apples of my eye

We went apple picking this weekend, our favourite fall ritual. It’s that time of year when I break out my famous Apple Brown Bessie (named after my late great aunt Bessie) and it’s always more fun to pick the apples than buy them. This year there were slim pickings. Because of the mild weather last March
followed by a heavy April frost, there is an apple shortage this season. The heat and lack of rain in late spring and summer didn’t help. Up to 80% of the crop was wiped out. So the apple-picking season is shorter and many varieties are not available. Very few farms are offering pick-your-own apples.

Organics Family Farm in Markham was one of them. After reading Five
Reasons to Eat Organic Apples (did you know that the average conventionally grown apple has more pesticide residue on it than any other fruit or veggie?) and getting tipped off about Organics Farm, we hit the road. It felt so good to get outside in nature.

It’s true, the apples did not fall far from the tree this season, so we turned it into a treasure hunt. We had to work harder to find the good ones but it was worth it!

A sign read: “We don’t mind if you taste our fruit but no eating please.” So we tasted.

We saw some pigs.

And then we tasted some more. I forgot how crazy-good caramel apples are! They’re so good that as Lily sat on the grass eating hers, sun on her face, she exclaimed: “I’m living the life!”

We picked two bushels of apples! Home to bake up some Apple Brown Bessie! Stay tuned for the recipe.