Last Day To Pick Apples

Even though today is Halloween I am thinking about today being the last day for apple picking at most orchards.

Apple picking has been a Fall favorite since I was a teenager growing up in Queens, New York. My family and I had several orchards to choose from throughout New York and New Jersey and would go apple picking in September and October.

As an adult I continued my family’s Fall tradition and had fun doing so. I would mail apples to my mom who no longer lived in New York but wanted freshly picked apples from New York. Baking apple pies using freshly picked apples is always the best to eat in front of an indoor fireplace. There is nothing yummier than eating juicy apples that came from a tree I knew as well as drinking sweet homemade apple cider.

I reminisced often about apple picking when I lived in the Congo as a Peace Corps Volunteer. In my village I picked lots of fruit straight off the trees. Bananas, lemons, limes, and oranges, but mangos were my favorite. Harvesting fresh fruit is one of the best ways to eat healthy, hands down, that will never change.

Mom and I still like to go apple picking. In the picture I am trying to gather a few apples left over from the season. More than 40 years later I still have fun picking apples and I still love Fall.

What are some of your favorite things to do in the Fall? What do you like or maybe even dislike about the Fall season?