The Wilsons

On Tuesday, since I had the day off, we decided to do something we haven’t done before.  Apple picking.

Some history… on Friday night, our friends Adam and Danelle took their camper to our 30 acre property to camp out for the night.  While there, they noticed that our 10-12 wild apple trees were overloaded and dropping fruit.  They suggested we all get together to pick them and take them to the cider mill for pressing.  Since the upcoming weekend is a 3-day weekend, that would be a good time.  Danelle was also going to the mill the next day as a homeschool field trip, and so she was going to get all the info on it for us.

This sounded great.  Too great, in fact, for Lonni of little patience to wait.  LOL.  I figured, why not get the kids out of the house for a little while.  We hadn’t been out to the property in a bit, so I thought it might be nice.  Plus, Melodia and I have been talking about needing to get a family pic soon, so I figured I’d take the camera and tripod and we’d take a family pic in the country.

Well, we loaded up everything for apple picking, the ladder, buckets and bins, a saw, coats, hats and mud boots (something we get good use out of whenever we’re out in the country). On the way out, we stopped off at Dunkin’ Donuts to get the kids a little after breakfast snack.

Driving onto our property, we realized how little time we’d spent there this summer.  It is so overgrown (I didn’t have it brushhogged this summer), and the driveway has lots of weeds needing pulled. LOL.

We headed back toward a couple of our apple trees that are nearer the front of the property. First thing we did was to walk through the woods to the back side of the property and take a few family pictures. I think they turned out all right - albeit a little bright because, though it was a 57-degree day (fall, cool and crisp), it was bright and sunny.

After the pics, we set to apple picking.  The kids had a blast.  McKinley sat in the wagon we brought and played “cup-bearer” for us, checking to ensure that the apples were good quality.  That little stinker.  She’d take three bites out of one, then try another.  Apple-eating fiend.

Wil got into it.  He liked having his own bucket.  Most of the apples were a little too high for him to reach, so I took it slow by picking a couple, then handing them down to Wil to place in the bucket.  We moved through three different trees picking apples.

Halfway through, McKinley decided to chill in the truck and sat playing in the front seat as we picked.  Izzabelle slept most of the time.  Mami had her in the front carrier, so she was picking with Mami for part of it, then we put her back into the truck to rest.

I spent most of the time on the ladder trying to get the higher up apples.  Our trees are wild on the property. As such, they’re not sprayed with pesticides. So not all the apples are prime looking, actually, ours would be considered “seconds”  (or even thirds), i.e., apples destined to be cider.

Plus, having waited so long after when they should have been picked, the ground was loaded with them.  As an aside, last weekend (i.e., the first weekend in October) was the apple festival in Forestville (the little community where our 30 acres is located).  We didn’t make it out there.  But our area features and abundance of apple trees and apple growers.

Despite their “wild” look, our apples sure were tasty.  Wil snacked often, and made sure to grab “one for the road.”

After finishing, we drove down to Adam and Danelle’s place to have dinner with them and Melodia and Danelle had planned to make Apple Fritters with some of our bounty.  Prior to dinner, I swear Wil polished off three more apples.  Those kids like apples!  While we were there, Adam’s aunt stopped by with some apple cider! Yummy!

The girls cooked up Apple Fritters, a few at a time, tweaking the recipe with each new set of 5 they dropped into the hot oil.  After about 4 or 5 different versions, they arrived at the taste they liked best. But we were eating and “testing” them the whole way.  McKinley wasn’t so much interested in them, but Wil was more than happy to offer his tasting services the whole time.

Apple Fritters - yummy.

We left the Padd’s place about 815pm, heading home. On the whole, we both felt that this was one of the most fulfilling days we’d had with the kids in a while.  Just something romantically fun about picking apples in the fall, making fritters, and drinking cider.

Next up:  We’re going back to the property to pick more apples this coming Monday (holiday) with Adam and Danelle, and going to the mill Monday or Tuesday to make cider from them.  Expect another “yummy” posting.