Daytripping: Pome on the Range

Maybe it was the brain freeze that hit me after my second sip of an ice-cold apple cider slushie, but I forgot to ask Mike Gerhardt — who owns the Pome on the Range Orchards & Winery in Williamsburg, Kansas — if “Pome” is a play on pomme, the French word for apple. I mean, it was a giant, helium-filled apple, bobbing up in the sky over I-35 South, that caught my eye when I was heading back from a visit to a weird, Children of the Corn kind of small town south of Ottawa. I couldn’t get out of that hideous hamlet fast enough.

But Pome on the Range, which is operated by Mike and his wife Donnie, made the southern expedition worth it. The orchards are easily accessible off Exit 176 on I-35 and the little shop is well-stocked with jugs of excellent cold cider, Alma Creamery cheeses, jams, jellies and salsas — there are no fresh apples yet (apple season begins in September; check the Web site calendar for details), but the Gerhardts are selling wonderful fresh peaches and sweet corn! And apple, peach, elderberry and blackberry wines.