Apple Harvest

The sweet smell of apples greets me as I step into the orchard.

I have to stop and close my eyes to appreciate it fully.

Everywhere, on overhanging branches, and in bins along the orchard's edge, are more apples than I'll ever eat, if I had my life to do it.

How many supermarkets will receive the bounty from these 16 acres?

How many will be packed inside a child's lunch?

These simple, giving trees are spreading wealth in all directions.

We only have to hold a hand out to receive it.

A farmer wandered towards me through the tall grass, and we stood and chatted quite a while.

He spoke of how he'd done this work for decades, and of how the hail had taken half the crop this year.

Hail-damaged apples still fetch 3¢ apiece for juice, but it's not like the five or six cents perfect apples bring.

Of course, my thoughts jumped to the prices that I see in stores, and I wondered how many middlemen there were between that orchard and my lunchbox.

To the orchard, though, it's all the same: it simply produces apples.

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Have a great week!
Todd