Apples

I was avoiding kitchen duty, again, when the perfect excuse caught my eye. Apples. In our back yard we have a Pink Lady apple tree. It's a small thing but for the past two years it's produced a couple pounds of apples. Unfortunately last year most of those went to the squirrels. So when I saw those little branches laden with dusty red orbs, I knew I should just go out and harvest. Plus, way better than scrubbing pots. So out went Miss Maia and I with a basket to see what we could save. I ended up composting about half the crop for one reason or another...some were bug eaten, some bird pecked, some just withered on the branch. But right now beside me I have 3-4 pounds of good looking apples and I have heard tell of a cold front moving in this weekend, so it's going to be apple pie time.

I am so excited. For pie, first and for most. But also I'm excited at the prospect of making something from my little garden and giving Maia her first real "farm to table" experience. Living the urban life we do, and with a mom (to clarify, that would be me) who is the least competent backyard farmer ever, we haven't had many opportunities to share food that we've tended, picked, cooked and then eaten. It's an experience that I feel is really important and one I would like to encourage. I love nothing better than to eat really fresh food, and what could be fresher than our own apples? Totally organic and the distance from "grove" to table is mere steps.

Who knows? This could be the pie that gets me all geared up to put in a garden come late winter. So today I am grateful for those apples and the chance to share a teaching moment with Maia. Come the weekend, I think I'm going to be grateful for pie.