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| - Husband and I drove up from Toronto on a Wednesday afternoon to see the countryside and get local apples. There was maybe one other car parked in front, next to a lot of beautiful orange pumpkins laid out on the ground, so the place was pretty empty but to be expected mid-week. We went to the shop inside the large building in the front, which was rather sparsely stocked, but nonetheless did have a small variety of jams, maple syrup, and honey products. There were different size bags of several apple varieties, as well as butternut and acorn squash, reasonably priced according to size. They also had small decorative gourds and baking pumpkins at the entrance. This place offers pick-your-own, but we bought some already bagged. Next to the pen with small farm animals, there were two clean, sheltered restrooms set up outside (not port-o-potties), which is nice if you had been working in the orchard rows and suddenly needed to use the toilet. The highlight of visiting Dixie Orchards for me was the corn maze, which the woman in the shop explained was free for the exploring as long as we bought something. My husband and I had fun splitting up and finding our way through the green and yellow stalks which rustled in the breeze beneath the blue autumn sky. On finding the exit, we walked back past the orchard rows labeled by apple variety; most of the trees looked like they still had plenty to offer for late September if we had been picking our own. I asked and the apples cost the same whether you buy them in a bag or pick your own, which seems to me like it should be slightly cheaper if you're doing the picking, but then again I suppose some people just want the experience of plucking an apple from a tree. On the way out I went back into the shop because I couldn't resist those pumpkins by the parking lot, along with two acorn squash. All in all, a pleasant experience that we walked away from with some tasty fall fruits.
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