You won’t believe me when I tell you this, but I was thinking of skipping the orchards this year.  Or going, but not, you know, making a big thing of it.  Just run out with with friends and maybe pick a peck.  BUT NO MORE!  Just one little peck…and probably not all the way out to The Anderson Orchard (not in Anderson, IN, although many people find that confusing…it’s just outside of Mooresville).  No one ever wants to take the southwest trek with me (of course, when they get there, minds are changed).

I certainly wasn’t going to do it until after Randy and Jess’ wedding.  Until we got settled into the school year.  Until I got caught up in the house, the sewing room…sigh.  Things that are NEVER going to happen.

But before any of those things could occur, my sister called on a very gray Sunday afternoon and told me her family would be on the Southwest corner of town until late afternoon, and wasn’t it Anderson Orchard’s Apple Festival Weekend?  And hey, isn’t the weather supposed to break?  It’s a perfect temperature for picking apples!  MEET US THERE!  Oh no.  Nooo.  It’s like telling a shopaholic you’re going to stop by the mall just to get a hot pretzel. Above is a picture of me and Jenny, high on apple cobbler and frozen apple ciders, wearing the hats and fairy tiaras our children discarded while diving into the straw pool.  Who doesn’t love a good apple festival?  Communists and goblins, I suppose.  No one I know!

Anderson’s is my favorite orchard, and one look from the top of the back hill?  I was in my zone.  4.5 pecks of Winesaps, Jonathans, Ida Reds (my favorite), and Scarlet Beauties.  They have tons of Golden & Red Delicious, etc, for folks who just want to EAT apples, and not make an entire menu of food with them.  Passing the rows of Cortlands makes me smile, thinking of GG’s pies, and our annual “who makes the best apple pie” discussion.  Warm applesauce and apple cake and apple donuts and apple pies!  Apple sausage!  Apples with pork chops.  Fried biscuits with apple butter dipping sauce. Apples baked with butternut squash.  Shall I go on?  It’s like listening to the shrimp guy from Forrest Gump, isn’t it?

I’m impressed with how far the girls’ picking skills have come since their days in the baby carrier.  Kelly doesn’t pick apples from the ground anymore (although I found a few teethmarks in her quarter peck bag).  Sara was on a mission to pick small apples that would fit nicely in her lunchbox (Not this one!  She told me this was a present for me.).  Avery picked her usual bag of absolutely flawless and agriculturally perfect apples.  I don’t call her “Saucy La La” for nothing.

The important evolution this year was that we wore out before they did…we’re in a new world folks.  A new world.

I think this is my favorite picture of from Orchard Day, 2010.  Just 3 little sets of legs, ensconced in an activity so near and so very dear to my heart.

What can I say? Cousins. It’s a gorgeous thing to witness. This year they got to ride between the rows on the back seat of the minivan, no carseats, no boosters!  Just 3 girls going up and down over the rolling hills, hidden by the endless green canopy of trees.  I’ve never heard them squeal with so much excitement.

The apple harvest came in early this year, due to the hot summer.  The bumper crop from 2009 is a distant memory.  And to be honest, the flavor of this year’s crop isn’t as good at 2008.  But you know what?  I just don’t care.  Cooking and eating food I pulled from the earth makes my soul happy.  There is another bright spot: in contrast to my “expensive” tomatoes and homemade clothes, apples are much cheaper at the orchard. Important to note when you have an entire refrigerator dedicated to the storage of apples.

Happy Apple Harvest 2010 everyone.  I hope this fall finds you sharing a “small” piece of pie and warm cup of spiced cider with loved ones.