Apple Pickin'

Last Sunday we ventured out with our friends Ben, Amy and their adorable son Ollie to the apple orchard.  I absolutely LOVE fall and picking apples is a must!!  We didn't go last year since it was such a lousy fall and too cold.  So this year I inisisted we go.

Since my little man isn't walking yet and I didn't want him crawling through rotten, half-smashed apples, we pulled out the good ol' sling.

It worked pretty good, although I don't think this mama's back was meant for carrying a 19lb baby around.  But we managed.  We got our apple bag (1/2 price thanks to http://www.groupon.com/), hopped on the horse drawn wagon and headed out to pick apples!!

on the hay wagon

We rode past rows and rows of apples.  Some of them I knew, others names were completely foreign to me.  And in that moment I felt kinda like an apple idiot.  I mean, my classification of apples includes red, green and yellow.  But most often the apples I buy at the store are of the "on sale" variety.  So wherever the wagon stopped, that where we picked. 

We ended up with Regent apples I believe.  Not sure if they're good for baking, but we're gonna give it a try!  I've got plans for apple sauce, apple butter, pie filling and so much more.  I may not know much about the fruit, but I LOVE to eat it!!  And speaking of eating apples, we did a bit of that too.

Some were a litte sour for Brooks' taste.

But that didn't stop him from chewing an apple down to the core.  He put all those teeth to good use.

How 'bout dem apples??

We picked about 10lbs of apples, but we may be going back for more.  Depends on how ambitious I become with all my apple baking.  And since we have such limited freezer space, I may even try my hand at canning this year.  We'll see.