Fall brings with it many rituals. Apple picking is one of those activities so when the weather starts to get crisp, and the leaves begin to change, you’ll find me headed to an apple orchard. Things have been a little hectic this year, so I was a little later than usual in venturing to an orchard, but fortunately it’s a fairly long season in Maine and there were still many varieties of applies ripe for picking.

After a hearty breakfast at Krista’s Restaurant in Cornish where I enjoyed a meat lover’s omelet overflowing with filling, my friend and I headed to nearby Apple Acres Farm. As we approached the farm, the neat even rows of apple trees could be seen on each side of the road. The weather was perfect for apple picking and the countryside was starting to show a colorful fall palette making everything especially picturesque.

Apple Acres

Apple Acres

Apple Acres

Apple Acres

After parking, we headed to the pick-your-own counter to get the run down on what was available. Turns out, there were a few varieties ready for picking including Cortland, Macintosh, Macoun, and Honeycrisp. While I’m partial to Macintosh, we get them quit a bit and I decided to pick some Macouns instead. My friend went for a variety pack.

We were told that it might be hard to reach a lot of the apples so we should take a fruit picker basket from the group of them that was leaning against the edge of the building. I have never used anything but my hands to pick apples, so was intrigued by a fun new tool to try. The red wire elongated baskets were fixed to the end of a long pole and had a claw like design on one side to help dislodge the apples.

We each grabbed a fruit picker basket, and headed to the farm stand to get a bag. This decision presented another dilemma as I always over-pick when I go to a pick your own farm activity, and end up with more than my family can reasonably eat. I  end up spending a lot of time baking and searching for new recipes so that I can use up my supply and not let any go to waste. It’s just that the fruit always looks so amazing at the farm that I can’t seem to stop. But, since this time I actually was planning to use some apples for both eating and baking, I went with the bigger bag.

The apple picking itself was quick and easy with our nifty new picking tool. There were plenty of apples available. Many were a little on the smaller size but I actually prefer that for my eating apples. As encouraged by the Eat Ugly Fruit & Veg Campaign, I’m also really working on reducing my food waste and learning to eat all fruit not just the pretty, perfect ones, so I didn’t spend a lot of time being picky about which ones I grabbed. In the end, I didn’t fill my bag completely. I realized I had, yet again, been overly ambitious with my quantities, but I still had a nice amount to take home.

We took our bags back to the pick-your-own counter for weighing and payment, and after paying for our fruit decided to stop into their farm store on our way back to the car. I’m so glad we did. It’s a really cute store with lots of local products for sale.  They had quite a bit of food offerings as well including a great local wine section. It was worth the stop.