Apple Country

Western Virginia is apple country, and we're right in the heart of it here in Charlottesville. Today we went apple picking for about the third time this season--we went two other times in August and September. Different apples are ready at different times from August to November. Today, Carter Mountain Orchard had several new pick-your-own kinds: Fuji, Stayman, Jonagold, and Granny Smith. (Previously we had picked other kinds.) We picked a few Fujis, a few Staymans, and a lot of Granny Smiths. We also picked up three other kinds that they were selling (from bins): Pippin (Thomas Jefferson's favorite kind), Mutsu (aka Crispin), and Winesap. It's fun to try each kind and notice the differences in flavor and texture! We're looking forward to some good apple dishes in the coming weeks. Here are a few pictures:

They had some apple pickers for folks to use--to reach apples at the tops of the trees (which is where many of the good ones are). I was not as skilled as Ben at this, but I tried :)

Victory:

For family members who will get this joke, we called this the "up, up, up, up, up, then down, down, down, down, down" method :) (a-la-Nana!)

Granny Smith on the tree:

Granny Smiths are my favorites!

There were TONS of apples all over the ground, especially in the Fuji apple tree area. We're not sure why--seemed rather wasteful. Perhaps either there was a storm that knocked a bunch down (we did have lots of rain this past week), or some apple-pickers were not very skilled with their apple-picking implements:

Another Granny Smith:

Pretty morning glory winding up one of the apple trees:

We're looking forward to picking another batch of apples later this fall. Some of the best kinds are yet to come!