Fall fun.....

Fall is here again which means our annual trip to Oak Glen to pick apples.  This year we were a little worried we wouldn't be making the trip with all the recent wildfires in the area but fortunately the apple orchards and all the farms were spared as a direct result of all the efforts of the fire crews.  One of the first farms we ever visited, Riley's, had fire directly across the street, but their 100+ year old orchards weren't damaged!  We figured it was eight years ago that we started the fall tradition of a picnic and apple picking.  It is so nice to go up to the mountains and enjoy cooler weather, the smell of fall (because fall does have a smell), the scent of apples and crowds of people!  Over the years our outing has evolved.  When the kids were little we'd get a late start, buy lunch, pick apples, go to the petting zoo,  and maybe get some old fashioned candy from the general store.  One year we even fished in the "special" pond and took home fresh trout for dinner at a hefty price tag!  These days since Matthew and Katie can put away more food than we the adults can, we pack a huge picnic basket full of food, take some quilts and have a picnic on the sprawling lawn at Los Rios Rancho.  There is a beautiful view down the valley and up over the pass.  It is nice to just relax, watch the little kids run around and spend time together.  After our bellies are full we head off to the orchards to pick apples.  This year there was a late spring frost which sadly resulted in no apples left to pick.  We did ok though - lots of different apples in the packing shed to pick from.  We wound up with:  granny smiths - nice and tart for our caramel apples;  honey crisp - crunchy, sweet and a little tart perfect for snacking;  and a box of gravensteins seconds for me, mom, to can apple pie filling! 

Fall in Oak Glenn.....

The trees were loaded with yummy apples...

Katie explains to Matthew which

apple to pick next.....

are you sure that's the one I wanted??

Mom says to pick more.....

couldn't quite reach that last apple!

looks like we will be

snacking on apples for a while!

chestnut pods still on the tree...

hmm....which one should we check next?

under the chestnut tree...you
can see all the pods scattered on the ground!

look at what I found!.....

Katie prying open the chestnuts.....

Katie's technique for opening the pods

without getting stuck!

yummy chestnuts!

lots of good nuts to roast!

looks like it's time for dessert!!

One of our favorite fall traditions is to drive about an hour from our home to a little town called Oak Glenn. It is up in the mountains and is a little community of apple growers. There are lots of farms where you can pick your own apples, and there are lots of varieties we don't see in the supermarket. This year we took our picnic basket and ate a picnic lunch on the lawn at Los Rios Rancho. When we were full (and ready for a nap) we wandered into the grove and picked a huge bag of Winesap apples. They were super crunchy and a nice tart sweet, my new favorites!!! Once we gathered all the apples that would fit into our bag we wandered down the road to another part of their farm where you can pick chestnuts! This is even more fun than picking apples! The chestnuts fall off the tree in these prickly pods (which are really sharp) and you have to pry them open to gather the nuts. All that work got our appetite up so we bought a pie to bring home for dessert!