Autumn Apple Picking

Talk about a beautiful day yesterday!  We chose a perfect day for picking apples this year.  How many times do you get a 78 degree day in late September!  I, for some reason, wasn't believing the forecast and prepped us for a brisk fall day.  We were all shedding our long sleeves as best we could come the end of the day.  But I wasn't complaining.... I'll take it any day.

 

This year, we headed to the apple orchards a little later in September than we have previously.  Going into the fall season, I had heard that local apple supplies were going to be less than usual on the trees, so I guess I wasn't in a huge hurry to make the trek.  Plus we have had some busy weekends before this, so this really was our first opportunity.  We hit the Elegant Farmer at about 11 AM and it was already busy, but not as busy as when we were leaving around 2 PM.  We took the hayride up to the orchard fields and then we listened to one of the farmers tell about the apple "situation" for this year. 

 

Basically with the unseasonably high temps in March and April, the trees started budding too early and then got hit with a frost in late April.  The Elegant Farmer had only 30% of their normal crop because of this.  Knowing early on that their crops would be low, they contracted with other larger farms in northern Wisconsin and in northern Illinois to supplement their business.  So because of this, there really wasn't much picking from the trees yesterday.  There were a small few in the trees, but all were so high that you needed a ladder and an apple picker to get them.  We really weren't up for that, so we selected all our apples from the crates they had set up in the grove next to the orchard.  And because the whole apple picking experience wasn't there this year, the farm set up other activities in the grove.  They were giving kids their choice of free bubbles or free sunglasses... Jackson wanted neither and Morgan chose the sunglasses.  Kids could also get tattoos and a free sugar cookie for picking up 25 apples that had fallen to the ground.  Both kids took advantage of the sugar cookie deal.  We could also munch on kettle corn, do some photo ops, climb trees, and watch a man demonstrate old engines.  These engines were used to help shuck corn and then grind the corn to corn meal.  The engines really reminded me of my dad!  And Jackson loved them!  He was all about figuring out how they worked.  I really think he will be an engineer some day... he says a farmer though.  I think either would be great!

 

It was such a wonderful day.  Beautiful weather.  Tasty apples.  My amazing family.  I could not ask for more.   Plus the Huskers won last night!  Did you notice our Nebraska gear?  We had to wear it, especially since we were playing Wisconsin!  It made for a little conversation with Badger fans as we picked our apples.  Happy Autumn everyone!!

 

Watiting for Daddy to get our baskets. 
This year we brought the wagon to help with carting our
apple crop to the car.

Daddy being a little silly as we waited in line for the
hay ride.  Tom always knows how to lighten the mood
and keep the kids happy.

Baskets ready... Bring on the apples!

Go hayride!  Go apples!  Go Huskers!

Jackson's ready to pick!

She loved those shades!

Jackson loved the trees!  He climbed all over them with very little help.

Jackson got to shuck a couple corn cobs.

And the kids each did about 10 handfuls of corn into this grinder to make
the corn meal.

Another apple!  Best part of apple picking is sampling!
I'm not positive, but I would bet that Jackson ate at least
three full apples while we were there picking.

Morgan prefered munching the kettle corn.

But she did have her share of apple too.

What I imagine Jackson is thinking... "What a great day!  Eating a tasty apple
and checking out this awesome tractor!"

Half bushel of McIntosh and Cortland apples.  One peck
of Granny Smith apples.  And approximately a half peck
of whatever our apple tree is in our yard.
Do we have enough?!

And guess what Tom and I did this afternoon after church? 
We made applesauce!  Three quarts and five pints worth of sauce!  We had
about a cup and a half left over (not enough to can), so we sampled.  Both
of us agreed that it was amazing and even better than what you would
buy in a store.  So delicious!  Plus I also made some more salsa!  Such
a productive Sunday.  The applesauce production today didn't even make
a dent in our apple crop, so later this week I hope to make apple butter.
Then I will cut up the remainder to freeze.  I need to have some supply in the
freezer so I can make apple crisp and apple pie!  We love apples in this house!