Foraging For Apples

I’ve been wanting to go apple picking since Labor Day which was too bad for me since the apples weren’t actually ready yet, so I’ve been waiting.

I knew I only had to wait a week maybe 2 for good measure and then we could go. So for the next 4 weekends someone was either sick or we had too many other things going on naturally.

Just when I was starting to think it just wasn’t going to happen, the boys and I went to visit my grandparents on a Thursday and my grandpa wanted to go pick some apples from a group of trees that grow near them.

My grandparents live on a private road with probably a dozen other houses and the trees are at the beginning of the road. There are no houses around them so I guess that they are just wild. There are also a couple of pear trees and lots of blackberry bushes on this road.

Now when I think of apple picking I think of going to an orchard, so we what we did I think is more like apple foraging.

Foraging is basically eating food grown in the wild or found anywhere outside of the store. For example, your neighbors plum tree that hangs over your fence, blackberry bushes that grow near your kids school (have I mentioned that there are lots of wild blackberries in Placerville?) or food that the grocery stores have discarded because it’s not "perfect” and no longer sellable.

So during our apple foraging the boys learned what to look for when picking apples; larger, not too small, no holes left by bugs and birds and no soft spots. Also, instead of pulling the apples and possibly breaking the branch, it's better to twist it at the stem until it pops off.



The boys had a great time, we picked a huge bag full and I loved that it didn't cost us a thing.



I think the best part was when Dylan told me that the apples tasted “like green apples and donuts”, now really, what’s better than that?

This was so much better than going to an orchard, I highly recommend foraging for apples!