I love apple picking and baking pies. For me, it signals autumn and the start of the holiday season. This love of apple picking began when I met my husband.
Fun Fact: It can take an apple tree 4 to 5 years to produce it’s first fruit. If you look at a standard size apple tree, it will start bearing fruit 8-10 years after its planted. Dwarf apple trees begin bearing fruit earlier on; in 3 to 5 years.
Just think of being asked by your boyfriend to go apple picking. What a perfect date, especially for a city girl. To me, it feels as though our love for one another, our girls and our tradition of apple picking, baking and sharing our pies are all tied together. So simple, so perfect.
Fun Fact: If you want apples to ripen faster, leave them at room temperature. Refrigerated apples take six to ten times longer to ripen.
Apple picking first included the two of us picking apples and baking. We then included friends. I remember apple picking, laughing, walking through the apple orchard and devouring apple cider donuts. We had to have those apple cider donuts. Memories indelibly written in my mind include driving with our friend to a scenic overlook, savoring those deliciously, decadent, sweet, warm, donuts and just being at peace.
Fun Fact: The science of apple growing is called pomology.
Another year our friends didn’t want to pick apples but they did join us for baking pies. Anyone that bakes 8 to 10 pies in a day knows it can be exhausting. We all had a great time but after that our friends preferred seeing us after the apple pies were baked. This still brings a smile to my face.
Fun Fact: When you bob for apples, they float. Do you know why? Apples float because 25% of their volume is air.
Our traditional apple picking excursion changed over the years. Our first daughter joined us and the experience was totally new; she brought wonder into the mix. She looked at everything differently, so our view of the world changed.
Fun Fact: The energy from 50 leaves is needed to produce one apple.
Now there was magic and excitement when she picked an apple, placed it in her bag, or enjoyed the first bite. The magic went beyond the apple picking. There was joy when she went and sat with the pumpkins and played on the old tractor in the field. As she got older, it became an adventure filled with hayrides and playing in the field.
Fun Fact: Apples are members of the rose family.
Fun Fact: In China, the word for apple is ‘ping’ which means peace. This is the reason why apples are a favorite gift to give when visiting in China.
When our second daughter came home and we brought her apple picking, an apple and the experience was new to her. She took everything in. Amazed, excited and in awe, you could almost see her processing this new delight. For a little girl who spent her first years in an orphanage, away from stimulation, this was bliss.
Fun Facts: How many of you know the song, A Bushel and a Peck? A peck of apples weighs 10.5 pounds and a bushel of apples weighs 42 pounds. Now you can get a better understanding of the lyrics meaning.
Fun Fact: Apples contain high levels of boron. This can help your memory, mental alertness, and electrical activity in the brain.
Now the girls are older; they enjoy apple picking, but the real fun comes from baking the pies. Hours of baking are filled with candid conversations, sharing of music, much laughter and quite a bit of creativity. My older daughter has taken my plain pies to a new level. The pie crusts are works of art with her crafting of the dough. My little one is quite the pro with the apple peeler and continually shows me how to have fun with every part of the apple pie making process.
Fun Facts: Did you know Malusdomesticaphobia is the fear of apples? The name Malusdomesticaphobia comes from the apple’s scientific name, Malus domestica in the Rose family ( Rosaceae).
For years, we’ve frozen the baked pies and delivered them to neighbors as we trick or treated on Halloween. It’s special to share a little joy and make our neighbors smile. It gives each of us a warm feeling and one of belonging.
Fun Fact: Apples are an excellent source of fiber, they contain 0 grams of fat or sodium and have no cholesterol.
This year for the first time, the girls gave me names for the pie list. They wanted to make their friends smile and feel good. I felt my heart skip, my girls picked up on the most important ingredient, the spreading and sharing of love. Our tradition will always be part of them. I am so grateful to God for such a blessing.
Fun Fact: The average apple has 10 seeds.
A 23 year tradition filled with love, friendship, sharing, comfort, peace and hope. If you have the chance to go apple picking, next time don’t put it off or say no, start your tradition and enjoy the beauty and love that manifests.
A Little Bit of History: Was there really a Johnny Appleseed?
Yes, Johnny Appleseed was a real person, but his name was John Chapman. He was born to Nathanial and Elizabeth Chapman, one of three children, on September 26, 1774 and lived in Leominster, Massachusetts. When his mother, Elizabeth died, his father remarried, Lucy Cooley and had 10 additional children.
At age 13, John was given an apprenticeship to an orchardist, Mr. Crawford, who raised apple trees. John had a facination with apples and their symbolic importance. His interest grew under the tutelage of Mr. Crawford. By 18, John wanted to plant apple trees and “spread knowledge while reminding residents of their immortality.”
When he turned 18, John went west with his brother, Nathaniel. They reached Ohio, at about the same time the rest of their family arrived. Nathaniel stayed with the family while John continued to roam.
John traveled through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, harvesting apple orchards and constructing fences to keep animals away from the trees. In addition to planting trees, John also preached the teachings of Swedenborgianism or the New Church (believed God was to be worshipped through one form, Jesus Christ) to settlers and American Indian tribes.
He had enough money to buy clothing, yet he chose instead to barter with saplings for his clothing. He used his money to improve his apple business and help other people. John refused to use grafting to start his orchards because he thought the process would harm the plants. Instead John used the seeds to grow the saplings. This is why he carried a large sack of seeds everywhere he traveled.
Trees that grew from grafting were just like the parent trees. Because John used seeds, this allowed the trees to adapt to the environment, creating new varieties of apples. The initial trees that grew were not for eating, they were for making apple cider. The trees that adapted to the environment were later used for eating.
By the time he died, John Chapman owned more than 1,200 acres of land across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. In those days, you could claim land if you planted 50 trees.
Washington, DC, Senator Sam Houston of Texas made a speech honoring John Chapman after his death. He said his work was a labor of love. He was liked by settlers and American Indians.
Varieties of Apples
Do you ever wonder how many varieties of apples exist? Each year as I ask for our bag for our apples and the women at the apple stand provide the litany of apple options to pick, I just wonder, how many apple variations are there and is there really a recognizable difference. I always supply the same response, please point me toward the direction of the best baking apple options and that is what they do.
I have the same thought as I walk through the grocery store and see all the apple options available. I wonder how someone decides on the apples that should be sold. Does it go according to taste or price? Do they provide options for those that just want to eat apples of also for the bakers?
Well, Dan Bussey has spent over 30 years compiling information for his seven volume, 3,000 page manuscript listing 17,000 apple varieties that have grown between 1623 and 2000. This encyclopedia is called “The Illustrated History of Apples in North America.” This 30 year quest started out as a curiosity. He wanted to see how many old apples he came across.
Prior to the publishing of the encyclopedia, John Bunker, an apple historian in Maine said, “This will be the most important book ever published in North America about apples. There has been nothing like it and there will never again be something like it.” The volumes include the apple’s common name, a visual discription of the apple, breeding history and geographic range.
Most grocers will carry 12 varieties of apples. To find the others you’d have to visit various orchards.
For Additional Information Read…
An Apple a Day, for 47 Years – by Michael Tortorello – Oct. 22, 2014
How Johnny Appleseed Grew Into a Folk Hero – by George Grow – June 25, 2012
John Chapman – Ohio History Central
9 Facts That Tell the True Story of Johnny Appleseed – by Kristy Puchko, September 26, 2017
All About Apples – by Mariel Synan – by September 13, 2013