Apple Picking

Every other year, we are grateful for the opportunity to head out to the country and pick all the apples we want from a friend's orchard. We had a gorgeous afternoon, sunny & cool, this year and spent a few hours wading through tall grasses and climbing trees to find the best apples we could to make applesauce, apple chunks and apple butter! 

We all started out strong taking our bins from tree to tree, but about halfway through, the kids stopped for a snack and then decided they would rather run races up & down the gravel road and play adventure in the weeds than pick. It was all good! Darren & I worked to find the best trees he could climb and he tossed down apple after apple to me to drop in the waiting bins. We collected about 4 large bins of apples- I have no idea how many apples or pounds of apples that is, but it is a lot. 

In the next few weeks, I will spend long weekend afternoons in the kitchen peeling, processing & preserving all those apples we picked. The fall is a great time for canning, and I love when the smell of apples, sugar & cinnamon fills the house. We will can enough to keep and enough to give as gifts to family & friends. I love that our apple gifts all start with our family working together on a sunny afternoon!

Tree climbing is a must if you're apple-picking.

Kyrie is very discerning about which apples she picks.