Apple picking!

One of the joys of New England autumns, in addition to the foliage, is apple-picking. Fearing we would miss this, we were excited to discover an orchard near our home in Tacoma. Curran Apple Orchard, now a public park in the city of University Place, has an annual harvest day in September from 1-4 in the afternoon. Last year, daughter was napping at one PM, so we went when she woke up at 3 pm and found all the apples picked clean.

This year, we decided not to repeat that mistake. However, even arriving at 1:05 yesterday, many of the trees were already bare when we got there! Nevertheless, we were able to pick two large bags of apples, and pressed enough to make two half-gallons of cider, with plenty left over to bake a few pies. It was great fun for my daughter, who is now old enough to climb the apple trees and loved being able to crank the cider press.

So a great day! The cider we pressed was fantastic, too. It was made from about four different varieties of apples, and we didn't add anything to it (no spices or sweetners). The only thing lacking was apple cider donuts...