An apple a day...

This past Saturday Sharon and Andy came over for a fun-filled day to "hang out, smoke some stuff and then obviously eat and pass out" (ok, well, no one passed out, but we were dead tired by the end of the day - and I love that line from Finny's site) Actually, the plan was for Sharon and Andy to come over for apple picking at Stotler's Orchard, dinner, video games, etc. I'd stopped by Stotler's last fall just to pick up some apples and cider, and have been tempted to go apple picking sometime... We had fun!

Here's the beginning of the ride out to the orchard. When presented with the options of 1) the regular orchard, 2) the two random rows of apples where every tree was different, or 3) the heirloom orchard for only a dollar more per bushel, well hell, we couldn't pass up the option of trying the cool heirloom varieties! As you can see from Brett's smile, we were excited and happy to go on this little adventure.


Here's a random "let's see what I'll get over the shoulder" shot of Sharon.


Me, Andy and Sharon - "yaaaay! we're going to pick apples!"


"....AND we bought the last three homemade donuts in the apple store before heading out to pick! EVEN BETTER! YAAAAY!"


And here we are going past those regular, BORING apple trees...

...and, um, then we're going into the woods? Ok, are they gonna shoot us? Surely not with the other INNOCENT family also going along for the ride!


And now we're out of the woods (so-to-speak) and crossing the bridge to the heirloom orchard.




Was it a bad sign that THIS happened just as we crossed the bridge?

In case you can't tell, right after Brett asks "are there bugs out here" (LOL, yes, out in the wilderness, and in a place full of sweet fruit, he's asking if there are bugs! LOL!) - and just as we're going over the bridge pictured above, the back right tire sprung a leak and deflated while we watched it. Believe me - it was quite a haul out there! Luckily they have at least two "mules" on the orchard, and were able to pick us up with the other one later.

Once out in the orchard we found one of the most exciting things was looking forward to the woooonderful flavor of an apple-variety that was new to us! Would it be tart? Sweet? Reminiscent of some other fruit, like Winter Banana supposedly is? (It's not) Would it be crisp and alluring, or soft and a bit of a turn off? No way to know without taking that bite....



And then sometimes you'd just get an apple that was very NOT ripe. EW. NOT FUN.


With this apple, I thee wed...


The apple review committee was hard at work while Brett was our cartographer, leading us through the maze of apples and telling us what the map said we were tasting.


As you can see here, Sharon wandered off from the pack, trying to sample on her own, and ran into a mean ol' unripe apple. Sharon: 0 Apple: 1


While some of the apple trees were pretty much stripped (those that were earlier to ripen), we'd sometimes come across a tree that was absolutely LOADED: These beautiful ones were a night light green with just a blush of red on one side.


And this variety (which didn't taste good AT ALL) looked like an antique painting.


By this time we'd seen and tasted so many freaking apples, but even after you reached up to pluck yet another apple...


...there was still the thrill and excitement as you wondered just what you might taste in this little treasure you'd just picked.


Yup, another too-tart one! LOL Poor Andy...


As the trip was wrapping up, I remembered that Peter's always raving about Lobo apples from back home. Any apple I mention having, he brings up Lobos, and says they're wonderful. A quick search on the map and, A HA! LOBO APPLES! Turns out we were real close to them, so we tracked down the tree and...there were only two left? :( Andy was able to shake one down.


And it was time for me to sample this amazing apple Peter's talked so fondly off. I imagined it would be like heaven in my mouth, the juices a veritable ambrosia trickling down my chin as I bit into this wonderful crisp fruit. How would I remember these pictures we were taking to document the apple would be for The Lobo when I went back to them later? Oh I know - sign language! I'll just hold the apple in one hand, and with the other use my fingers to sign a capital L...


...er, oops, L, the OTHER direction for the camera! ;-) Ok, here goes! YAY! LOBO!


WTF!? Ok, that was one NASTY apple Peter! What the HELL are you talking about? Wait, if I don't tell anyone else...


Mmmm, Andy - this apple ROCKS! Do YOU want to try it? ;-) LOL (Ok, in all seriousness, we mentioned this to the orchard owner later, and he laughed and said he was surprised we even found any on the tree, and that they were WAY past their prime. Yup! That was the SQUISHIEST apple I've ever bitten into! Blech!)


I know you've seen alot of apples by now, but trust me, I couldn't pass up pics of some of these sites...



And then there was this funky apple - it looked almost transluscent, and it was HUGE! No one else liked it, but I thought it was kinda good and really sweet. A bit odd, but fun. Again, when we talked to the orchard owner he said these were just going past their prime, and more of the sugars were developing, so it was at the sweetest stage. Eh, I picked a couple - we'll see if they're as good while not in the fun atmosphere of the orchard.


Looks like Sharon got pictures of the list of apple varieties and the map itself. Trust me, it was a complicated mess, but fun at the same time. (And I can say it was fun because Brett took on the duty of telling us what apples we were trying)



Heirloom Red Delicious were SO much tastier than the ones in the grocery store!


Sometimes we got pretty spread out - it was easy to wander off in search of something new and fun to try!


And when we came across a ladder in the orchard, well, HELLO - there was no passing up the opportunity to climb up even higher to get apples!


Time to wrap things up and wait for our ride back to the store (good thing we all had cell phones to call for our ride!)


By this time we were WORN OUT! But still giddy - probably from all the sugary apples! ;-)


I think Brett faked this face for me. He was tired when the day started, and was feeling moreso by the end of the trip.


Here's the orchard owner making sure we didn't get another flat tire as his daughter drove us back to the store. The Stotler's are such a NICE family!


Yup, like I said - Brett was really winding down!

And now that the fun is all over, The Holderman's and we each have a maxed out bag, about 1/2 a bushel, of mixed varieties of super tasty heirloom apples. Did we taste a lot of apples and then pitch the taster-apples under the tree before picking stuff to put in our bags? Yes! (We were told to taste whatever we wanted - so that we weren't feeling wasteful, we all shared one taster apple from each tree we considered) Did we consume pesticides used to keep these apples looking perfect? Eh, yeah, I'm guessing we did - but probably no more so than what's on grocery store apples - PLUS these weren't all covered in glossy wax! Now - we'll be eating apples for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for the next few weeks! ;-)