A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Ontario

Apples in SW Ontario

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Apple season is gathering in close, and so the Homeschool Review Crew issued the challenge “all about apples”.  Since I have very few apple recipes on my blog, it got me thinking about some of the fun apple things we’ve done over the years.  Apple picking has always been fun.  Where do you find apples in SW Ontario?   So glad you asked! 

Apples in SW Ontario

Apple Orchards

Our family has had tons of apple picking fun at Farmer Jack’s, but they are no longer open which is rather a bummer.   

We did a field trip to Apple Land and found it a nice place to go for apples, it’s a bit of a drive from our house though!  🙂 One of the nice things about doing a field trip with them is they give you a small bag you can turn in for a discount on your next apple purchase.  When we did the tour last time we also got to visit their bees which was rather fun. 

Crunican Orchards is one I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting yet.  I like the variety in the apples they raise. 

Great Lakes Farms in Port Stanley might prove of interest. They have a good group of apples to choose from. 

Over Kitchener way you’ll find Martin’s Orchards. Nicely organized, good apples.  I’ve been to this location and gotten good apples. 

The Apple Orchard Can be found in the Hamilton area.

Ingram’s Apple Orchard in Bayfield is so close, I can hardly believe I’ve never been!  I guess I’ll need to check it out eh? 

If you are looking for apples in SE Ontario, here are 15 you might try out. Or better yet, all across Ontario you’ll find apple orchards. 

Am I missing any?  What orchards to find apples in SW Ontario do you know of?

Apple Recipes

Field Trip: Cantarra Park

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Canatara Park is located in Sarnia, Ontario.   The lad and I went there in the spring after going to the Stones and Bones Museum.   

This is a park of trails and beaches and an animal park.  We spent the bulk of our time at the Animal Park.  We also drove along some of the roads around the park.

 We met another lady there with her family from the group of homeschoolers we went to the museum with.  There was supposed to be a whole group of us, but most of them didn’t make it to where we were which was just odd.   But hey, the lad and I and the other family had a nice time while we were there.

What did we see?

Chickens (my fav) but they were locked up in pens.   I did manage to get a nice picture of this pretty lady though.

 
We saw a variety of other animals as well.   


 We followed our trip to the Animal Park with a drive around the park before heading home again.  It’s a nice park and worth a visit again another time.  I would like to take the bikes and bike around the paths for a while. 

Field Trip: Welland Canal

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When we had our trip to Niagara Falls we prefaced in it with a camping trip and a stop at the Welland Canal.   I couldn’t make it work to see a boat go through, but we did see the Canal and had a chance to go through the Museum they have at lock 7.

We had a good time at this museum, learning a lot, enjoying the air conditioning provided, and just moseying around together.

Here are some of the things we saw:


We had a good time and were glad that we went.   It was too bad I couldn’t coordinate the trip with a boat passing through, but perhaps next year.  🙂

Field Trip: Niagara Falls

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In the Summer we took our international student to see Niagara Falls.  It was one of those sites that he mentioned that he wanted to see while in Canada.  He was from France and was a nice young man.  We were quite pleased to host him.

We walked up and down and took quite a few pictures, I’ll have to show you a few of them.  Here’s one where I made the boys line up for a photo to show that YES we were there.  🙂

As promised, our view of the falls

The day was hot, and we had seen the Hornblower go up and down a few times, one 16 year smiled and nodded yes please, and one 11 year begged to on the boat.  I wasn’t keen on it, but hey… if you are there you might as well right?   It was a long walk up but off we went.

It was so much fun watching the boys.  They both went to the front of the boat and leaned over and got splashed and just filled with grins.  SO WORTH IT!!!   🙂

I suspect we’ll go again next summer with a student if the Lord so wills.  Depends on where we are and what we’ll be doing at that time.   Perhaps we’ll do the zipline (at least the boys and dad) when we go.  🙂

Field Trip: Kitchener Symphony

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In October my son and I went to Kitchener, they were doing a children’s symphony event there.  We went with our homeschool group.

BOY, did the lad and I have fun.

It was a rather neat program, they sent us the music before the program so we knew what music to expect.

No cameras were allowed during the program so I only have this so-so shot while they were warming up.

The conductor did a really good job as introducing each piece and telling the children what to expect from it.

In the hall of the mountain King , oh my how my lad liked this song, and has asked for me to play it again for him more than once.  🙂

The conductor explained that you could hear the fellow creeping into the mountain and having some goblins or something start to sneak up behind them, and then a huge race at the end… would they catch him or would he escape.    My lad LOVES the imagery and the music..ah.. it makes him smile.

They did 10 pieces in all, each time the conductor gave some explanation of the piece and gave the students something to listen for.   Sometimes he provided imagery, other times he asked what emotion the piece asked or demanded of them, and so forth.  All the different ways the music tells a story were explained and demonstrated.

If you ever have a chance to go to a Children’s lesson time at the orchestra, do so.  You’ll learn much and be able to watch your children’s faces light up with joy.