Happy Apple Season!

Fall has always been my favorite season and apples have always played a role.  Back-to-school days are associated with an apple for the teacher, Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year) is a time for dipping apples in honey to toast to a sweet new year, and of course, the apple orchards are open for pick-your-own season.  When my son was five months old, my husband and I and another couple we had met through a new mommy class drove two hours north from the city to a beautiful orchard in Upstate New York.  The boys weren’t old enough to pick apples yet, but we had lots of fun picking for them, and later, sharing recipes.  We made a tradition of it and returned to the same orchard for 10 years before weekend sports got in the way for both families.

Year two of apple picking (mine is the blonde on the left)

And a few years later when sister was a part of the tradition too.

Fast forward three years to this fall, and my best friend asked us to join her family and  go apple picking.  Her kids don’t play sports, and therefore they have the luxury of a real weekend where they can participate in family activities other than cheering each other on.  I really wanted to go, and now that we live in Connecticut, we are surrounded by apple orchards so we wouldn’t have to make a two-hour trip.  My kids’ games weren’t until later in the afternoon, so we had some of Saturday morning free (after a haircut and a school activity) and we were going!  My kids were belly-aching the whole way there, but once in the orchard, they were thrilled to be running down the apple aisles (I’m sure that’s not what they’re called, but you get the picture) in search of the perfect apple.  For me, it’s the Empire; thin skin with a good crunch, wet and sweet.  My husband and my best friend, on the other hand, love a good Red Delicious.  We found Jona Golds, Cortlands, Ida Reds and a bin full of Empires (the last of the harvest was taken off the trees and placed in a bin on one of the main apple aisles for people like me who are happy to have them on or off the tree).  We trekked to the far corner of the orchard in search of Red Delicious, but our efforts were futile – the Red Delicious were hard and tart – not yet ready to leave the tree.

The best part about the morning wasn’t the picking itself, it was spending time with my family and my best friend’s family (my family too) without technology, without a sporting event, and without whining.  Everyone was having a good time.  The kids were searching for the perfect apple and the grown-ups were doing the same, all the while having conversations about past apple-picking experiences and future pies, cakes and other apple-filled goodies (recipes to come this week!!).  As the morning went on, we filled our sacks and each family walked out with 30lbs of apples, some apple cider and some memories.  I’m so glad we took what free time we had and spent it with friends in the orchard rather than vegging out in front of the television.  Best of all, we made some new fall memories.

Goofy pictures at the apple orchard are an absolute necessity.

Empire apples…yum!

Happy kids in the orchard!

Happy Apple Season!

xo

B

Happy Apple Season!