Since about 4 years ago Dane and I have enjoyed an apple picking trip at Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow, MA. This year was no exception and we were joined by my co-worker Carlton and his lovely fiance Felicia for a day of apple picking, apple cider donuts, and hayrides.
Normally we get a nice, crisp, slightly chilly fall day. Not this year. It was about 78 degrees with 90% humidity making it sweltering outside. I wore shorts and a tank top, which was definitely a first for me on an apple picking trip. Usually I have layers so I can add things as I go throughout the day.
I’m an apple perfectionist. Constantly on the hunt for the perfect, ripest, reddest apples I can find in the orchard. We had 4 bags of apples to fill (8 if you include Carlton and Felicia’s too), so I had my work cut out for me.
I trained Dane well. He’s become a great apple inspector.
And he has a good eye for the perfect apples at the top of the trees. Between the two of us we made short work of our 4 bags.
Come on, look at that apple. Shiny, red, and delicious. We really are an awesome apple picking team.
After we pretty much finished picking, the four of us headed over to the farm store for cider donuts, apple cider and caramel apples. Well, the caramel apple was only for me. I just can’t help myself in the fall. Caramel apples call to me.
Carlton and Felicia had no problem getting their bags filled up quickly too. After our donuts and cider we have the energy to venture on a hayride over to the pear area. It was only a row or two, much less than the apples, and people had definitely picked the pears over. We did manage to find some good ones near the tops of the trees, which I climbed to make sure we got our choice.
We made the best of the heat and all our climbing during the day. We did go in late September, which is earlier than we normally would, but did not expect such a warm day. It felt amazing to turn on the a/c in the car when we got on the road home.
And at the end of the day we had a huge haul of apples and pears. Enough for plenty of pie and apple crisp!
Here’s hoping for a cooler day next year, still filled with our friends and fun!
