apples

What would possess a person to borrow a 45 foot trailer, beg the services of a busy farmer to fix the errant brakes, bother the local welder at 7:30 in the morning to fix a heavy duty hitch, extort a friendship for the company of a passenger, drive 5 hours round trip to Royal City Washington and purchase 7200 lbs of apples? Two words: meaningful work. I honestly would go to unbelievable lengths to provide my children with opportunities to do the kind of hard physical work that makes a person fall into bed at night bone tired and deeply satisfied with the day's labor. For me that thing is apples--bins and bins of them. The kids have peeled apples until they blister and cut apples and pressed cider until their muscles hurt. It has been a great service opportunity and I have been relieved to see them endure to the end, even when it was cold and windy.

We've also eaten and drunk enough apples to clear our bowels for months. Apple muffins, apple crisp, apple pie, apple pancakes, apple chicken sandwiches. . .