Saturday, October 18, 2014

Apple pies and fall break in Vernon!

The corn behind our house got harvested. We finally have views to Abbotsford again!


Monday evening and all day Tuesday was apple pie making! We put together over 550 pies! Below are the empty shells waiting for the apple mix and then the lid goes on and a 'fluter' will seal the edges and make it pretty. Each pie will then get wrapped in a plastic bag, placed in a box and labelled. They are then ready for delivery and consumption!


The biggest job is peeling the apples. Fortunately we have these wonderful doodlemalackey machines which peel, slice and core all in the one motion. This was still early in the morning but at one point we had 20 ladies helping either with the peeling or in the kitchen! 

Just to give a bit of an idea, we used over 1400 lbs of apples!



The following day Bernice and myself made our own apple pies with some of the apples we picked on the weekend. Here I got to practice my own fluting! We made 20 pies altogether.



Some things never change and that is licking the bowl is the best part of baking! 



Fall break began on Thursday afternoon for us. Steve had a PD in the morning and we together with just the little girls headed off to Vernon for the long weekend. We travelled a fair ways and then around dinner time stopped at a rest area and had a quick bit to eat. We then bundled the girls in their pj's and carried on. At around 9:30 we found a free camping spot at Elkhart lake although we couldn't see the lake because it was dark! We camped for the night with the intent of driving a few more hours the next morning to get to camp. We slept well till around 3am when we woke up so cold we couldn't sleep. A check on the thermometer showed the outside temp being 3 degrees Celcius. So the furnace went on and we could sleep again all warm and toasty.

The following morning we woke up to a cold but beautiful day! The sun was coming up over the lake and it was so quiet and peaceful. Steve cooked up a bacon and egg breakfast and I took the girls and explored our surroundings.






After breakfast we headed off to our final destination. Along the way we saw the beautiful effects of fall; so bright and vibrant.



This is Steve's co-driver; she lets him know when to turn left or right!


At around noon we arrived at Evely campground, again free. We found a campsite just a couple of metres from the Okanagan Lake. We had no amenities (except a drop dunny) but we were self sufficient.

After lunch, I took the girls for another exploratory walk.





We had our own fire pit but no firewood, so we headed out and picked lots of pine cones and kindling and whatever we could find for our fire. 


We spotted a raft on the beach so Steve headed out with the girls in the canoe to break it up and take the pieces back to camp. 


That night we had dinner in a packet! I put sweet potato/yam along with bacon, carrots and onions in alfoil and tucked them in the coals of the campfire. Steve cooked up some meat and we had a delicious meal!


The following day we headed into Vernon. Our purpose was twofold. One was to attend to the RV's ablutions and secondly to go Davison Orchard which had its pumpkin festival in full swing!

It is an operating orchard with the country village selling all sort of kitchen knick knacks to hot spicy cider to apple pies to hotdogs. There was also a playground for the kids and a penned farm animal area.




There was a museum of sorts with lots of old tractors on display. Here's just a couple!

The caterpillar wheels were used particularly for that area due to the soil type when wet and muddy.

And a couple of corny facts! The second one intrigued me!

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!





Pumpkin anyone?

Steve met scarecrow and the minions!

After an enjoyable afternoon, rain clouds threatened so we headed back to camp. I'm sure the girls hardly ever saw any scenery along the way as they would happily color in pictures or play with some activity at the table!



Back at camp, we got the fire going and the girls just loved tending and stoking the fire! Smores was a big hit too!


The following day was Sunday, so we headed into Vernon to listen to Rev Witten. We spent between services at the Wittens (who are ex-Aussies) so it was great catching up with them.


After the second service we headed back to camp and being the last evening we got the fire going again and finished off the supplies for our smores. By the look on their faces I think they liked them!




The chef hard at work!

The next morning was Monday of course, which also meant time to go home. We decided to go for a quick canoe trip along the lake before loading everything up and heading home.






This photo shows the distance our RV was from the water's edge. Just a hop, skip and jump!


We headed off around 11am and had a great and uneventful trip back home. We arrived home around 4:30pm. We thank our Father for His traveling blessings and also for the privilege of enjoying the beauty of fall! To Him be the praise!


No comments:

Post a Comment