The fall season is in full swing and the apples are ready for picking. If you’re looking for an awesome autumn activity you can do with the whole gang, why not try apple picking? It’s fun and inexpensive, plus, you leave with a basket of the freshest farm apples you’ve ever tasted.
Here are some of our tips for making the perfect apple picking adventure.
1. Pack a picnic basket.
Reaching up high for the ripest apples can be hard work. Sometimes you have to get creative in order to snag the ones you want. One thing’s for sure though… you’ll work up an appetite. Unless you want lunch to be apples, apples, and more apples, it’s best to pack a picnic basket so you can enjoy a balanced meal on the grounds.
You’ll need:
- Large blanket
- Sandwiches (some of our favorite options include this Garlicky Egg Salad Sandwich or any of our 5 Flavorful Paninis)
- Chips, crackers, or sliced veggies and dip
- Utensils, cups, plates, napkins (consider reusable or compostable options)
2. Get active!
If the orchard you’re visiting will allow it, pack a football, paddleball set, ring toss, or other game. Orchards will often have wide-open spaces you could use for a post-lunch game.
3. How to pick an apple
Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Turns out, there’s more to picking the perfect apple than just reaching up and grabbing it. Technically, apples are perfectly ripe when they fall to the ground on their own. If you pull on an apple that’s attached to a branch and it doesn’t detach easily, it might not be ready. A slight tug is all it should take.
To reach apples on the higher branches, use one of the orchard’s fruit picker baskets. It looks like an open wire basket on the end of a broomstick, but it’s absolutely ingenious when it comes to picking apples you’d never reach from the ground.
Pro tip: Late in the season when the pickings are slim down low, pack a lightweight collapsible step stool to reach fruit others can’t! Sometimes even the fruit picker isn’t tall enough.
4. Double-check pet policies.
Most orchards will not allow pets, so make sure to check with the one you plan to visit and make arrangements for your dog as necessary.
5. Keep the fun going at home.
Okay, great. Your party picked over 4 pounds of apples. You could eat them all one by one or use them to make something delicious. Homemade apple pie with apples you picked yourself? What could be better??
Here are some of our favorite apple recipes from the Chosen Foods catalog.
Here are some of our favorite apple recipes from the Chosen Foods catalog.
- Healthy Caramel Apples
- Baked Cinnamon Apple Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream
- Savory Marinated Pork Chops with Homemade Apple Sauce & Sage
- Kale & Roasted Butternut Squash Salad
- Crisp Apple Salad
Apart from cooking and baking, apples lend themselves well to games.
- Bobbing for apples: an oldie but a goodie, this is the original Halloween party game.
- Blind apple taste test: Find out who in the family can tell the difference between all the different varieties of apples you picked on your outing. It’s harder than you think!
- Painting with apples: great for toddlers.