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Apple Picking

October 1st, 2013

Yesterday morning I went apple picking with my neighbor. It was a cute little local place, with a beautiful old barn and old apple trees of all varieties (Bailey’s Orchard in Whitestown). For me, apples signify fall. Mr Chiots LOVES apples and apple cider, he’s in seventh heaven during the fall!
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I didn’t pick any for myself, we have a few apple trees in the garden that are loaded with apples. A gallon of cider and a few small baskets of pears did make it home with me though. I’m hoping to pick a few baskets of apples today to get started on making some applesauce and apple butter for Mr Chiots.

Do you have a favorite variety of apple?

11 Comments to “Apple Picking”
  1. Adelina Anderson on October 1, 2013 at 6:22 am

    I love the red delicious right off the trees – from the grocery stores, not so much. But if it is for baking, then Cortland apples. We have been making crisps, drying apple rings (so good), and making pies. Of course this year I want to try to make apple cider doughnuts. Yum.

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  2. Nebraska Dave on October 1, 2013 at 8:47 am

    Susy, now you’re talking. I like apple anything. In fact, my slogan is “I haul for apple pie”. My little Ford Ranger and I have netted many pies by hauling things for people. I qualify the slogan by saying it can be apple crisp or anything made with apples. When they tell me they’re not a baker, I still don’t let them off by saying, “I don’t even care if it’s bought from the store.”

    There are many apple orchards close to where I live but I’m don’t think any are even close to being organic. Cedar rust is very prevalent here so the orchards prevent it with chemicals. Scrub cedar trees grow wild here and it’s really difficult to control them especially if they are on some one else’s property. I gave up trying to grow apples decades ago.

    I really should think about preserving more of the seasonal things that I don’t grow for winter eating.

    Have a great apple sauce day.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  3. Misti on October 1, 2013 at 9:15 am

    Apple picking is something I have never had the chance to do. I was so excited two years ago when I had a project in PA in October and there were ‘wild’ apples in the forest we were at. Such a different sight for us, especially when I had been used to getting ‘wild’ citrus all over Florida (nothing like finding the most sour orange!).

    Hopefully in a few years my low chill hour apple trees will give me some fruit.

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  4. Marcia on October 1, 2013 at 12:19 pm

    Oh McIntosh are my favorite apples, the only apple I eat really. I find the new varieties too sweet. I made a batch of apple juice with them and it is the best juice ever. It tastes like apples smell, like applesauce made into liquid form. And nothing makes a bad day better than a bowl of apple crisp with a side of vanilla frozen yogurt. Now I want some.

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  5. Melanie G on October 1, 2013 at 12:26 pm

    I like several varieties of eating apples, but my very favorite variety of pie or sauce apples are heirloom Transparents. They’re very hard to find now, but my grandparents had a few elderly trees in their yard in the Shenandoah Valley in VA when I was growing up. Whenever I do find them at our local farmers market, I buy two bushels!

    Reply to Melanie G's comment

    • Susy on October 1, 2013 at 2:49 pm

      My grandparents had transparent apples too.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  6. Katrina Amstutz on October 1, 2013 at 4:15 pm

    I love Honeycrisp apples and my daughter loves Granny Smith Apples. I’m learning to like GS apples more, although we usually eat them with peanut butter. :)

    Reply to Katrina Amstutz's comment

  7. BJ on October 1, 2013 at 4:18 pm

    Bailey’s Orchard is in Whitefield not Whitestown.

    Reply to BJ's comment

  8. Joan on October 1, 2013 at 6:16 pm

    I have two apples that I think would be my favorites, if I could only keep the trees alive! Several years ago I planted Sweet 16 and Redfree after tasting them at the MOFGA apple day. Sweet 16 was not too sweet, had beautiful pink streaks throughout it, and was ABSOLUTELY delicious! Redfree had an interesting pineapple flavor that I really liked. It was a bit too sweet, but the flavor was so great that I didn’t mind. It’s also a really early apple, and who can complain about anything that comes early or late in the season! Unfortunately both trees are doing very poorly out behind the barn (where the dogs don’t go, so the deer have done a lot of damage).

    In the spring if they are still alive I’ll try to graft a couple of buds from them onto other trees I have that are doing much better. I’m hoping that some of my trees, which I planted about five or six years ago, will start bearing next year!

    Reply to Joan's comment

  9. Charlie@Seattle Trekker on October 1, 2013 at 11:49 pm

    I am in agreement that apples are part of what makes fall special…cider, apple pie, there is so much to be grateful for beyond the special feeling you get from managing an orchard and seeing something like that grow and mature.

    Reply to Charlie@Seattle Trekker's comment

  10. KimH on October 2, 2013 at 11:09 am

    Fall is my favorite time of the year too.. I’ve been getting a few apples in my CSA share but we’ll be buying loads of them soon.. I need to check my local orchard for my very most favorite apple of all: Esopus Spitzenburg.. Man is it good.. spicy, crispy, with a perfect balance of sweet & tart.
    We also love Macoun, Cortland, Elstar, Burgandy and we love to make sauce & apple butter from Northern Spy..

    Reply to KimH's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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