Cider Festival at the Botanic Garden

This weekend is the Botanic Garden's annual

Cider Festival.

They sell wonderful fresh cider!
We followed the signs to Heritage Farm,

the farm exhibit area.

The produce barn is primarily used for processing cider

this time of year, and for educational purposes.

When Heritage Farm first opened,

the barn could be seen from the walkway.

Now the trees have grown so big that it is hard to see!

The produce barn was bustling with activity!

Volunteers were sorting and washing apples.

I purchased my gallon of cider,

and took it back to my car.

I followed a back path lined with pumpkins and scarecrows.

After leaving the cider in my car,

we returned to Heritage Farm.

The apples sold whole and processed into unpasteurized 

cider were all grown on the property.

The volunteers said that the harvest had been good this year!

We then visited the farm house,

which is a model of a 1940's adobe farm home

from the Rio Grande Valley.

Canning processes were being demonstrated in the kitchen area.

A few women also showed some of their samples

of quilting and colcha embroidery in the farm house.

The livestock barn is behind the farmhouse.

We met two turkeys in the back of the barn!

Hay wagon rides were being offered behind the livestock barn.

Vintage wagons and farm equipment are on display near the field.

 We were happy to see the horses out on the larger field.

This area is fenced off to show what an acre looks like.

A volunteer also shared that the horses were on the field

to protect them from people feeding them apples,

which are near their corral.
Apples can cause colic in horses, and can lead to their death.
Even though signs are clearly posted to not feed apples to the  horses,

some people disregard the notices.

Although flowers are still blooming, and vegetation is green,

the temperatures and dropping

and leaves are starting to turn yellow.

Fall is gently sliding in to our experience of it.