Gone pickin'

Today the hubs and I got moving at a reasonable hour to go apple pickin'. We searched "pick your own" spots in southeastern Wisconsin and located a few nearby spots. We had planned on going to two of them but since it was only about 40 degrees out and it started misting and SNOWING we only ended up going to one of them. One of the things I love about being in Wisconsin is the number of outdoor/nature-y activities available. It's like the people here cherish the few short months of outdoor opportunities each year and want to take full advantage of them. I had been to one apple farm on a field trip but we choose a new one called Barthel Fruit Farm. It was so much fun! I took a ton of pictures even though my hands were numb after about 5 minutes out in the cold. Here is our trip in pictures.

Honeycrisp apples are the absolute best!

Some of these apples were REALLY big!

Pretty berry bushes, too.
Crab apple trees.

Queen Anne's Lace and apples.

Greg climbing for the best ones!

You could pick your own pumpkins, too!

Apple on a post.

Our loot - all 17 pounds of it!

Apples taking a bath!

Now what,

exactly,

are we going to do,

with 17 pounds of apples??! We've got 38, oh wait, we already ate one, so 37 apples to use up. Here are some ideas I'm thinking of right now.

• Apple pie! I've been wanting to make one forever so this is a must.
• Apple cake. I saw a yummy one here via here.
  
• Apple butter. Just seems like a fun thing to try.
  
• And of course, the honeycrisps are so good we will probably eat them on their own - my mouth is watering just thinking of them!

I also picked up this handy chart that I plan to keep as a resource for future apple baking endeavors:

	Flavor	Apple Pie	Sauce	Sauce Texture	Flesh color	Harvested	Refrigerated Life Expectancy
Earlygold	Tart	Good	Good	Chunky	Yellow	Mid- August	Mid- September
Jersey McIntosh	Tart	Fair	Good	Smooth	Cream	Late August	Mid- September
Paula Red	Tangy	Good	Good	Chunky	White	Late August	Late September
Gingergold	Sweet	Good	Good	Chunky	White	Early September	Late October
	Flavor	Apple Pie	Sauce	Sauce Texture	Flesh color	Harvested	Refrigerated Life Expectancy
Wealthy	Sour	Good	Good	Chunky	White	Early September	Late October
McIntosh	Mild, tart	Good	Excellent	Smooth	Cream	Early September	Early January
Mollies Delicious	Sweet	Poor	Poor	Chunky	Yellow	Early September	Late October
Jonathon	Tart	Good	Excellent	Chunky	White	Mid-September	Late October
	Flavor	Apple Pie	Sauce	Sauce Texture	Flesh color	Harvested	Refrigerated Life Expectancy
20 oz Pippin	Tangy, tart	Best!!	Good	Chunky	Yellow	Mid-September	Late October
Cortland	Semi-sweet	Excellent	Good	Chunky	White	Mid-September	New Year
Spartan	Sweet	Fair	Good	Chunky	White	Mid-September	November
Macoun	Mild, tart	Good	Good	Creamy	Cream	Mid-September	November
Golden Supreme	Mild, sweet	Fair	Poor	Chunky	White	Mid-September	November
	Flavor	Apple Pie	Sauce	Sauce Texture	Flesh color	Harvested	Refrigerated Life Expectancy
Honeycrisp	Sweet	Fair	Fair	Chunky	White	Early October	6 months!
Red Delicious	Sweet	Poor	Poor	Chunky	Yellow	Early October	December
Golden Delicious	Sweet	Excellent	Excellent	Chunky	Yellow	Mid-October	December
Ida Red	Tart	Excellent	Good	Chunky	Cream	Mid-October	Excellent four months

Anyone else have any great apple recipes? Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

xoxo,
lucy