Our 2009 U-Pick apple season ended sooner than usual as the earlier cool weather caused the later ripening apples to ripen a couple of weeks early. Unfortunately, we had to turn down many groups that wanted to do the U-Pick tours. Please get your field trips lined up early for our next apple season.

We offer field trips to school and other groups beginning in mid August and continuing until mid October. We offer tours only on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of each week, mornings or afternoons, during the apple season. We encourage your group to book early, as we do limit the number of tours, and the spaces fill quickly once school is in session. We do make special after-school arrangements with Scout and church groups.

The fee for the orchard u-pick tour is $3.50 per person (There is no charge for adults accompanying school groups.  The minimum in a group is 10.  If a group is smaller than 10 a $35.00 fee is charged.

Depending on the age of the group, the tours last from 1-1/2 to 2 hours. It is a walking tour and includes a visit to the dwarf orchard where the apple varieties are discussed and the students are shown how to pick an apple from a dwarf tree without breaking off the branches. Depending upon the varieties available, the students will pick at to  varieties of each of the apples available.

The bee yard is visited and the life of the honey bee is discussed. From a safe distance the students can see the bees flying in and out of their hives.

During the walking tour, they might also encounter the guineas that roam freely eating grasshoppers, ticks and lots of bugs. If we are lucky, sometimes the group gets to see where a guinea has built a nest in some bushes or flowers to lay her eggs. They might also encounter the African Geese as they stroll around the farm in slow motion, generally in a line, looking for weeds to nibble on.

We stop off at the pond to look at all the different types of ducks swimming around. If the group arrives in the morning, they can see the ducks and geese take their morning bath.

The alpaca barn and pasture is the final leg of the walking tour. The group will learn lots of things about the alpaca; and they even get to pet a baby alpaca, feeling their soft fiber.

The tour ends up in our farm store building, where the children wash their hands, get to make some apple juice with their fresh picked apples Additional questions are answered, the observation bee hive is visited, The group can see fiber from the sheared alpacas and view types of clothing the alpaca fiber is made into.

Before the group departs, the teachers are given some take-home materials for each of the children. This might include such things as honey sticks, picture post cards of the alpacas, pictures to color of alpacas or the honey bee yard and an alpaca necklace.

This tour is about 1-1/2 hours in length and can be set up most any time during the week including weekends during the off season.

The participants  will have a hands-on opportunity to socialize with the alpacas. They will learn how we care for the alpacas, trim their toe nails, worm and weigh them monthly and what our morning and evening barn chores consist of. If the participants  wish, they may lead an alpaca through an obstacle course or try to train a young alpaca to walk with a halter and lead.

They  will get to see what we do with the fiber that is sheared off the alpacas in the spring. They will also watch a spinning demonstration and can participate in a weaving demonstration. As a take home project, each participant will be making a felted project.

The fee for the alpaca tour is $3.50 per participant with a minimum of 10.  If a group is smaller than 10 a $35.00 fee is charged.  Please bring your camera and plan on getting your picture taken with an alpaca.