Come October, it finally starts to feel like fall. Time to bring out those flannels and boots! Most importantly, it rounds up the season for a fall favorite: apple picking.
Going to the University of Iowa, there is one apple orchard nearby that you hear everyone talking about. That’s Right. I’m talking about Wilson’s Orchard. Wilson’s is an apple orchard North of Iowa City, and it’s about a 15 minute drive from campus.
I had not been apple picking since I was really young, so my boyfriend and I decided to go to Wilson’s Orchard and see what it was like. It was a perfect fall day. We hopped in the car and headed out. When we pulled into the grassy parking lot, we saw that it was fairly busy. Once we got out of the car, we were greeted by a kind old man who asked us if we had ever been there before. He told us to head inside the shop and check out the featured apples before heading out to pick apples ourselves.
Inside the shop we saw a wide array of apple goodies. There was a bakery in the corner that sold apple cider slushies, apple pies and apple turnover pastries. Near the entrance, there was a woman at a table stand offering samples of various kinds of apples. We stopped for a minute and sampled a few.
Now we were ready to head out and pick some apples. From our samples, we knew that we wanted to pick Honeycrisp apples and Song of September apples. We checked out a map of the orchard and saw that we could find those apples just a short walk past a bridge.
The day started warming up and our bucket only had a handful of apples in it so far. We arrived to the row of trees that had Song of September apples. These apples were very red and almost looked glossy. I was skeptical of it at first and decided to try one of the apples. It was delicious. Song of September apples have a sweet taste and a firm texture. Unfortunately for me, it seemed that the bees also liked this kind of apple. We kept walking around as I was eating my apple and I noticed more and more bees around the area. A bee landed on my half eaten apple and I freaked out. It touched my hand and I flailed, accidently launching my apple across the row of apples and onto the ground.
After that, I spent my time at the orchard trying to find another apple like the one I had literally thrown away. The other Song of September apples were not quite the same. After searching for a replacement apple, my boyfriend and I eventually gave up and decided it was time to head home. Maybe next time I go back, I can find a small red Song of September apple, but for now Wilson’s Orchard reminds me of the apple that got away.