~ fall harvest ~

It's fall harvest time and on Saturday, I went to Emmett to pick apples with Josh, Elizabeth, and Edvin. Elizabeth had done some research on the local orchards and had decided that we would all go to the orchard she thought had the prettiest website - - unfortunately, we couldn't find the orchard with the prettiest website and we drove up and down the road trying to decide which orchard to visit. Without a pretty website, it was a difficult decision. Eventually, we decided to visit the orchard that had the most other visitors and that had an available potty - - two excellent decision-making criteria.

I have never before gone apple picking and I was unsure as to what I should expect. Being somewhat vertically disadvantaged, I had assumed I would be balancing myself on my tippy-toes or relinquishing quality apples to taller persons. Neither were correct. Instead, I was given a pole-thing with a metal-dealie at the top, which I would use to collect apples from the tree tops. Below I am demonstrating my skill with this tool.

And see, the fruits of my labor.

As evidenced by the wind in my hair and my huge poofy coat, you would be correct if you inferred that it was windy and chilly. Brrr! In fact, the previous evening Boise received 1.2 inches of snow, reportedly the earliest snow on record - - to the chagrin of everyone. Fie, La Nina, fie!

Now, you may be somewhat shocked to learn that Josh and I engaged in a bit of silly goofing-off at the orchard. While Elizabeth was extremely serious about her apple-picking (she collected 25 pounds of apples) and Edvin was carrying all 25 pounds of her apples, Josh and I were practicing our ninja fighting skillz. In the below photo, please note the awesome harness-bucket thing around Josh's torso. Initially, I was peeved that he got to carry it, but when I realized that it was intended to carry apples (possibly 25 pounds worth) I wanted nothing to do with it.

Josh and I collected 8 pounds of apples, pretty much more apples than we know what to do with. Don't get me wrong, I like apples and I eat them occasionally, but we participated in this event primarily for the goofing off and secondarily for the socializing with Elizabeth and Edvin. Speaking of whom, here is Elizabeth with her 25 pounds of apples - - note that the bag is too heavy for her to lift.

On Sunday, Josh and I went on a glorious evening hike. We are both upset at the sudden turn towards winter weather, but we are determined to enjoy the foothills as long as we can. The hike was very enjoyable. Josh spent a good amount of time watching out for cougars, as they have been spotted in them thar hills recently. He also examined numerous animal footprints to determine if they were from a cougar. While I am not a wildlife specialist, I surmised that a cougar would not attack two full grown adult human beings when there was likely plenty of other food options available. I did, however, suggest that we take up some big sticks just in case. I also opted to growl into rustling bushes to scare away predators. Anyhoo, it was absolutely lovely and I took about a million photos. Here are just a few.

Posted by jennifer at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)