Growing up, every autumn, we went to Apple Hill. It's a small community of apple orchards tucked away in California's foothills. We went to Rainbow Orchard for the best apple doughnuts, almost too hot to touch, rolled in cinnamon sugar with a delicate crunch on the outside and a soft melt in your mouth crumb, heavy with the taste of perfectly ripe apples. Doughnuts were washed down with little dixie cups of cider, and we'd run around playing tag between picnic benches and beneath the canopy of apple trees weeping yellow and brown leaves. Afterwards, we'd drive down the road for 40 pound boxes of golden delicious apples.
Are you looking for inspiration to get your children out of doors? Check out the Peaceful Press Nature Book Flood, for Kindergarten and elementary age students, it overlaps with our seasonal bundles, but without the phonics and counting and includes new activities.
These sweet, crisp, delicately hued apples would show up as our midmorning snack, day after day, as we settled into the routine of fall home school. Our visit to Apple Hill beckoned at the start of fall traditions. We made applesauce and collected leaves for collages. As the days grew more relaxed, we spent more time playing outside, and an elaborate Playmobile village became stocked with Toyon berries and acorns for the tiny peoples' fall provisions. As fire bans were lifted, we burnt brushwood and had hot dog roasts.
In the Fall, one of my favourite traditions was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving pie making with my aunts and many cousins who were also homeschooled. We had a pie crust recipe from our Great Grandma Molly, a first-generation Canadian living in Alberta in the early 20th century. Family members still lick their lips thinking about her pies. Flakey, delicate, and so perfect, my aunt hosted and directed our pie making in her large kitchen each November. I remember standing at the kitchen counter, charged with peeling and coring what felt like hundreds of apples. At the same time, my cousins and I ate the ribbons of apple peel and bounced them in the air like curly pigtails.
For a beautiful study that explores the history of New England and the origins of Thanskgiving, along with a Pumpkin Pie recipe, check out the New England Guide.
The apples were sliced and tossed with brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. We would try to slip our fingers in and steal little bits of apple with the sugar sticking to the wet, sticky pieces. Then, the pies were in the oven with the Dutch tops and the criss-cross tops made of leftover crust. What remained of the pastry was gently rolled out and liberally sprinkled with the remaining cinnamon sugar to cook to a golden brown. We would snack on sweet buttery scraps as we waited for the pies to cook and play house in my cousin's living room.
Memories and experiences like these are what ground our children and ourselves in a sense of family and belonging.
Our trips to Apple Hill and the family pie baking is a memory that runs so deep that years later, while studying in the UK when the beeches and sycamores started losing their leaves in Ormeau Park; the urge to bake a pie was too great. Out came my tattered copy of Great Grandma Molly's recipe, and in my tiny kitchen, I set about recreating a childhood memory.
Memories and experiences like these are what ground our children and ourselves in a sense of family and belonging so that when your children launch into adulthood and have to face the daily challenges and grind of bills, higher education, work, and house maintenance or are starting on their own journey of parenthood they have something to hold onto, a set of experiences that act like an anchor point to ground them in the season, the moment, and the joy of being alive.
Check out the Peaceful Press Autumn Guide and Tree Guide if you want learning tools and inspiration to lean in and enjoy fall. They are full of activities for your 3-6 year old. Both guides will create opportunities for lasting connection, skill development, learning and memories.
When I graduated and moved on to university, long before the Peaceful Press was born, the activities, ideals, and education philosophy were developed in the years my mom taught me and my younger siblings. It is a way of learning that launched me into adulthood with a childhood full of memories I would never trade and a way of thinking and viewing the world that made university work a challenge I was well equipped to face.
Grandma Molly's Pie Crust
4c. flour
1 1/2 tsp Salt
2 cups lard or 50/50 Lard and Butter
1 beaten egg with 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
Mix lard with flour, salt, and baking powder till crumbly. In a 1 cup Pyrex liquid measuring cup, with a fork, blend 1 egg and 1 TBLSP Apple Cider Vinegar. Add ice-cold water to a 3/4 cup line. Pour into flour and lard. Mix slightly until the dough just sticks together. If the dough becomes warm, refrigerate it and then roll it out into 2 9" rounds, which are 1/8" thick. Use these crusts to make your family's favourite pies, or find a Pumpkin Pie recipe in the Peaceful Press Cookbook.
Leftovers can be frozen for a future pie or quiche, and the scraps can be rolled out, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and baked at 400 until golden brown.