Despite the fact that it's going to be October in mere DAYS, the Wisconsin weather (as usual) hasn't caught up. Today was nearly 80F, which if you ask me is so last July. I am DONE with being sweaty and my bangs flipping in a hundred different directions from humidity, and alternating my two pairs of shorts. My oversized sweaters are hanging in the closet; my tights are calling my name. I am READY for fall!
In honor of near-October, two friends and I went apple picking. Ideally one would don a pair of Hunters and a comfy sweater, pick apples, drink hot cider on a hay bale, and enjoy the crisp breeze blowing through one's hair. Instead I was pouring sweat, dying for cold apple cider, and swatting mosquitos off my legs and neck.
However, despite these unsavory summer-like conditions, we were troopers, and we made the most of our apple picking afternoon.
First we got lunch from the Elegant Farmer deli, then we gathered our baskets (half-peck each!), before venturing into the orchard.
There were quite a few varieties of apples available, thought not my two favorites: Honey Crisp and Pink Lady. Instead we got Golden Delicious for baking, as well as Granny Smith, Macoun, and Jonathan. Because I am really an eight-year-old boy at heart, my favorite thing about apple picking is that I get to climb trees that must have been designed by God solely for climbing. Perfectly spaced, thick branches. The biggest apples just in my reach if I climb up a few feet. Apple picking heaven.
The more apples we gathered, the more difficult it became to balance baskets, purses, water bottles, and the like. In what was probably an Abbott and Costello comedy act at one point, I dropped an apple off the top of my basket. As I leaned down to pick it up, another fell off. I turned to pick that up and another fell off. Yeah. A Cambridge education really got this one far.
In the end we all somehow managed to carry our massive baskets of apples to my car. We were only minorly injured by falling apples and no one fell off a ladder (mostly because we were too afraid to climb them). All in all a successful trip. We ended the adventure in the Elegant Farmer shop with apple cider, apple ice pops, and apple pie. Fall may not have arrived yet, officially, but that doesn't mean we can't indulge in her bounty.
If you've got a great apple recipe to share, put it in the comments below. I've already used the Granny Smiths in some braised cabbage, but the Golden Delicious need a home!
I picked some apples at Mary Winter's and baked the best pie ever!! It was so fun just picking them ofl the ground and then having Mary shake the tree!! Looks like you had a great time picking apples at a beautiful place!! Love Josie
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