Where to go apple picking in VA

This post can be titled "Another reason why I'm so glad I joined twitter." Last month, Mary of Arugula Files tweeted about her favorite place to pick apples in VA. I retweeted the link indicating how fun the idea of apple picking sounded and was very happy when Julia tweeted back telling me she has a car and is willing to go apple picking with me. Score!

Julia and I picked the time and the date and headed out to Stribling Orchards last Saturday. I haven't gone apple picking since I was six years old, and this was Julia's first time!

The day could not have been more perfect: blue sky, sunny, and just cool enough for a light jacket.

Since the season for apple picking is coming to an end, most of the apples were already picked. We had to use special baskets attached to poles to get the apples from the upper tree branches. This was quite an exercise...did I really sign up for this? Julia is on the left, I'm on the right.

I'm pretty happy with my apple picking abilities :)

Most of the people apple picking brought plastic bags or buckets. I, however, knowing that I would be writing a post about this, brought my own basket: it makes for such better photos!

As far as I know, the apples we picked were Rome, York and Stayman. The trees weren't labeled, and I wasn't about to use a map indicating which tree varieties occupied which space in the orchard.

It was rather sad to see many fallen apples. I doubt anyone does anything with them: the smell of apples starting to rot was definitely in the air.

The photo on the left is of the Golden Delicious apples. I know there is a word "delicious" in the name of those apples, but I want to disagree: I find these apples too sweet and soft. But then I'm also not a fan of Red Delicious. I do, however, like how the yellow apples look against the cloudless blue sky.

And since I took a photo of Nicole holding a pomegranate in the pomegranate orchards, I had to take a photo of Julia holding an apple in the apple orchards: aren't the leaves just beautiful?

Love this photo Julia took of me!

Julia did really well for her first time apple picking!

We stood in line to pay for our apples and tried to avoid the bees that seemed to absolutely love us. We also noticed a shack selling burgers and hot dogs: who can say no to that? Ok, maybe vegetarians. After paying for our apples and dropping them at Julia's car, we ate hot dogs, chips and I had my second soda of the day.

But wait, the fun wasn't over yet! We noticed a few signs for wineries on our way out of the orchard and decided to check them out. After some back and forth driving, we finally arrived at Philip Carter winery.

We both decided to do a wine tasting. I was surprised that I liked the Chardonnay, but I definitely wasn't a fan of either the Rose or any of the red wines. The Late Harvest, however, made up for my disappointment.

While Julia sipped her glass of Chardonnay outside, I decided to walk through the rows of vines and snap some photos.

For some reason I really like how the photo of the wire came out: there is something graphic and linear and simple in it.

 

This was a great way to spend a Saturday. Thanks to Julia for the great company and driving. If you are looking to do some apple picking, make sure to check out the orchard's website to see what is still available.

PS Before you ask, I decided to just eat the apples I picked instead of baking with them.