Simple Living | A Wild Apple Harvest

And that sweet satisfaction of jars on shelves

There are five wild apple trees down the road that we’d been watching, Maggie Mae, and I, since spring. (Spring is when you make note of where the wild ones are, what with their flouncy blossoms declaring it loud and clear, and all.) From blossom to green fruit, to rosy-golden ripened fruit over the course of a growing season, we watched and waited. They say you’ll know when the fruit is ripe when it starts dropping from the trees. They also say the fruit is better after it’s had a first frost. We decided to do what they say.

The first fruit was ready in September. On a sunny morning, Maggie Mae and I hiked through the underbrush to the edge of the river, a basket in hand, to pick up the apples scattered on the ground.