Here it is again.. apple season. As I drive around our little town, I can find these great piles of apple crates waiting to be filled. But, from what I understand, this is not a great year for apples. We had a freak frost in May, just as the apple trees were blooming, and then a dry summer has taken it's toll on the crop. Some of the smaller orchards that do both commercial and private picking, have decided to do commercial only, so "pick your own" isn't always available. Some of the "warmer" types of apples didn't even produce where the "cooler" types fared better. 
Monday morning, our church group met at one of the local orchards to pick apples for "our" pies, sauce and pancakes that will be made for "Apple Fest". It was a cool and cloudy morning, but still fun and I managed to get more than enough for the pies and sauce that I wanted to make.
I found the apples to be absolutely beautiful... but certainly not the "tons" of them that I have seen in the past. This orchards has several varieties, but only a few had big bunches like this.
I picked as many "different" kinds as I could. My "trick" for good pies is to use a few different kinds of apples in one pie, as each apple will add it's own flavor. I ended up making five pies this week.. two went to the church for sale, one stayed here and two were given away. I also got a batch of apple sauce made (which Abbie loved)... and the rest of the apples will be stored away until I need them again.
So, I guess I can officially say... fall has begun.
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