Sunday, February 23, 2025

Apple Picking

I find that we are constantly looking for ways to pick fresh fruit and vegetables ourselves here in North Carolina and are continually disappointed. When we lived in Ohio, we could apple, pumpkin, and strawberry pick with ease. In New Mexico, I didn't expect to find many picking opportunities - and we didn't, but we weren't disappointed because, I mean, we lived in the freaking desert. In Oregon, fruit/veggie picking was abundant in ways that I never imagined possible. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries, apples, pears, pumpkins, and just about every vegetable you could imagine were available to pick. It was a u-pick pickers heaven. When we moved to Indiana, we had an apple orchard right down the street that also had some raspberries available to pick as well. When we moved to North Carolina, I thought that fruit/veggies would be abundant again. I just assumed (incorrectly) that the south had loamy soil suitable to grow a wide variety of crops like in Oregon. We have found places to pick strawberries, but the picking season is so quick (like two weeks - and that is dependent on good weather) that we seem to miss it every year (except one). Apple picking is sparse - here and there you can find an apple orchard, but most of them are located in the mountains and are 2+ hours away. We did finally locate an orchard about one hour away from us this past fall, and when my mom was visiting because she loves u-picking as well, we headed out that way to grab some fresh apples. 

If you are a picker, you know that there is absolutely nothing like fruits and vegetables that you pick yourself. The freshness is out of this world and is nothing at all like anything you will buy in any grocery store.  We ended up picking a good number of apples and ended up making a couple of apple pies with them as well as just plain old eating them. So good. 

I think we'll head back to that same orchard this fall but will go earlier in the season to grab some different varieties of apples that weren't available to us when we went this past fall. In fact, I could see us going out there a couple of times, depending on who is still living at the house and available to do so. 

A view from above of the apple picking container that we chose with 8 red apples in it. The apples are forming a circle on the outer rim of the bottom of the wooden basket.

You and your sister are standing, facing each other. You are on the right wearing jeans, sneakers, white ankle socks, and a short-sleeve army green t-shirt with your hair down. Elizabeth is on the left wearing her hot pink dr. pepper t-shirt with black sports shorts on and white ankle socks and her white sneakers with the baby blue nike swoop on them. Elizabeth's hair is pulled back into a ponytail that is then braided in a single braid. You are both in front of a row of red apples. You have your cane in your left hand. Elizabeth is handing you a red apple. The sun is shining and the sky appears to be cloudless.

A close up picture of a single red apple growing on a tree. The photo was taken in portrait mode so that the apple is the main feature of it, but you can also see the leaves of the tree and other branches in the background.

There are two apple baskets sitting on the wagon that we pulled through the orchard. The main focus of the photo is the basket on the righthand side which has a bottom layer of red apples (as mentioned before) and then quite a few granny smith apples. The basket on the right is about 2/3 full of apples. The basket on the left is a smaller basket and is red in color instead of our basket which is a natural wood color. The few apples that can be seen in the left hand basket are red. The basket looks like it is almost completely full of apples.

There are three apples trees in view all set against a cloudless black drop of a bright blue sky. The trees are lined up in a triangle shape in which the middle tree is sticking out farther than the trees to the left and right of it. The middle tree is also taller than the other two trees beside it and is completely full of red apples at the top of it. The apples become fewer and fewer the lower on the branch the view goes.



A view taken of the apple farm from out in the orchard. In front of us is the paved trail that we took to walk out to the orchard. At 11 o'clock is a secondary rock path that branches out into a different part of the orchard. In the distance, at 12 o'clock is a view of the barn and a hill covered in leafless trees. The sky is a crystal clear deep blue and at 1 o'clock is a single beam of lights coming from the sky and hitting the grass to the left of the photo.


 

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