I remember the good old days when I could harvest plump, juicy MacIntosh and Golden Delicious apples right from the trees in my grandpa’s back yard — and often did. There is nothing to compare to that sweet smell and the heavenly, crisp crunch of biting into a just-picked apple. Store bought just doesn’t come close.

Well, hello AppleBarn! My grandpa and his apple trees are long gone, but here’s a delicious alternative: an orchard in Abbotsford where you can pick your own.

Not only can you harvest as many apples as you want right from the tree, in October you can mix and match the varieties that are in season and walk away with a 10 lb. bag for $7. That’d make some mighty tasty apple cobbler, apple pie, apple sauce, apple cider…

Make it a day trip or catch them at a farmers market near you.

Why not start with a Circle Farm Tour? What is that? A Circle Farm Tour is basically a road map that directs you to a variety of specialty farm-gate vendors, open air markets, charming eateries, heritage sites, fairs, and other special events. In the Greater Vancouver area, there’s a brochure and map for each participating community – six in total.

Simply go to the Circle Farm Tour website, download the tour, choose your destinations and go! Abbotsford, Agassiz-Harrison Mills, Chilliwack, Langley, Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, Mission all participate and all offer unique destinations for every member of the family.

Abbotsford offers such destinations as:

• Birchwood Dairy offering gourmet ice cream, gelato, frozen yogurt, milk products & Feta cheese
• Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery offers self-guided and guided tours, educational programming, birthday parties, fishing instruction & summer camps
• Campbell’s Gold Honey Farm & Meadery offers a variety of flavoured & natural honeys, as well as beeswax candles, tasty honey comb, soothing ointments & salves, honey soaps, and hand creams

A little closer to Vancouver, Langley offers great locations such as:

• Vista D-Oro, a culinary agri-tourism operation featuring culinary herbs, heirloom tomatoes & orchard fruits grown on the farm, as well as fresh pastries, preserves, local cheeses, hard to source ingredients, kitchen tools & more
• The Fort Wine Co. offers an old fashioned saloon bar to sample a delicious selection of multi award-winning table & dessert fruit wines. Tours are also offered of the state-of-the-art winemaking facilities
• JD Farms features specialty turkeys that are certified free of antibiotics & animal by-products. Visit the farmgate store to sample fresh & smoked sausages & ready-to-eat meals or order a turkey for your next special event.

So, what are you waiting for? Download your adventure today, pack up friends or the family, and enjoy!

In the first week, which takes a look at the lead up time and the first three days of the challenge, participants must go through their pantry and purge everything that does not meet the 100-mile requirement. How much do you think they had left in their fridges/pantries? Not much. One family had yogurt and another had only dairy and some honey. Things they thought would be a shoe-in, like cans of salmon, were more often than not produced in Toronto — far exceeding the 100-mile limit.

The show’s hosts, James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith, the authors of “The 100-Mile Diet”, later took the TV participants to a local farmers’ market to investigate what would and would not be acceptable during the challenge. Many of the participants could not identify some of the food — leeks were a mystery to some.

My biggest surprise while watching the first episode? How little the families prepared for their first day of the challenge. Many had not done any research into what they could eat. One family only ate yogurt and berries for breakfast when they were used to bacon and eggs. Let’s face it, bacon and eggs are local and they absolutely could have indulged had they thought ahead a little.

Missed the episode but want to catch up? Episode one is available for viewing on the web.

Are you interested in trying the 100-Mile Diet but could never give up olive oil (confession: my big two are olive oil and chocolate)? I came across this article in “edible Vancouver” a while back about a 10-mile diet: A 10-Mile Diet Becomes a 10-Mile Banquet. I thought it was a good approach to eating local food while still holding onto a very few “necessities”.

Did anyone else see the show this week? Thoughts?

Well, it is until you realize that the staples of most households, such as beer and coffee, are grown nowhere near your house (unless you have a nice little cottage in the Peruvian rain forest).

Food TV Canada is launching a new series this Sunday, “The 100-Mile Challenge“, which follows six families as they challenge themselves to only eat and drink from within the 100-mile limit for 100 days. Yep, 100 days. Where did they find families brave enough to take on the challenge in front of the cameras? Mission, BC, of course!

The show’s site is much more than just an ad for the show. Check it out for recipes, tips, and help finding appropriate foods in your area.