This morning we took Miles out for his first trip to the apple farm (Wilson’s Orchard, north of town).  He always gets a kick out of seeing produce at the grocery store—he shouts “Ball!” whenever we get near oranges, cantaloupes, apples, or anything vaguely spheroid— so I thought it would blow his mind to see apples in their natural environment.

It was lots of fun.  It was crowded, being a Saturday in peak apple season, but we were able to catch a tractor ride pretty easily down to the picking zones.  We were fortunate to have come during Honeycrisp time.  For those of you who are not midwesterners, Honeycrisps are a variety of apple developed at the University of Minnesota, so they’re pretty well-suited to the Iowa climate too.  They’re really great for out-of-hand eating, very juicy and the perfect balance of sweet and tart.  Maybe they’ve made it nation-wide by now.  Regardless, the last batch I picked up at the grocery store was $3.97 a pound, so it made it all the more attractive to pick some at the orchard for only $2 a pound.

Miles was pretty neutral on the tractor ride, though Denny and I found it a bit thrilling.  It went faster than I expected and even went through part of a creek.  The lady sitting next to me was about ready to bail.

Once we got out to the pickable area, Miles went nuts.  He wanted to put every single apple he could see into my bucket, even the gross rotten ones on the ground.  If they weren’t too squishy, we let him do it to think he was contributing, then quickly tossed the new contributions out when he wasn’t looking.  (If you’re reading this in ten years, Miles, sorry.)  He had fun when Denny lifted him up and helped him pick apples out of the trees, and he also enjoyed gathering gravel from the walkway and throwing it in the creek.  Much like the apples, he wanted to pick up every little stone.  Good thing we weren’t in a hurry.

We got lots of Honeycrisps, and I also got some Jonathan varietals for an apple cake I’m baking right now.  I’ll update on that topic if it comes out photo-worthy.