Apple-Red Days of Autumn

I had the best day yesterday. My sister alerted me early in the week that her apples were ready for picking. Last year we had a spring freeze, and the trees did not produce, but they sure made up for it this year with a bumper crop! We’ve had quite a bit of rain recently, and I was hoping the weather would cooperate on Saturday, since it was my day off. It did

I don’t see as much of my besties as I’d like, since they both retired from our workplace, but it turned out they were both free, so we met at my house early yesterday morning and headed out to the country, to my sister’s little apple orchard.

We each got a nice mix of Granny Smith and Empire. The Roma’s didn’t do so well this year. I like to use a mix of tart and sweet in my applesauce

As an added bonus, the Hickory tree down the road also produced a bumper crop this year! There’s nothing like Hickory nuts to add a little magic to breads, muffins and cakes

With our buckets filled, we enjoyed glasses of ice cold cider and girl talk on Marge’s porch. A moment of respite before the work of peeling, coring and slicing up our apples began…

It was so good to spend time with my friends. And now I have a freezer full of apple goodness for fall baking. I’m thankful for the apple-red days of Autumn!