APPLE PICKING IN THE MOUNTAINS
When Charlotte was still in preschool, we all went to spend a fall weekend in North Carolina with Patrick, Julia, Sam and Eli. On a sunny, crisp Saturday we went to a nearby apple orchard to pick our own small baskets of fruit. The scent of apples filled the air, and the little ones delighted in scampering about to pick a variety of apples lying on the ground. This drawing she made that weekend captured so much of the experience we enjoyed.
When Heather and Patrick were about 12 and 9, we drove one Saturday in October to North Carolina for a mini-reunion picnic and apple picking. Joe and Joyce Rowden planned where we could meet near their Asheville home and pick apples at an orchard. Tootsie and Mother drove over from Athens to meet us. We picnicked on Kentucky fried chicken and then headed off to the orchard.
There were ladders on some of the trees so you could climb up to pick more apples. Patrick was happily reaching from the ladder to gather apples when Tootsie shouted up a warning to him! She’d just spotted a snake on a nearby branch. He quickly decided to let the snake enjoy the apples and scrambled down the ladder. At the end of the afternoon, we took our apples to our homes in Asheville, Athens and Columbia.
This photo shows little Eli enjoying another orchard visit with Julia and their friend Merrill. He’s well on his way to filling the basket.
On that same outing, this photo shows Sam thoughtfully eyeing an apple he’s just picked up from the ground. He seems to be wondering whether to add it to the basket or just eat it now! A few samplings on the orchard visit are always juicy and delicious.
Apples in the fall are wonderful—for snacking or baking pies, muffins, and cakes or making delicious homemade applesauce or apple butter. Yum!
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