Fall and Apple Picking

Orchards on the farm in 1964

I enjoyed fall on the farm. It meant things were starting to slow down but there was still lots of work to do. The horse corn needed to be harvested. The remaining hay was bailed. Pumpkins were picked. Crops that were finished were plowed over.

Apples needed to be picked as on my grandparents’ farm we had quite an apple orchard. Uncle Donald experimented graphing and there was one tree that produced five different varieties. I did pick apples but was always careful as one year my uncle broke his arm because he fell off the ladder, or it might have been from falling off a limb, knowing him. I was always careful.

Some apples were picked and taken to the mill to make cider. In later years, my uncle got his own cider press and we would help him make cider. So delicious. Other apples were sold at our farm stand or taken to market, where my grandfather, uncle and aunt would go into Baltimore City on Fridays to sell fruit, vegetables, chickens and eggs to customers.

I love apples. Crisp, somewhat tart. Grandmother would make apple pie. My father loved the apple filling his mother made and the crust that my mother’s mom made. My mom would make a delicious applesauce and froze it. I loved eating it before it was all thawed out.

That orchard was plowed under after the farm was sold. Now I have to buy my apples and while sometimes I have to use grocery stores, I try to buy my apples directly from the farmers. I love how fresh they are and all the varieties they have.

Remember an apple a day keeps the doctor away.

Bushels of apples picked on the farm. 1964

After Apple Picking

by Robert Frost