Matt Frye/Sun NewsA group of children, parents and day care employees from Mercury Gymnastics Shining Stars Preschool gather before a tour of Alldredge Orchard in Platte County Friday, Oct. 3.
Join our Mailing List!
Please click the link below to sign up for your community paper mailing list. Stay up to date with all the events going on in your community as well as the latest news.Sign Up Today!
A time for apples, chickens and hayrides
Orchards across the region are a popular, family-friendly destination in fall
By Ray Weikal
For Curt Alldredge, there’s no better way to get to the core of being an American in the fall than to pick some apples.
Alldredge is one half of the married duo who own and operate Alldredge Orchards, 35 acres of orchard and farm a few miles north of the last square of Kansas City concrete, on the flattened cusp of the rolling Missouri River valley and slightly beyond the rumble of engorged jets embarking and disembarking from the Kansas City International Airport.
“Apples are just an all American type fruit, with Johnny Appleseed and that kind of thing,” Alldredge said. “People want to get back to that and get back to where their roots are at. They want to reconnect with the land.”
The turn to October means school field trips for Alldredge Orchards. Lots of field trips, by the car, minivan and bus loads, from all over the region, Alldredge said.
On a bright, cool Friday morning, about 50 kids and adults from Mercury Gymnastics Shining Stars Preschool and Winnwood Elementary School gathered at the orchard, tracked by Lucy, a friendly, 13-year-old yellow lab. Inside an old barn dolled up as a gift shop, Alldredge’s wife, Kristy, talked about bee keeping.
The Alldredges cultivate roughly 300 apple and 300 pear trees, in addition to farm animals, tractors and trailers
for hay rides, a bakery and restaurant, bonfire circle and the dog.
“It’s a family-oriented type of place,” Curt Alldredge said. “We try to really put together a really good school tour.”
After the bee presentation, the kids gathered in a semi-circle around the west-facing door of a red and white chicken shack. They knelt down and carefully cupped their hands with feed. At a signal, the door was flung open and fat, hungry, well-trained birds poured out in a tsunami of feathers, feed and laughter.
Apples, though, are still the heart of the orchard, Alldredge said. The preschool kids each got a bag and dispersed through the ranks of trees ripe with Jonathans, Galas, Empires, Braeburns, Fujis and Blushing Golds.
Roughly 5,000 apples are taken home from the orchard by school kids during a typical fall field trip season, Alldredge estimated.
“I’ve seen the fall holiday get bigger and bigger,” he said.
It’s important that students are exposed to traditional ways of American life, said Winnwood Elementary School teacher Mary Storey.
“The farm experience is new for them,” Storey said. “When they saw the corn fields, the cows, they were just going nuts about that.”
Noah Kahler, 4, had a simple explanation about why a trip to the apple orchard is awesome.
“They’re shiny and they taste good and there’s a star in the middle,” Kahler said.
Where to go:
Northland families have plenty of choices when they feel the need to pick some apples, ride a hay wagon or feed some livestock. Here’s a sample of orchards and farms in the region that cater to city folk:
- Alldredge Orchards, 10455 Missouri Route N, Platte City, 682-7279
- Emerald Farm, 23080 Interurban Road, Dearborn, 214-2268
- Duncan’s Berry Farm, 908 County Road F, Smithville, 873-3053, www.duncanberryfarm.com
- Carolyn’s Country Cousins Pumpkin Patch, 17607 N.E. 52nd. St., Liberty, 781-9196, www.carolynscountrycousins.com
- Sibley Orchards & Cider Mille, 4121 California Ave., Sibley, 650-5535,
www.sibleyorchards.com
- Vaughn Orchard and Country Store, 23200 Missouri Highway 273, Weston, 386-2900
- Weston Red Barn Farm, 16300 Wilkerson Road, Weston, 386-5437
- Looper Farms/Jed’s Jack-O-Lanterns, 21020 N.E. 172nd St., Holt, 918-2766,
www.looperfarms.com
Staff writer Ray Weikal can be reached at 389-6637 or rayweikal@npgco.com.
printable version
e-mail this story
Alldredge is one half of the married duo who own and operate Alldredge Orchards, 35 acres of orchard and farm a few miles north of the last square of Kansas City concrete, on the flattened cusp of the rolling Missouri River valley and slightly beyond the rumble of engorged jets embarking and disembarking from the Kansas City International Airport.
“Apples are just an all American type fruit, with Johnny Appleseed and that kind of thing,” Alldredge said. “People want to get back to that and get back to where their roots are at. They want to reconnect with the land.”
The turn to October means school field trips for Alldredge Orchards. Lots of field trips, by the car, minivan and bus loads, from all over the region, Alldredge said.
On a bright, cool Friday morning, about 50 kids and adults from Mercury Gymnastics Shining Stars Preschool and Winnwood Elementary School gathered at the orchard, tracked by Lucy, a friendly, 13-year-old yellow lab. Inside an old barn dolled up as a gift shop, Alldredge’s wife, Kristy, talked about bee keeping.
The Alldredges cultivate roughly 300 apple and 300 pear trees, in addition to farm animals, tractors and trailers
for hay rides, a bakery and restaurant, bonfire circle and the dog.
“It’s a family-oriented type of place,” Curt Alldredge said. “We try to really put together a really good school tour.”
After the bee presentation, the kids gathered in a semi-circle around the west-facing door of a red and white chicken shack. They knelt down and carefully cupped their hands with feed. At a signal, the door was flung open and fat, hungry, well-trained birds poured out in a tsunami of feathers, feed and laughter.
Apples, though, are still the heart of the orchard, Alldredge said. The preschool kids each got a bag and dispersed through the ranks of trees ripe with Jonathans, Galas, Empires, Braeburns, Fujis and Blushing Golds.
Roughly 5,000 apples are taken home from the orchard by school kids during a typical fall field trip season, Alldredge estimated.
“I’ve seen the fall holiday get bigger and bigger,” he said.
It’s important that students are exposed to traditional ways of American life, said Winnwood Elementary School teacher Mary Storey.
“The farm experience is new for them,” Storey said. “When they saw the corn fields, the cows, they were just going nuts about that.”
Noah Kahler, 4, had a simple explanation about why a trip to the apple orchard is awesome.
“They’re shiny and they taste good and there’s a star in the middle,” Kahler said.
Where to go:
Northland families have plenty of choices when they feel the need to pick some apples, ride a hay wagon or feed some livestock. Here’s a sample of orchards and farms in the region that cater to city folk:
- Alldredge Orchards, 10455 Missouri Route N, Platte City, 682-7279
- Emerald Farm, 23080 Interurban Road, Dearborn, 214-2268
- Duncan’s Berry Farm, 908 County Road F, Smithville, 873-3053, www.duncanberryfarm.com
- Carolyn’s Country Cousins Pumpkin Patch, 17607 N.E. 52nd. St., Liberty, 781-9196, www.carolynscountrycousins.com
- Sibley Orchards & Cider Mille, 4121 California Ave., Sibley, 650-5535,
www.sibleyorchards.com
- Vaughn Orchard and Country Store, 23200 Missouri Highway 273, Weston, 386-2900
- Weston Red Barn Farm, 16300 Wilkerson Road, Weston, 386-5437
- Looper Farms/Jed’s Jack-O-Lanterns, 21020 N.E. 172nd St., Holt, 918-2766,
www.looperfarms.com
Staff writer Ray Weikal can be reached at 389-6637 or rayweikal@npgco.com.