Autumn Traditions: Apple Picking

There is nothing better than a morning of apple picking; wrapping the children up in their scarves and hats (if it’s cold enough to warrant it) and looking at their cute, red-cheeked, smiley faces as they run around looking for apples.

“Mama, I gots one, I gots one!”

These are the days and things I dreamed of when I imagined having children. This simple task of collecting apples, out in nature, as a family, is one I know I will remember forever and one I know will have built up our children’s hearts. Another day together as a team, another memory made, and most importantly showing them that they are loved; they are everything to us.

As the leaves have started to fall there was a soft crackling underfoot at times, along with the swish swash of the children’s shoes in the long grass. As we picked the apples we talked about many things; what we could cook with them, which animals eat apples, why some were soft and foaming, how mama was too short to pick the ones up high.

All six of us worked as a team; Will lifting Brother Bear so that he could reach the high hanging apples, and giving Auntie Haha a shoulder ride for the ones even higher than that; Dada climbed a tree to reach the ones that looked like they were in the sky and Little Bear helped Mama to collect all the apples into our waiting basket.

We looked for birds and found insects, we marvelled over beautifully formed spider’s webs. Picking apples ended up being about so much more than the apples themselves.

We went to a little spot Paul and I found when we lived in Canterbury over a decade ago, a spot we return to most years (you’ll notice I love tradition and repetition). These are old trees that are left alone to do their thing, without any influence or involvement from humans. As such, they aren’t as traditionally photogenic as ‘Instagram trees’ that are grown on farms. The apples are nobbly and wonky, bruised and battered. The trees are bigger, sprawling, bent and crooked like old men. And for this, I love them so much more.

We returned home triumphant after a fresh morning outside – and if you were wondering, most of this batch went into an apple and caramel pie. Would you like the recipe for it?

Do you love to forage in autumn too? We’ve now done apples and blackberries (the blog post for that can be found here). What do you like to look for and how do you use it?

Happy foraging,

Livvy and Summer