Well, would you look at that? That, my friends, is our very first apple harvest. Three years ago this month, we received a lovely housewarming gift in the form of some apple trees. Each spring, we've added a few more. Our orchard has now grown to twenty trees, though you have to look closely to see them, and you just might laugh at me if you see it and hear me call it the 'orchard'. They're just babies still. But oh, these three apples this year! Such a treat they were, shared evenly among the lot of us, and a source of inspiration for a whole lot of "someday, in the orchard..." talk.
Someday, yes. For today? We're glad for established orchards where each year, we go to pick our fill.
Each autumn, we find ourselves making the journey to Ricker Hill Orchards. A nine generation deep family farm where we find rows and rows of organic pick your own macintosh, jonagolds, cortlands, and more. There, we indulge in a few apple cider donuts. The littlest always gets wagon rides and apples delivered to her. Mama has her first attempt of the season at a family holiday card. And we fill our baskets with apples and fun before heading home ready for what comes next. Applesauce, apple pie, apple butter...oh, for the love of an apple orchard!
