Fall blessings

Ok, so it isn't quite Autumn. It's in the 80's today, and fall does not officially start for another couple of weeks. But this weekend, we celebrated fall and all of the blessings that come with it. You should know that my kids are apple fanatics. Not the type of apple that has an expensive price tag. They just can't get enough of a nice, crisp apple. I buy about 12 pounds a week. Yes, I really do mean 12 pounds. I did say that were apple fanatics, didn't I?

Since we moved here, I have wanted to pick fresh apples from one of the farms in our area. Normally, it's still quite hot this time of year. But this weekend was glorious. It was only in the low 70's, and seemed like a perfect day to pick apples. We headed out to a local farm, about 30 minutes away.

It was a gorgeous day. And the trees were overflowing with apples. We received some brief instructions at the entrance, and were shown the type of apples that were ready for picking (Hilltop, School Boys, Jonathan's, and Wolf). We then selected our bag size. There were 4 choices; 1/2 a peck, a peck, 1/2 a bushel, and a bushel. We went wit the 1/2 bushel, which is about 24 apples.

Our first stop was to pick from the Hilltop trees. We had to take a short hayride to those trees.

Hilltops are small, sweet apples, perfect for snacking. As you can see, Noah did not waste a minute and immediately took a bite out of one. One of the employees said it was ok to do that. They stop spraying the apples 3 weeks before picking, and we had a nice rain storm the night before.

We filled half of the bag, then took another hayride over to the rest of the orchard. We decided to skip the Wolf apples. They are only made for baking. I preferred to stick to apples that could be used either for baking or eating.

Oh look who munched on another apple!

We headed over the the Jonathan trees next. 

The best way to tell which apples are best for cooking, is to find apples that are more green than red.

Beekeeping.

Apple Heaven!

After we filled out bag with apples, we headed back to the farm to pay for our purchase. 1/2 a bushel was only $15. We also bought some kettle corn for the evening, cider donuts and a cider slushie to share before we headed home. They were all delicious!

Snack time.

It was such a nice afternoon. The apples are so good, and the price was great. We will be back! It was one of those days where you give thanks for your blessings. Life is not always easy. There will be difficult times. Why not just enjoy the simple things? Things don't have to be awesome. I am content with life. I recognize that there are so many blessings in my life.  Because there is always something to be thankful for. Look around you. A family, a place to stay, food to eat, friends, a job. Be thankful for all that you have. You are blessed.