Apple Picking

It was a beautiful fall day here in Wisconsin. Temperatures have suddenly plummeted and we are all breathing a sigh of relief in the cool weather. We are ready for fall. It is a welcome change from the August heat. 

We have made picking apples a family tradition for many years. Apparently it's the "in" thing to do as the orchard was certainly full of people today. 

I must say we were the only family with high schoolers that were there. Have I mentioned we love home schooling? All the other kids were about 2 years old.

 It seems like it was just yesterday when our boys were that age. But now, they are much more fun to take to the orchard.

That's because they are tall and can reach the juicy red ones at the top of the tree that other people can't reach. 

Age has it's advantages. The hardest part of our trip is deciding what to pick first. We finally settled on the Earliblaze and Johnigold varieties. Have you ever heard of Earliblaze? This is a new variety to me.

A single apple that fills the palm of your hand is definitely part of a great crop! Night and day difference from the super small apples we had in our area last year with the lack of rain. The other difficult part of this trip is knowing when to stop picking. We brought home 75 lbs. of apples today. Do you think that's too much?

I don't think so either. It is a long time til next year, you know?

One of the other draws to this particular orchard is that you can pick your own grapes.

Wow! They too were beautiful! There was just one problem with them.

You weren't supposed to pick those. Are you kidding me? This is so unfair! The grapes we did pick were small and not very impressive so I didn't take any pictures of those. But at least they were fresh and we can make juice with them and the apples. The wine will have to wait for another year. Sigh.

There will be much more cooking to come in the near future. Apple butter, apple sauce, apple pie, apple jelly, cider and so much more! 

Stay tuned!