Apples
Started: 2022-10-18 20:10:41
Submitted: 2022-10-18 20:38:49
Visibility: World-readable
It's another fall so we're picking apples again
On the first day of October, we celebrated fall by picking apples.
This year, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wane, more farms around Watsonville are open for harvest experiences. This is the third year that we've picked apples in the fall since returning to California. We went back to Gizdich Ranch on the far side of the Pajaro Valley, nestled below the hills that form the southern extent of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
This year we went to pick apples several weeks into the fall apple-picking season, and when we arrived on an overcast Saturday shortly after noon it was obvious that many of the biggest apples had already been picked. We walked down the rows of Fuji apples but it wasn't clear that they were ripe yet, then looped back to the Gala apples that had already been picked through.
We had somewhat more luck with the Newtown Pippin apples at the bottom of the hill; though this heirloom variety is better known for its baking (and cider) potential than its utility as a table apple.
We headed back up the hill to the Granny Smith apples, where Julian found some apples that were low enough for him to pick (and he took advantage of the apples' position on the tree by sitting down on the ground). Julian picked enough apples to compensate for several days of his own apple consumption at home. (On an average afternoon after school he'll eat three or four apples.)
Back at home, Kiesa made apple pie with the apples we'd picked.
