Arbor Day Farm
Apple Picking

We walked out to the orchard and saw apple trees.  We looked at posters of the apple trees in all different seasons.  We learned that apple blossoms have 5 petals.

After they pick the apples by hand, they are put in big bins like this.

The bins are kept in the cooler.  This room was 34 degrees!  We didn't stay too long.

The apples are washed and polished.  Then they are sorted by size and quality.

These apples are ready to be shipped to grocery stores in Omaha or Lincoln...

...or you could by a bag of apples at Arbor Day Farm.

Here are where the apples are stored.  We learned that Mr. Porter started the apple orchards at Arbor Day Farm.  He loved apples and ate one at every meal.

Some apples have blemishes so they are made into cider. 

This is the cider press that squeezes the cider out of the apples.

The cider is then stored and pasteurized.  This is the holding tank for the cider.  You can see that they fill the jugs, four at a time, from this tank.

We got to taste some of the cider...YUM!

We learned about the parts of a tree and how they grow.

Then everyone got a tree to take home and plant!

Thanks for the trees!  We're going home to plant them now.