Welcome to Apple Country Living

Welcome to Apple Country Living. This site mainly serves to cover events pictorially in the area in which I live. Most coverage is in towns such as Acton, Bolton, Concord, Harvard, Hudson, Lincoln, Maynard, Stow and Sudbury, though we may sometimes stray a bit farther away. There is definitely a special emphasis on my hometown of Stow.

This site really began in 2000 as that was when this picture of my first daughter was made and posted on my private family photo galleries. It was taken with my Konica T3N 35mm film camera, 85mm/1.8 Hexanon lens, and some fill flash on Fuji Reala film at Honey-Pot Hill Orchards in Stow. It is probably my first "made in Stow" photograph. 

Since I was a kid, every fall our family would pack in our car for our annual pilgrimage to "apple country." We would stop along the way and have a picnic lunch. It wasn't an ordinary picnic. We had a feast of homemade pasta and meatballs and sausages. Once full, we would head over to Honey-Pot, spend a few hours filling our bags, and return home. On the way home, we stopped for more homemade food we had packed. This time it was for peppers and eggs, cold cuts and fresh rolls, and donuts from Kane's Donuts in Saugus (the best donut shop in the world). Every year we did this without fail: grandparents, parents and siblings. As my grandparents got older, we changed our destination to Carver Hill Orchard in Stow since the land is flat. Every year I marveled at this wonderful area of Massachusetts. I remember seeing the construction in the Birch Hill area in the 70s and 80s. In the back of my mind I dreamed of one day moving to Stow. That dream became a reality on Halloween 2002 when we moved here from our small 2-bedroom house in West Roxbury. 

We still have our annual family apple picking, except now the eating occurs at our home and now the young children of the family have replaced the elders who have passed on. The tradition continues. I hope you enjoy this site, which is really more than a tribute to the Stow area.

Right now this site contains posts only by me and my wife. But I do hope to grow the site into a moderated community blog, with text and photo submissions. If you have a story to tell that you think would have community interest, I would be most happy to post your submission.

Contributions from area authors are welcomed! Please write me at paul@applecountryphoto.com.

The site is not a news source, though some news may be posted. It's also not an editorial column, though some editorials may be posted. It's mainly a site for documenting our community in images (and some text). Any opinions expressed are my own, unless otherwise noted.

Check out my Related Sites for more great information about our area of the world!

If you are interested in photography services, please visit Apple Country Photography, offering portraits, events, and action sports.

You may (or may not) be interested to see the Site Technical Notes.

Enjoy!