Friday, October 23, 2015

Nobody Doesn't Like Apple Picking


Before moving to New York, I didn't know what the big deal was with apple picking. Like, what, you just pick apples? Off of a tree? How is that a family event? 

Back in Texas, at least in Central Texas where I grew up, we did not have apple orchards. We did not have fields upon fields of Red Deliciousness ripe for the picking. Ne'er had I tasted an apple cider donut. These things were but legend to me.

But since moving here, I have to say: I get it. Guys, apple picking is amazing. Seriously, I don't know who wouldn't like it. Not a year has gone by since I became a New York state resident in which I have not picked an apple from a tree with my bare hands. There is just something so satisfying about heading north out of the city, driving past colorful fall foliage, parking your car in a big open lot, being handed a plastic bag by a man in overalls, and marveling as he points to a vast field of apple trees and says, "All of this can be yours."


Now, if you've never apple-picked before, you might be surprised to know that it can actually be quite an athletic event, especially if you go later in the season. At the beginning of apple season, all of the smart, prepared people come and pick the apples that are within reach. Later, the rest of us have to either maneuver a wieldy pole with a basket attached or actually climb the trees to get our desired fruits. It's work.


Climbing, however, is not usually encouraged at most apple orchards. There are rules against it. In fact, there are a surprising number of rules when it comes to apple picking. No climbing, no throwing, no canoodling behind a granny smith tree, no stealing someone's bag of apples when they are not looking and replacing it with a sack of potatoes.

But arguably the most loathed rule when apple picking is no eating. I mean, what the hell? How do you expect me to labor my life away in a gorgeous field of apple trees and not have a bite of at least one apple? Eve couldn't do it, and neither can I.



That's why, this year, my hubs and I wanted whichever orchard we picked to be the equivalent of a nude beach -- that is to say, we wanted to go to the orchard with the least number of rules (I hope I didn't make it sound like we wanted to pick apples in the nude. That just sounds painful). 

As a result, this last weekend, we ended up at Applewood, an orchard between the small hamlets of Warwick and Sugar Loaf (I kid you not. That adorable town was actually named Sugar Loaf. You can't make this stuff up). 

And we had quite the time. 







That feeling when you realize nothing on God's green earth 
can compare to the glory that is apple picking.

After a long day of apple-picking, we usually we end up taking an impressive bounty home, which honestly just ends up rotting in our refrigerator. I mean, let's face it: apples are fine, but they aren't, like, amazing. While the process of picking them is as exhilarating as, I assume, a coked up ride on Disneyland's Space Mountain, the actual eating of the apples is just...aight. You have a couple and you're pretty good. 

But this year, we decided to not be wasteful little jerks, and instead we turned our apple spoils into THIS:



I'd say that the fact that I turned these apples into a pie instead of letting them rot means that I'm getting more responsible, but then again, I also ate this pie for breakfast, so who's to say?

What sorts of fall activities have you been up to lately?

20 comments:

  1. Right, where are the apple cider doughnuts over her in Texas?!?! I miss them!

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    1. They truly are the best. It's a shame they are not more widely-consumed.

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  2. I'm on a healthy nutritional eating plan that I just started at the beginning of this week. And now I hate you. ;)

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  3. Yes, apple picking is simply the best!!!

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  4. Replies
    1. Thanks, Nicole! I love a good fox print, so buying it was a no-brainer.

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  5. Good choice for using the apples instead of letting them go bad. I agree that apple-picking is fun and also agree that there's a limit to how many apples we can eat raw. The solution, which you've found, is to cook with them. Oh, and I've been to Sugar Loaf! Passed through it many times on motorcycle trips upstate. Always thought it was a cute name for a town.

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    1. Oh man, I bet it is SO beautiful to ride your motorcycle through upstate NY! Color me a little bit jealous. Also, believe it or not, I STILL have apples left over. It may be time for another pie....

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  6. Since moving out of New York I have missed nothing more than apple cider donuts. They are the most marvelous of all the donuts.

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    1. I would miss them terribly if I ever moved! So far, I haven't found anywhere in NYC that makes them as well as they do at apple orchards. On the hunt.

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  7. I love that the final product was an apple pie......That just scrams adult! Also I just moved to MA and didn't make it apple picking not for a lack of trying though. The weekend we had planned on going the orchard was like, oh yea we're not doing that today...whomp, whomp. Oh well, there's always next year!

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    1. Oh man, is apple picking season over in MA? If there's still time, go make it happen! Even if you have to climb the trees to get the leftover apples :)

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  8. Yum! This looks like so much fun! I went apple picking for the first time last year, I'm hoping to go again next year since it's not much of a thing in Florida!

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    1. It is SUCH a blast! What part of Florida are you from? I was recently in Boca Raton, and I LOVED it.

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  9. My first year of living on the East Coast I went apple picking, and while picking the apples was super fun, trying to eat all the apples I had decided to take home with me wasn't. This year I showed a little more restraint lol

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    1. Lol YES! We went nuts picking apples. We weren't even thinking about the fact that we would have to commit to eating them all afterwards. We definitely still have some leftover.

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  10. Apple picking is so much fun. Can you believe I've lived in NY my entire life and only went apple picking for the first time this year? I will make it a yearly thing for sure. I love having fresh straight from the farm apples to make apple pie and apple sauce.

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    1. Apple sauce! What a great idea. Haha my brain does not come up with things like that, but since we still have some leftover apples, I think that's what I'll do.

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