Views of a Farm Boy--Dedicated to promote Iowa agriculture and Iowa values--Robert Vaughn--Urbandale, Iowa  EMAIL:   vaughnrobert@me.com

  And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the

Father through him. (ESV) (Colossians 3: 17)

For many years I have visited apple orchards in the central Iowa area. I am not traveling as much these days-so this morning I went to The Iowa Orchard in Urbandale-just a short distance from our home. This brought back great boyhood memories of our  orchard on the farm, when I was growing up in western Iowa. Notice the "Pick you own Apples" sign above. Well I didn't pick my own apples today. Instead I opted for a ready made home baked APPLE PIE. I chose the Dutch apple without a top crust (below left). I took it home and had my piece with ice cream. What a way to celebrate a fall day!!!

You know the old expression,"As AMERICAN as APPLE pie". But-hey- this is October in Iowa! Pumpkins (above middle) were an important part of life when I was a kid. My mother had a huge pumpkin patch. She picked, peeled and carved her own pumpkins and the story gets better. She didn't just bake a pie--she often made a half dozen best-ever pumpkin pies. Imagine my excitement when I came home from school! I would eat half a pie before I did my evening farm chores. But, the other half didn't go to waste--I would eat it for breakfast! So I think we could put a midwest twist on this with the expression, "As IOWA as PUMPKIN pie."

NOTE: The Iowa Orchard is more than apples--they have pumpkins, too.