Well, we finally did it. I didn’t think it was going to actually happen this year, but it did. We went apple picking and surprisingly, there were tons of apples to be picked. I thought the trees would be stripped clean, but they really weren’t. So many really beautiful (and huge) apples! I see an applesauce recipe in the very near future. So mark this on your calendars, mid-October – apple picking can totally happen.
Okay, first of all, why is it that every time we get in the car to do something like this, it’s sunny, but by the time we arrive at whatever location it is we’re going to, it’s cloudy? Two o’clock in the afternoon is when it happens. Sunshine makes photography exponentially better and today, we were forced to take about half of our photos under clouds. At least the other half looked good. I’ve got a ton of photos to show you in this post, so settle in and enjoy.
By the way, it’s supposed to drop to 32 degrees tonight. It’s getting chilly out there. I think I might need a fire in the stove tonight.
I’ll start off by telling you where we went. There’s a nice orchard on a really great looking hillside in Farmington, Maine.
It’s called Morrison Hill Orchard and if memory serves, they offer about 15 different types of apples. We stuck to one side of the hill because the other side was picked clean. I think those were the apples that ripen up in August and September. We had fun with the ones that go all the way to late October. The Red Max, Empire, Rogers Red, Cortland and Macoun.
After we got back to the house, I looked up each one of these apple types and I have to tell you, they all look identical. Weird. That’s fine with me though because they were all rather large and super crispy. I did the ol’ eat my way through the orchard thing this afternoon. I’m sure you know how that goes. Really good apples.
When we first arrived, I saw something that looked like a huge slingshot. Guess what – it was one. Check this out.
For two bucks, you can buy a bucket of lousy apples and sling them into a field way down the hill. Since it’s difficult to describe what I’m talking about, I had a photo taken of me demonstrating.
We didn’t buy the apples because I was on another mission – a picking one. Do you see that smile in the photo above? I know, I don’t smile enough. I’m trying.
Here’s the field you can sling the apples to. There’s a board with the furthest distances recorded off to the side.
I’d say this is a pretty good idea for this orchard. I really came this close to slinging some apples.
After I played with the sling for a bit, we did the majority of our picking. The trees weren’t huge, but I had a tough time getting any apples. Because of this, I had to go grab two pole pickers.
We picked a half-bushel. I think that’s what it was. It’s the big bag and it cost $18.
Here’s what the bag looked like.
And this is my favorite apple. It’s pretty big and it’s sitting on my desk looking at me right now.
After the picking, we walked around the orchard for a while taking random photos. There was a lot of good stuff to photograph and it was really enjoyable. This first photo is of the upper portion of the orchard. This is the area where there were no more apples.
I thought this next shot was pretty. I framed the front of the farmhouse with the apple trees. Talk about skill.
Next up, we have the standard apples on tree photo. This is a given. Along with the next apple trees in a row photo.
This is an example of one of the apple trees.
I thought it was pretty cool looking, so I grabbed a picture of it.
I also thought the signs that described the types of trees were cool, so I snapped a few photos of them as well. This first one is for the Empire apples.
And this next one is for the Cortland apple trees.
Hey look! There’s even one of me holding an apple and giving a half smile. I think this picture was taken a second after I thought it was taken.
Here are a few more random shots. One is of an old broken down wine barrel.
This next one is of a pumpkin on a nice stone wall. I thought this was a pleasant touch. It’s so New England.
If you take a look at the photo above, you’ll also see some pretty flowers at the base of the wall mixed in with some autumn leaves.
Okay, this orchard had some chickens in a coop, or a pen, or whatever you call it. One of the chickens got out and was walking around. It wasn’t the easiest thing in the world getting a good picture, but I managed to get a few that were presentable. This one was the best.
I’d say that’s one good looking chicken.
I saved the best for last. You’re going to love this story. I paid $18 for a half-bushel of apples. Last night, we had a lot of wind because the temperature dropped so much. It actually woke me up from slumber a few times. Today, while we were at the orchard, I saw a bunch of big bags that were full of apples, sitting every so often throughout the trees. The orchard people usually clean up the dropped apples every day. Well, since there was so much wind last night, a ton of apples fell from the trees. Good apples too! As I was doing my regular picking, I saw them all over the place. I kept commenting on how much of a shame it was to lose so many great apples.
I noticed that they were selling these bags of dropped apples for $7 each. Each bag weighed at least 60 pounds. I inquired about them and the lady said that they “have to” sell the apples as animal feed because they touched the ground, but that she can’t control what everyone actually does with them. We both knew everyone who gets a bag makes pies with them. At the other orchard, they press the fallen apples and make cider out of them. I said to myself, “What the heck,” and I bought a bag.
I put the big bag of apples in the trunk of the car and just opened it a little while ago to see what was inside. Guess what – the apples are perfect! Yes, some are small, but so many of them look just like the apples we picked off the trees just this afternoon. I’m totally washing as many as I can and am going to be doing some serious cooking with these things. And now that I know this place sells fallen apples, I swear I’m going to look at cider presses. I just have to.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I hope you enjoyed today’s post and if you have a comment please leave it below. Thanks for reading!
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