Dolly came along. She certainly fared better than Chickadee, who was quite stained by the time we were done! While we were there, we also walked around, and saw some animals…plus the Stl250 cake, which we were glad to see out and in good condition!
Maybe next month, Dolly will get to go blackberry picking with Chickadee!