Apple Pie in the Sky – T2Q
Summer is mid-point. Crops are ready for harvest. Local produce is showing up in our stores. I love apples and the things you can make with apples – apple pie, apple dumplings, fried apple pie, stack cake (made with spiced apple butter), apple cider, and caramel apples to name a few tasty desserts.
In the foothills of the Smoky Mountains stands, The Apple Barn & Cider Mill. This is a wonderful place and a sure treat for anyone who visits!
It use to be an annual event for us to stop by. We’d pick up some pies and cider to take into the park where we wait until we got to Clingman’s Dome before having our special snack. From the parking area, we’d sit in the car enjoying the spectacular scenery as we savored each tasty bite of vine ripened freshness of homemade-like apple goodness.
This brings me to my Thursday 2Q:
1. What, if anything, do you do differently to enjoy the harvest or end of summer? Last year, we went to the Grainger County Tomato festival. This is a big event in our area, as it’s well-known for producing the best tomatoes. We hope to attend again, which is coming up soon. Some of the big farmers grown all kinds of produce, fruit trees, and berries. I want to try to get some locally grown apples, as this is something I haven’t done. There is nothing like the sweet taste of a golden delicious apple that ripens fully on the tree before being plucked off. Mmm-mmm, good!
2. Do you indulge in making special recipes for this time of year? In the past, I’ve made a point to make my husband’s favorite childhood treat, apple crisp. The memories of his mother making this dessert always kindled his heart. We began incorporating this tradition in our family life. Our children always looked forward to the fall time just so they could have apple crisp like their daddy did when he was a boy.
One thing is for certain, this fall I’m not going to to let the opportunity pass us up again. We will be sure to buzz into The Apple Barn & Cider Mill. Who said, we can’t have apple pie in the sky? It sure feels like we can reach out and touch the heavens from on top of ole Smoky.
6 Comments
Jamericanspice
1. i don’t do anything special that is a tradition that I’d know. Maybe if something comes up, then I’ll be involved but that’s about it. I just enjoy it as it comes.
I don’t make any special recipes either but I’ll buy the fruits!
Cathy Kennedy
@google-00816b7fb43fe54f8217c18327fd2fd9:disqus My inlaws have several apple trees, but we’re never there at the right time. Now they are getting up in years and don’t want to fool with them.
Cathy Kennedy
selfsagacity Homemade beef jerky – sounds tastey! My son would especially love this recipe. Is it hard to make?
Squirrelqueen
We live in the middle of a huge agricultural area with abundant fresh produce all summer. Our Sweet Onion Festival was just a couple of weeks ago and we have a farmers’ market every weekend. The fresh apples will be harvested early fall and be available at the farmers’ market or we can go to the orchards and pick our own. My favorite is the Honey Crisp, they are absolutely delicious!
I really don’t have any special recipes but we really enjoy all the fresh fruits and vegetables all summer into the fall.
Cathy, your link on Amanda’s page is broken. I came over from my dashboard.
Judy
R. Mushko
My horses are enjoying the apples that fall from our one apple tree. We never get enough to actually do anything with them, except snack.
selfsagacity
I have a small nectarine tree that produces plentiful of nectarines. At times I ask the neighborhood kids to pick them. At times, I bring them to the neighbors, and this year we just eat them off the trees slowly. I thought about doing smoothies but besides that, I am not into canning and what’s left will probably go into the garbage.
I have been loving my beef jerky recipe and can’t make enough of it. The boys polish them off so fast, I can’t keep up. Have a great weekend Cathy.