Saturday 17 October 2009

It's apple picking time

Today was Fall in the apple orchard.

We packed up 3 families (or parts thereof) and headed off to Wagners. After the obligatory stop at Tim Hortons on the way, we arrived at the fall's best secret. Grabbing a couple of bags and a ride out on the tractor, the harvest awaited our brood. Between the 3 families, mine, my brother and his wife, and my sister and her daughter, we brought out enough bags for 60 pounds of apples.

As soon as the tractor departed we headed into the trees, literally. The best apples are always up top where they're harder to reach, so we scampered up, careful not to damage the trees. My daughter didn't even wait until the tractor was away - within minutes of stepping off the trailer she was climbing. They frown on us climbing the trees. Alot. Last year we got read the riot act. This year we were more careful.

About 10 minutes down the orchard I found a ladder and trodded back to the crowd, already firmly entrenched in a treetop. My brother, who I have not seen climb a tree since we were kids, got stuck heading for the best. He's a chef, he knows food. He knows what the best looks like and would accept nothing else. He quite welcomed the ladder. I of course, climbed the trees.

In about a half hour our bags were full. But we weren't done. There were more apples. We started loading up pockets and hoods. When those were full we looked for another solution. My son sacrificed his coat for the sake of the apples. We loaded his coat up and headed off to the 'taxi stand'. We would have kept going if we had more bags. When we got back to the shop we had to get another bag. When all was said and done we had over 70 pounds of apples. Those bags were overflowing and there were still apples in people's pockets.

The kids played on the tire swing, while we examined the other offerings of this place. They also have a wine store and bakery. After picking up some strudel for the neighbour we headed home with our haul. We'll be eating apples for months. Kim started with carmelized apple slices over french toast tonight for dinner. She will make homemade apple sauce and pies, apple betty and apple butter. Lots. I can see an apple cassarole in the future.

A nice day to spend with the family. With all the crap going on these days it was what we all needed. A day to remind us what's important.

Cheers.

8 comments:

  1. I think that this fit in nicely with our idea of having one activity a month where the whole clan participates. It was a great way to spend the afternoon, and a step back in time in more ways than one. I wished i had of gotten a better shot of you and your brother in the trees together, but that snapshot is ingrained in my heart, never to fade with time.

    Apparently apples are not the only thing that grows in that orchard. Happiness and love can be found there too!

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  2. That sounds like a great way to spend a day.

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  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  4. I was just kidding, pretentious-boy!

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  5. I'm not. If you want to kid around, at least leave a name. Otherwise, I do have the right to remove the comments, and will do so. I really can't see anything in this post that was worthy of the comment you left. It's not like I slammed someone here. If you can't say something without offending, don't say it at all.

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  6. Sheesh!

    It was only a wee bit of constructive criticism. Re-read your post, and if you like, I shall nitpick the post further if you still find no fault with your writing.

    Cheers!

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  7. well, that chilled the warm fuzzies :|

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  8. You know, the scene with the talking apple trees in The Wizard of Oz just came into my mind. Definitely don't want to piss off the trees, but as long as the owners of the orchard don't catch you -- happy climbing. Sounds like it was a wonderful day.

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