Apple pie, apple sauce, apple butter, apple cider, apples and peanut butter…it seems like my roommates and I have exhausted all of our apple-options this week.

We have been trying to make, mash and drink away an entire bushel of apples since our trip to Barthel Fruit Farm in Mequon last Monday.

Picking apples has always been one of my fall rituals. For the last four falls in Milwaukee, I have always tried to make it out to an orchard.

My freshman year I made it to Apple Holler, and was less than impressed by the bruised, picked over fruit and the petting zoo.

Sophomore year, my friends and I visited a corner stand in Cedarburg, which boasted its own orchard out back. It wasn’t so bad, but the single lot of trees couldn’t quench my desire to pick bags and bags of apples.

Last year, I really gave in; I just picked the seasonal crop at the farmer’s market outside of Beans and Barley.

I figured that living in the city would never satisfy my rural-Ohio-girl fantasies.

But this year, as the air became a little most crisp, I was determined: There has to be a real orchard in Wisconsin. I asked around, tapped into all my Wisconsin-mom resources, and was directed to Mequon’s Barthel Fruit Farm.

Finally, after four years of searching, I found a phenomenal apple orchard.

Barthel’s boasts 10+ different apple varieties, which are picked at varying times of the season.

When I arrived at the orchard we were given a map, two half-bushel bags and directions to pick two tart and two sweet varieties of apples in order to make the perfect apple pie. Then we were sent to pick away our afternoon.

The farm was exactly the kind of place my mom brought me as a kid, and the apple pies I made last week would give my old lady a run for her money.

Make sure to make it out to Barthel’s this fall to pick at least a pound or two of the fresh fruit, and pick up a pumpkin or two as well!

Barthel Fruit Farm is located at 12246 N. Farmdale Road in Mequon and they are open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Check out http://www.barthelfruitfarm.com/ for more information.