Martin's Hillside Orchard

Explore the Orchard

It’s the last weekend of the season

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This weekend, 10/17-18 will be our last of the season

Thank you to everyone who visited the orchard this fall. We really appreciate your support! 

Looking for a great photo op? Grab a pic next to this giant – Meet Big Andy! He weighs in at over 800 lbs.

Grab a cup of our killer hot cider and let the kids roam the patch. Plenty of other activities to enjoy – like our kid-sized corn maze, discovery trail, straw tower and tire mountain to name a few. 

 Reminder: U-pick apple season  has already come to a close this year. More details here.

How to stay safe at the orchard? Please be sure to bring masks for your group. For the most part, you should be a-okay to roam the orchard without a mask, but at check-in and check-out or where you can’t social distance, you will want to use that mask. Here’s how you can help us make the fall orchard experience as safe as possible.

Apple Crumb Cheesecake Pie

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We couldn’t go through the season without doing a bit of cheesecake.

This recipe has you make the cheese cake layer in advance and then chill for 4 hours. We got a bit antsy and didn’t chill it for quite that long so when we added our apple pie filling it sort of sunk into the cheesecake a tad. Maybe not as aesthetically pleasing as if we had waited but it still tastes great.

Top with ice cream or dairy topping. And, of course, a drizzle of caramel sauce is always a good finishing note

 

Apple Cider Biscotti

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What a great way to start the morning!

With a cup of coffee/latte. Dunking is definitely called for. As well, a good way to round out the day with a bit of milk for late evening snack

You can’t go wrong with apple cider as your base

Here is the recipe

We’d recommend using only the lightest touch of cinnamon in the icing to preserve nice contrast with the cookie

Meet Wally!

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Tamra Ziems (Wally’s mom) and Alex

Wally is a 3-month old, Atlantic Giant pumpkin raised in Ewing, Nebraska by family members of our very own Sheila Ziems, Tamra and Larry Ziems, in preparation for a pumpkin competition in Rapid City.

  • At one point, Wally was gaining 23 lbs/day!
  • How do you move a one thousand lb pumpkin? With a John Deere, of course!

For more information on how to grow your own giant pumpkin check out this segment from “Backyard Farmer” featuring Wally and some other pumpkins Tamra and her husband grew this summer.

Tamra and Larry wanted to make sure Wally got to enjoy the limelight post-competition so we are lucky to have them choose Martin’s Hillside Orchard for his forever home. Come on out and meet Wally. Great photo opportunity!

Follow the Ziems on Facebook, Instagram and twitter – their handle is “craZpumpkins” for photos of the recent pumpkin weigh-in and more info on raising these giants

We can’t wait to collect a few seeds and try to grow one of these for ourselves 🙂

A BIG thanks to Tamra and Larry!

 

William Tell’s Never-Miss Apple Cake

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This recipe is a bit of work, but totally worth it. Got to say, there is something so satisfying about flipping that bundt pan and having your cake come out perfectly intact.

The pecans would have been tasty but we decided to forego them this time as we were making this recipe for a family gathering with a niece who has a nut allergy. Definitely wanted her to have a chance to join in the celebration.

Just love those little chunks of orange carrots that peek through the slice. And the cream cheese swirl in the middle is divine.