On Saturday I was invited to go apple picking with P & B. They have gone picking before so they are what one might call "experienced apple pickers". At least they were familiar with the orchard and the routine there so they could show me to ropes.
There were literally hundreds of trees and a wide variety of apples, most of which I had not heard of before. None the less, we grabbed a couple buckets provided at the barn and headed down the rows.
All the apples looked perfect which made it hard to know which ones we would like the best so....
...we sampled them. Yes, we chose a tree, picked an apple and took a bite! The taste test was just the ticket. Can you guess what type this is??
If you guessed an Arkansas Black you would be correct! It was the first tree we stopped at and when I read the sign I immediately thought of Dad. He planted one years ago on the back forty so I had to have a photo and of course a few for the bucket. We also found Gravenstein's which our parents have at their place too and also happens to be the preferred apple for our grandma's famous apple dumplings. Since that is what Grandma always used it is what I like to use when I make them.
The easy part of picking was filling up the bucket, the hard part was which apples to choose because there were just so many.
The view was amazing up at the top of the hill overlooking the orchard and Mt. Hood in the distance.
What a fun thing to do on a sunny October afternoon! Every apple we have tried has been delicious and I even used some in our dessert for Sunday Supper which I will share soon.
Happy Monday!
Love the title!
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