We've been studying apples these past few weeks, which is a great way to welcome the fall. (Another great way to welcome fall is to enjoy foggy, cool mornings outside, which we did as we waited for the farm to open. Here, the kids are drawing in their daily journals.)
As a spin on the regular apple-picking exercise, I decided to combine it with an art project and we hosted an apple-printing playdate at a local, tiny, wonderful organic orchard. (Well. The crazy mosquitoes were not wonderful, and the DEET-filled bug spray we used probably countered much of the organic effect. The mosquitoes were so bad, though, that I've never been happier to spray a bottle of chemicals all over myself and my kids.)
But the farm! It's such a sweet antidote to the over-the-top attractions at another orchard just down the road. (We love that orchard too, but mostly for its animals and playground and farm store full of toys and games and honey sticks.)
We picked apples for a bit, then the kids started exploring. I returned to the trees after taking Lucy to the bathroom to the announcement that the boys had discovered a skeleton in the compost piles. We guessed that it was a deer skeleton, amazingly intact and pretty awesome to examine.
Later, after buying our apples and chrysanthemums** and informing the not-at-all-surprised farmer about the deer skeleton, we started our art project.
There was stamping and the more general apple painting, and, in the case of Lucy, some overall body painting, too. Truthfully, the exercise was much less messy than I'd anticipated, although Lucy did admit to smearing paint on another boy's shirt. (And Thomas kept attacking his younger sister; I felt guilty about it the whole day.)
(there was also a squashphone!)
*Also, it gives me the best excuse when Lucy tries to toss an $8 pint of organic blueberries into our cart at the market. "Oh, Lucy, don't forget, we're doing apples this week!" We've now entered the season when the only fresh fruit our budget can accommodate apples and citrus fruit, and our freezer is extra full of frozen berries to prove it.
**Top-10 reason to home school: parents learn, too. In this case, Kevin learned that "mum" is short for "chrysanthemum."
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