It was KLS’s birthday on Sunday and we went apple-picking at Indian Ladder Farms, which is a working farm not far from our house. Although we we weren’t aware, apparently the crop this year is one of the best in a long time and the farm was extremely popular with hundreds of people there to pick apples.
The weather was great and the trees were abundant with apples in several different varieties. We purchased a ‘half bushel bag’ ($14) and started picking…
…and eating!
The varieties on offer included Cortland, Golden Delicious, a few others I forget now and Empire. The orchards were divided up by trees, and as you can see the apples just hung off the branches like grapes. I’d never picked apples before, so I was a little surprised by how densely they grew on each tree.
Taste-testing them right off the branches was a treat as well. Different types of apples have distinctly different tastes (probably due to the malic acid content) but it seemed we all preferred the smaller Empire apples.
Humans weren’t the only ones tasting the crop:
The bag grew increasingly heavier as we filled it (with dozens and dozens of apples). Eventually it became a bit too heavy for one person to carry comfortably. This was our signal to begin the hike back to the car.
On the way out, I couldn’t resist a wander into the pumpkin fields (Indian Ladder also offers pumpkin picking, but the fields were almost empty). Australian readers can appreciate the onset of Autumn evidenced by the backdrop in this photo.
All in all, a fine way to spend a birthday! Happy Birthday KLS!