Fall Pilgrimage, Sunday, September 21st

With the school year in full swing and me working on Saturday, Sunday is our day for family outings. This week we headed out to the Nashoba Valley Winery and Orchard in Bolton, Massachusetts, for our annual fall visit. Jennifer and I have been going there every fall since before Maura was born and Maura has made the trip every year of her life so far. Besides having and orchards where you can pick apples and other fruits in season, Nashoba also has a winery that makes excellent fruit wines, a micro brewery and a licensed distillery where they make their own brandy. They also have a restaurant. Nashoba Valley puts on a festival in the fall each year. This year it was Family Day, with less emphasis on their alcoholic products and more on apples and children’s activities. We were joined on our trip by our good friends, Andrew and Julie Tittler and their son Peter.

The trip to Bolton from Weymouth took about an hour, with a quick stop in Dedham to drop off our contribution to the evening’s supper at the Tittlers’. We arrived in Bolton at about one thirty. We started our festival experience with lunch while we waited for the Tittlers to join us. We had hot dogs with shared sides of beans and red cabbage coleslaw. Everything was delicious.

Once everyone had gathered we headed out into the orchard to pick some apples. The apples had some hail damage so it was a challenge to find good ones. Maura played with Peter and picked mostly for the Tittlers’ bag while Jennifer and I filled ours. We picked a peck of Liberty apples, since they seemed to be the best cooking apples that were ready for picking. They make great apple sauce and are crisp and tasty for eating fresh as well. I haven’t made any pies but I plan to try this weekend.

After apple picking we took a rest at the picnic field. A bluegrass band played live and several kids games were set up around the field. Peter wasn’t feeling well so the Tittlers headed home, but we stayed a while longer to enjoy the music and to watch a juggler perform. We shared a fresh made caramel apple and enjoyed the nearly perfect weather.

The only downside to the trip for us came on our way home. We ran into a bad traffic jam on the highway. It took us as long to go five miles to the bottleneck as it had to drive all the way from Weymouth earlier in the afternoon.