The holidays are here and some changes will be taking place at the Lavender Apple come January 1st. I wanted to make sure I shared some wonderful photos of the farm here this week before I signed off for Christmas. So this week, the posts will be dedicated just to the beauty that is the Lavender Apple farm. We are so grateful for the God who created and for the family who cultivate it. We hope you all have a Merry Christmas week. 

Just a simple photo on the blog today for "Farm Friday". This is our old Ford Truck. Its been a heavy duty work truck for us for many years. She is still going strong and is such a fun little vehicle to drive around in. Of course, now that our roads are covered in snow, it's not going much of anywhere. Hope you all have a fantastic and safe Christmas weekend. 

As a blogger one of my favorite things to do is to look back through old photos in the archives. So much life happens and having a blog is a great way to preserve it. Todays post is a round up of our most popular recipe posts of 2016. There are some delicious recipes here, so if you didn't get to try them when the originally debuted on our blog, give them a whirl now. Use the search bar on the right hand side of the blog and enter any recipe name or ingredient and it will lead you to the proper page in our archives. Hope this inspires you to get to work in your kitchen today! 

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

mussels and linguini in a white wine sauce

Lemon Shrimp Pasta

Harambe Copy Cat Corn Salad

Epcot Morocco Copy Cat Lentil Salad

Asian Chicken Stir Fry

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

Shrimp Boil

Homemade Granola

Poached Salmon with New Potatoes

Butternut Squash Mushroom Salad with Goat Cheese

Bon Apetite! And we hope that you end 2016 with your best dishes yet. 

Obviously living on a farm with an apple orchard, we have learned how to store apples for longer term use after our harvest. Here a few tips to help you when you want to keep your produce, specifically apples lasting longer. 

To maximize apple shelf life, wrap each apple in newspaper before place it in a basket. If one apple goes bad, the paper will protect the other apples from coming into contact with it. Store your apples in a cool basement, garage, shed, fruit cellar, or refrigerator. Make sure its not so cold that they freeze, freezing apples will ruin their texture. Do not store apples in a root cellar or near potatoes, the gases let off by the potatoes will spoil the apples. 

Just a little quick tip to start your weekend. Hope you all get to relax and enjoy yourselves!