Food: A Visit to the Apple Orchard

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A Visit to the Apple Orchard
Thursday, October 12, 2006

While the state of Maine is known for its spectacular fall foliage, one of the lesser known attractions in Maine is its apple crop. Apple orchards are prolific in Maine and each year, at about the same time the leaves begin to change into their gold and scarlet dress for autumn, the apples become ripe and the orchards throw open their gates to the public. The best time to visit the apple orchards in Maine is usually any time in September, but of course the later the better. By the third week in September, the apples are ripe enough to fall off the tree, but they have not yet been completely picked over by the school field trip groups, the day care centers, and the late-season tourists.

Last weekend was the first weekend in October, and although it was a bit late, our family decided to take our annual excursion out to the local apple orchard and pick ourselves a bushel or so. Our teen daughters took a few friends along - friends, I might add, whose families had already done their annual apple picking - so these friends were only along to help us pick. Something told me that this was one of those years when we might end up with way more apples than we needed. Still, the day was a perfect, clear, blue-sky autumn day; the air was crisp but the sun was warm, and we were going to have fun, regardless of the condition of the apples or the trees.

We first went to an orchard fairly near to our home, but which we had avoided in years past because of the crowds. This year was no different. When we pulled up into the dirt drive way, there were at least twenty cars parked along the fence and there was a crowd of people outside the small store. Our daughter's friend assured us that this was the best orchard, so we went inside. The owners told us that most of the apples had already been picked-over, so we made the decision to drive up the road to a lesser known, but our favorite orchard. Before we left, my husband found a ceramic honey pot that was just what he had been wanting, and we bought home-made chocolate chip cookies for the girls.

The next stop was our favorite orchard and we were not disappointed; we were the only car in the dirt drive way! The owner told us that there were still apples on the trees, but that they had been picked-over quite a bit, so we might need to use the ladders. Our daughters were thrilled about this, since, as teens, they still love to climb trees. We set out with bags and smiles on our faces, and headed straight for the Macintosh trees, which are by far, our favorites. The first tree was teeming with apples, but the owner was correct that we needed a ladder. Still, the apples we reached with the ladder were perfect, and we found many apples on the ground under the trees that had apparently just fallen, but were clearly still in wonderful shape. We climbed, picked, laughed, and took lots of pictures. We ate apples right off the tree; the taste of a Maine Macintosh apple that has just been picked from the tree is unlike anything else I have ever tasted. It was crisp, juicy, bright cherry red on the outside and perfect white on the inside. I continued to munch on apples as we went, and before we knew it, we had picked four large bags.

Knowing that we were limited on space in our house and ideas on what to do with so many apples, we stopped the picking and went back up to the shack to pay. There, as always, we found a shelf with home-made apple butter, apple jelly, and peach jam. There was also an old refrigerator with fresh, non-pasteurized apple cider that had been made that morning. There were also pumpkins, gourds, and many, many more apples. We bought several jars of our favorite jams and finally made our way back to the car. We drove home happy and munching more apples, as we talked and dreamed about the wonderful things we would make with all that fruit!

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