Enjoying the Apple Harvest
Even when you're not very "crunchy."
Dear Friends,
When I was in college, I loved to hike. (I still do!)
I loved to be in the woods. I liked to walk there and sit there and think there. But I was not a backpacker. I didn’t have stamina and I didn’t have gear and I didn’t know how to camp and I didn’t really want to, anyways.
Being in nature just refreshed and nourished my soul.
The problem was that many people at my college were very hardcore backpackers. Our most popular Freshman Orientation choice took the form of backpacking or canoeing or other outdoor trips spanning multiple days and nights.
I chose the option with the tour of the Ben & Jerry’s factory instead. (Could have done worse!)
One day I poured my heart out about feeling like a loser about all of this to my Dean. “They all go ten miles but I just can’t go ten miles! My knee hurts and I can only go a quarter of a mile at best!”
“So,” he said, pressing his fingertips together and leaning back in his chair. “Why don’t you just go a quarter of a mile?”
It was one of the first times I realized that I didn’t have to excel at something in order to be worthy of doing it.
Today, I bring that lesson to bear on this beautiful fall season and its harvest, particularly the apple harvest that reaches its peak this month. How can those of us who do not raise our own apples or own a cider press — both of which are good things, but not universal — still take part in this connection with the basic cycles of nature and the good fruits of the earth? What about those of us who love apple pie but are afraid to try making our own crusts? Can we still come along?
Absolutely!
Read my low-pressure essay here:
“Seven Suggestions for Making the Most of Apple Season (Even If You Aren’t Feeling Very Crunchy)”
Are you going apple picking this year? Do you feel pressure to avoid homestead-y things because you don’t have 40 acres? What do you think about this sort of thing?
Also, don’t miss H&F’s interview with the indomitable Leila Lawler of Like Mother, Like Daughter in this issue, on which I am proud to have worked:
“To Be a Sacred Space: A Discussion With Leila Marie Lawler.”
Take care,
👏👏👏👏 100% this! There is such a purity contest culture invading the homestead-y world at times...that anyone who isn't doing ALL THE THINGS to the DEEPEST DEPTH is just another consumer-driven sheep. (Ironically, these sorts of things are said while simultaneously turning homestead skills and lifestyles into products to be consumed. And don't even get me started on the modern use of the word 'homestead'!) So much doesn't get taken into account, from limitations due to urban life, to life circumstances (jobs, illness, divorce, etc). Buy the store-bought pie crust, without guilt!
Farming is my life and my profession, so it's not like I don't value heritage skills. I'll make a chicken pot pie from our own meat and vegetables, with grain we grew and ground for the crust. And then I'll go through McDonalds the next day and have the best dang fries. My idyllic art desk of whimsical delights is next to a TV that's currently playing Paw Patrol. I'm so glad you wrote this piece - it's needed!
Loved this essay. I too feel inadequate in tackling the farming efforts that my husband has done since we bought our little acre. He's experimented and learned what grows here on the western edge of Nevada down the hill from lake Tahoe. Sandy soil, little rain, lots of wind, and wildlife that consume whatever they can. We did chickens a couple of times, but couldn't even give the eggs away except to a very grateful Food Closet. Potatoes, onions, garlic, and chard do well, even in the cold frame. But not in amounts that will get us completely through the winter. And storing them is another very steep learning curve. I've done canning and hydration, but the lower half of my body is starting to rebel against standing in the kitchen too long. This year, husband successfully harvested five pint jars of honey from his first beehive. Yay girls! So that too is a win. And the apple tree has managed to survive the spring freezes. We've just yet to harvest those. We'll make cider with those. Yum! Little by little day by day. And we just have an acre that has a lot more room to experiment. I plan to write about some of the successes and failures come November. Hope you'll check out Ring Around the Basin for scary stories and poems in October. So glad I found your page.