Harvest season is apple season, and you can help celebrate the simple yet delicious fruit during Applefest from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, September 10th at Lang Pioneer Village Museum (104 Lang Rd., Keene).
Take a free horse-and-wagon rides through the historic village, sample apple cake at the Milburn House, and see how to make apple preserves at the Fitzpatrick House.
You can learn how apples were preserved in layers of sawdust in the apple orchard, and enjoy mulled apple cider and freshly baked apple crisp and other treats at the Keene Hotel.
Watch cider-pressing demonstrations at the Cider Mill, and then try your hand at using an old-fashioned apple peeler. While you’re there, you can purchase pressed apple cider as well as sweet juicy apples.
Listen to foot-tapping live music by Appalachian Celtic while you watch craft demonstrations on the Village Green, including spinning and rug-hooking demonstrations by the Northumberland Rug Hookers. You can even see socks created before your eyes by the fascinating 1910 mechanical knitting machines brought by the Horseless Carriage Museum.
Listen to performances by M’Shkaaziwin Singers from Curve Lake First Nation at the Aabnaabin Camp and make your own sweetgrass braid. You can wave to the steam engine operator as the recently restored Sawyer Massey Steam Engine tours the village, or view a variety of antique clocks and timepieces brought by the Quinte Timekeepers.
Activities for the kids include schoolyard games such as sack races, an egg relay, rabbit sticks, and — of course — games with apples.
The Village will also feature variety of historic demonstrations including blacksmithing, weaving, carving, hand-log hewing, quilting, candle making, and more. You can learn more about how settlers preserved the fall harvest and prepared for the long cold winter.
Witness a special threshing demonstration powered by a 1933 Case Model C Tractor, and see how shingles are made at the Shingle Mill. Then stop by the Cheese Factory where there will be fresh Empire Cheese curd for sale.
Admission to Applefest is $10 for adults, $9 for students and seniors, and $6 for youth ages five to 14 (free for children under five). Family admission is also available for $30 and includes two adults and four youth. All taxes included. For more information, visit www.langpioneervillage.ca.
Applefest is one of the stops on Otonabee-South Monaghan Township’s Farms, Fields and Food Tour on September 10th, so stop by the tour tent to get your Peterborough County Canada 150 Passport.
Other stops on the tour include Elmhirst’s Resort, Harley Farms, Traynor Farms, Escape Maze, Muddy’s Pit BBQ, Doo Doo’s Bakery, Stillbrook Riding Stables, Dorisdale Farm, Keendale Lodge Farms, and Indian River Acres. For more information, visit www.osmtownship.ca.
