A walk through the Ash Creek Ranch and the Bountiful Orchard

  Our first morning as Mr. and Mrs. Connors, we awoke on a beautiful ranch surrounded by mountains and nature! We are firm believers that life offers up little signs; certain rare moments in life that make you pause and wonder if such a thing as coincidence exists? These are the moments to take notice and this particular morning we stumbled upon a rare encounter. It was one of those chance meetings where you can feel in your heart  that I am supposed to be here right now, at this moment.


Like all of our mornings, we started off this special day with a cup of coffee, our two puppies, and a stroll through nature. Most everyone was still asleep so we sneaked out of the house while all was quiet.

   We wanted to soak up every last minute of this beautiful ranch before we had to pack it all up and head out. Along the driveway leading down to the creek, Hitch the hound  discovered his first peacocks as they darted across the road into the sage brush. Hitch pulled us all the way down the road to investigate these new colorful critters. While he sniffed around, the horses grazing in the pasture spotted us and meandered over our way.  They leaned over the fence looking for a snack while they investigated the puppies. We picked some fresh apples and pears off the fruit trees that line the driveway to feed these hungry horses some early morning snacks! There is just something about these magnificent animals that draw you in, their soothing stature perhaps,  that makes you want to pet them, and your hands always finds that flat spot between those big beautiful eyes.



  Hitch was eager to leave the horses and say good morning to his new friend the burro that lives down by the creek. We made our way back to the beautiful spot by the creek where we became forever husband and wife. Mr. Burro greeted us by his little house under the tree house and we had just enough apples leftover to give him a good treat before the hound was ready to investigate the creek again. The poor babies had  been on a leash for two days and the hound was itching to run. A beautiful pasture filled with flowers and green grass stretched out before us and as soon as the leash left their collar the pups took off. They ran in circles through the grass, rolling in the flowers, and splish-splashing through the creek. We were enjoying a moment of pure bliss when a man  hollered over to us asking if we had a camera. He wanted to show us something in the nearby pasture. We thought it was the owner of the ranch we rented, so a little  curious, we made our way over to him. As we cut through the back side of a pasture we found ourselves on the edge of an orchard. We were also surprised to discover the man wasn't the owner of the ranch we rented but the neighbor Roger, who happens to be a horticulturist. He was just a sweet, happy man and after he introduced himself we set off into his orchard as he shared with us his rare beauties.

While we walked underneath trees of vibrant peaches, apples, and pears he told us all about the varieties and the process he goes through to keep the orchard going. I think he was more surprised than us to find we had a lot in common and here he was thinking we were just some silly city slickers... Before you know it he invited us up to his house so I could get a pail of his very special apples...

  Now for those of you that don't know, there is such a thing as a baking apple and an eating apple. If you have ever bitten into a turnover and had a mouthful of pastry and very little apple, that my friends is because they didn't use a baking apple. As the baking process unfolds and if you chose the correct apple, you will find that they don't shrivel away. 

  Years ago Matt called one night to check in on me and see how I was doing... He asked as he always does, "What's Poobird doing?" Without thinking I replied, "researching apples for my pie." Matthew just started laughing at me. Who researches apples? A poobird does apparently and to this day he gets a kick out of that.

 

Canned goods

  The particular apple that Roger filled my pail this beautiful morning is called a Gravenstein apple.  They used this apple to keep the troops fed during WWII. Now this species of apple is nearly extinct. However, on Ash Creek Ranch it looks like the Gravenstein apple is in good hands and surviving. Now I have a pail full of the perfect cooking apples to test out the Dutch apple pie recipe he gave me to try. When we get home I will have to give this recipe a try and see if it's good enough for my recipe book.

It only takes one bite to realize the Gravenstein apple is not only for cooking but snacking too.   It's the perfect size to pluck and munch on right from the tree! One bite of this crisp apple and your mouth is filled with the perfect blend of sweet-tart flavors.  After years of searching for the perfect all-around apple...this Gravenstein is definitely the one.

Gravenstein Apples

Not only did Roger have a beautiful thriving orchard but a lovely garden bursting with every vegetable you can think of.  A patch about 30ft by 30ft was overflowing with vegetables closely guarded by one of his many cats. We walked to the back of his patch where he unearthed a perfect little carrot. We stood their discussing his fertilizer techniques while I munched away on the sweetest carrot I have ever eaten. Absolutely no need to alter this thing of beauty in any way, just pull it straight up from the garden and enjoy. Before I left his little garden patch I had a couple carrots, green beans and fresh ears of corn. We chatted a while longer before we said our goodbyes and promised to come back for the Apple Harvest Festival in October. We left Roger with an armload full of goodies. Freshly picked produce, apples, canned tomatoes, peach preserves, pickles, and a book entitled Patriots: A Novel of Survival In The Coming Collapse. If Matt and I had the money, we would buy the vacant land next door tomorrow and start working on our own ranch.  We could make do for ourselves, and we'd welcome friends and family to a place to gather and live off the land.

The 13th of October is the Apple Harvest Festival in New Harmony, UT and we plan to make our way back over there to support Roger and his ranch this fall. Plus it's for a good cause, we'll be supporting a small farmer and the New Harmony volunteer firefighters as well.  It's rare to find people in this world dedicating their life to something they love and sharing it with others by a chance encounter!

Hand in hand, Matt and I walked away from this beautiful place heading down our new path as Mr. and Mrs. Connors. What a beautiful life we have ahead of us!

Hitch yearning to be a ranch puppy