KORDICK FAMILY FARM (Mark)

The roads were clear, the weather sunny and crisp feeling . . .

and Cheri had the road atlas on her lap . . . all the ingredients for a good day!

We wandered the back roads generally heading north and east, until we arrived at the Kordick Family Farm, which is about five miles from the Virginia State line. 

We had initially seen a small article about the orchards in North Carolina's Our State magazine, which is a really outstanding resource for travel and history articles.  (Searchable index here.)

Cheri had just finished the apple cider syrup she likes to eat, blended with maple syrup, on pancakes and waffles, and needed more.  (Why purchase from Amazon when you can buy local?)

We needed no further reason to hit the road.

Right now is pruning time for the orchards.  The apple trees have a very specific window of time - dependent on the temperature - in which they need to be pruned.  Cold with snow on the ground is perfect. 

The soil in this area, in the mountain foothills, is not the red clay we have in the Winston-Salem area.

Inside of the very small packing shed, behind the cash register, is this sign:

This is what we came for, although we left with quite a bit more:

Other purchases included two kinds of apple jelly, made from "tarbutton" apples and crab apples; pear jelly; and dried apples.

(Cheri:  we tried the tarbutton apple jelly this morning on pancakes - because that was what we were having - and it is excellent!)

As you can see the packing shed is a bit drafty and open to the elements.  However at one point in time a family was living upstairs while running the business downstairs.  I bet they were happy when they finished the house across the street and were able to move in!

This is the packing label the family uses for their apples:

The "Baba Yaga" label on the apple cider syrup is a tribute to the owners' Russian heritage.

They also have a number of old labels from other brands on display.  We both love old labels, and have quite a few as art in our house.  So perusing the ones on display was quite enjoyable.

This one is from Washington State:

This next label is from our old stomping grounds, Watsonville, California, where I met Cheri:

Not that we actually stomped any apples while living in the area.

And this is not a shipping label, but it made me laugh:

The Kordicks have a display of various oddments, including this from Denton Farm Park, halfway across the State, where we attended a great antiques fair last fall:

(Post still pending on that experience.)  The Kordicks have a lot of small festivals throughout the year at their own farm, which sound so enjoyable.

We wanted to get a picture of the really lovely lady who runs the farm with her daughter, but she demurred.

It took us a little over an hour to get to there, so we may buy our syrup through their Etsy store in the future . . . but who knows?  Hitting the road is always fun!

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