What a great opportunity for a little nature study. Benefits of apple picking and topics for talking points include:
1. Where does our food come from?
2. How do we get apples?
3. What types of apples are there? She had red delicious apples nearby (not ready yet).
4. What is the life cycle of an apple?
5. What happens when apples rot?
6. What do seeds do?
7. Why do we need the sun?
8. Why do we need soil and compost?
9. Taste, texture, color, and more!
10. How do we preserve food?
We just weave these into the normal conversation as we pick, eat, and peel, usually letting the kids lead the discussion.
The transparent apple is a little tart and VERY juicy! Even the baby helped pick apples. It was nice to have a great aunt dote over the baby, too. We left with three big buckets of fruit!
I loved the recycled scarecrows in the garden! She also had a cool repurposed tool for weeding. It was a y shaped stick with a saw blade bent in a half circle and secured. She said it works great for little weeds! She had it handy, hanging in the nearby apple tree.
The four-year-old gave his stamp of approval on the apples! He was super excited to see seeds! Now, we need to start peeling as I have visions of apple sauce, apple butter, apple pie filling, and more dancing in my head. It's also great family time on so many levels. We get to be outside together, work together, break bread together, and more!
