Apple Picking!

6. Pick fresh fruit at an orchard

Last year it was raspberries at the patch in Payson and this year it was apple picking at an orchard as we continue to rock our family's Fall Bucket List.

October 5 we joined Emily Bingham & her girls, Ryan & Michelle Samples and Cynthia Andrus at Gross Orchards in Bedford, Virginia.  It was a hot, hot, HOT Saturday morning before General Conference.  Upper 80s in October?  We are definitely having an Indian Summer here in Virginia.


Did I mention it was HOT?  We were both such a sweaty, gross mess!

We traipsed up and down the rows of the orchard looking for the perfect apples.  Andrew & I were on a mission to find our favorite--Honeycrisp--since they can be so expensive in the store.  However, I don't know if this orchard was exactly budget-friendly considering our little pick-your-own peck was $14.00.  This is coming from a girl who was spoiled by all the apples she ever wanted from her Grandpa "Apple Jack" Martin.

None of the trees were labeled and so we kept trying to guess the apples that were being picked.  It was a little tricky.  Eventually, Andrew and I gave up and filled our bag with apples that were already picked and sorted by the owners.

We gave our apples a little bath in the kitchen sink with some vinegar and water.  They had a good soak for about 20 minutes (a little trick I saw on Pinterest to remove any lingering pesticides) and a towel dry and now we know just what to do with them!  Stay tuned...