Kindergarteners Have Great Time While Touring Green Bluff Farm

Sitting in the middle of a Green Bluff orchard, 25 kindergarteners broke out in laughter as farmer Mark Morrell jumped up and down, imitating a bee.

The children from Farwell Elementary followed his lead and soon the field at Walter’s Fruit Ranch was filled with the sound of five-year-olds buzzing.

The children’s faces brightened again when they were able to pick an apple and, later in the tour, watch as a new red McIntosh was stripped of its peel in an old fashioned apple-coring machine.

“They always remember when they pick the apple and the pumpkin,” said Mike Moore, 45, the kindergarten teacher. “We always try and go early to get the best pick, it’s the first field trip of the year.”

Farwell’s kindergarten class was the fifth group of school kids to visit Walter’s Fruit Ranch that day and among the 8,000 who will take the tour before apple season ends in November.

Other Green Bluff farms, too, host weekday tours of senior citizens, day cares and schools.

“It’s a big part of our weekday business,” said Ann Adams of Hidden Acres Farms, which features a five-foot high, 100-pound talking pumpkin dubbed Penelope.

“The little ones get so excited, it’s just amazing,” said Adams, who also takes children on hayrides and serves donuts and cider to visiting groups.

Morrell, known as Farmer Morrell to the kids, tries to mix fun and education. With his dog at his side Tuesday, Morrell taught kids about apples, trees and farming with help from engaging questions.

“Which state grows the most apples,” he asked.

“Spokane?” one child answered back.

He drives the Farwell kids, their teacher and six parents, to a back portion of the field and shows them proper apple-picking etiquette.

The crown is faced toward the sky and then rotated slightly.

“The stem keeps the freshness in, like a cork in the bottle,” Morrell said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo