One of my absolute favorite parts about fall are the apples. Take the Honeycrisp apple. My friends who work at a farmers market introduced me to Honeycrisps freshman year…and I have never looked back. It’s like autumn incarnate- in an apple. Picture, if you will, walking across campus on a crisp fall day, bright blue skies above and a gentle breeze rustling the leaves that are changing color- and occasionally dropping in front of you before you crunch them underfoot. Now add munching on a Honeycrisp. Fall suddenly becomes perfect.
All this to say that I love apple season, and I love being able to pick my own fruit even more! About 10 minutes away from campus is a farm called Baugher’s, where Outdoors Club often goes every year to pick pumpkins and apples. This fall was no different! We piled up in a car and headed over to the combo giant farm/orchard that is Baugher’s- don’t worry you can’t miss their giant “BAUGHER’S” sign. After being directed by numerous men in orange to park our stick shift on a hill that we would later struggle to get out of, we found our way through stacks of crates to the line to get tickets. Baugher’s system is pretty simple- you can just go to their market and buy stuff, or you can pay $1 to go pick your own apples and pumpkins ($2 to do both). We opted for just apples this year- even as we passed a large group of other McDaniel students all getting in the pumpkin picking line.
Fruit Crates at Baugher’s
I’m not going to lie- it’s really fun. We got driven out to the apple orchard by a tractor and were set loose after learning how much different sized bags of apples cost. Rows and rows of apple trees greeted us, their branches loaded with apples of all types: Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Stayman, Mutsu, Ida Red, Golden Delicious and more. At this point a delicious plan of making an apple pie formed in my head, and I decided to pick the tart crisp ones. We got to meander at will, munching on different apples and climbing under the trees into a literal apple forest, with plump, ripe apples hanging from everywhere.
Apple-picking at Baugher’s
Outdoors Club going apple picking
Outdoors Club reunited, thrilled by our excellent apple choices, and took the trailer back to the market to weigh and buy our purchases. After that – market time!! It’s pretty impossible not to go inside their huge, open barn and not come out wanting anything. They have homemade ice cream (the strawberry is amazing), freshly-made fudge, pastries, bread, jams and loads more. Plus, there are a bunch of kids’ activities and real food just outside the market. Including a giant blown-up pumpkin moon bounce. Who doesn’t want to go on one of those?
It’s always a fun trip to make, and Baugher’s even has a store and market closer to McDaniel- within a 15 minute walk from campus! An excellent stop for all your fruit and veggie needs that is cheaper, and better than the grocery stores in the area.
Need a fun trip for your weekend? Try Baugher’s. Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to make some apple pie.
Outdoors Club with our bags full of apples!
Pumpkins at Baugher’s
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