There is an older couple that lives in our neighborhood who have a little bit of land.  On their land they have several fruit trees, berry bushes, a wonderful garden and all sorts of cool food that they grow.  The gentleman is amazing when it comes to growing food.  You can tell he loves it and seems to know all there is to know about growing fruit.  He has one apple tree that grows several different varieties of apples because he has grafted the different branches in.  Apparently you can really do that.

Every fall for the last few years this couple has invited our family over to come pick apples.  We were all excited when the invitation was given to us again this year.  We went tonight and had such a good time.  There were other families from the neighborhood there, all equally enjoying the experience.  I have a feeling that they do it several weeks throughout the fall and invite a lot of people.

Once when we were there I overheard the older woman saying that her husband does this because he wants to teach children where food comes from.  To let them know that apples don’t just appear at the grocery store.  I’ve had the thought “It takes a village to raise a child.” in my mind all night.  I love the willingness of this couple to take their time to teach children, not just their grandchildren, but any child they know.  We have an apple tree in our backyard but we don’t know how to care for it properly.  We get apples every year but they’re always full of worm holes and just not very pretty.  We don’t have the opportunity to teach our boys about growing food in the same way that this couple does.  There is nothing like picking a beautiful apple off of the tree and immediately eating it.  I’ve never had a better tasting apple than the one I ate tonight.

It is about so much more than apples though.  It’s about people caring about others and sharing their plenty.  It’s about work and sacrifice all spring and summer long to have these beautiful crops to share with friends in the fall.  It’s about one generation doing what they can to help the generations that follow.  It’s about passing knowledge along.  Mostly for me it is an example of a really great couple that I hope to be like someday.