Another Take on Apple Picking
I can't decide if Slate's Daniel Gross is serious about his disdain for apple picking or not ...
"Encourage yuppies and their progeny to come pick your fruit—they'll pay handsomely for the privilege, buy more than they'd ordinarily consume, and then shell out for all sorts of other value-added products. It's the best use of child labor since Manchester's early 19th-century textile mills."
I do think that he could use a lesson in apple pie baking and applesauce making (two extremely easy uses of multiple apples). He might also benefit from being forced to eat an entire bag of Key Foods apples without choking on their soft, tasteless flesh. Don't you wish Mr. Gross was your father snarling, "dammit kids, picking apples just reinforces everything that's wrong with America. Let's stay home and watch more TV!" Tee-hee. For my take on apple picking, go here.
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Whoa. I'm usually pretty jaded and pessimistic about most things, but this is just silly. Maybe his parents never took him as a kid and he had to watch all the other kids talk about how fun it was. I overheard the guy there saying how he and his wife worked 3 jobs just to get by, so obviously not enough yuppies are falling prey to the scheme (they must have all been drinking wine and eating cheese across the street).
fo'realz
Wow, I actually agreed with most of what he said. I didn't take away that he suggested not to go apple-picking, it seemed rather that he said that it's a nice activity for families (complete with hayrides and pumpkin patches) but not worth it if all you're trying to do is save money on apples.
His other point was about how farmers struggling to find cheap labor to pick the fruit with fewer migrant workers available might do better to refocus their strategy toward luring yuppies looking for a family weekend activity seemed true enough. I just moved from Brooklyn to Ohio and there are lots of pick-your-own places around here, but most of them seem to aim toward providing a fun, wholesome activity for families as much or more as they offer a way to get fresh-picked fruit cheap. You can go to a farmers market in the city if that's all you want.
I don't get it... savvy farmers discovering a practice? yuppies?
I have been going apple picking with my family since I was 6 years old. It is a fun family activity where kids get to climb trees and eat lots of fruit and go on hay rides and have a nice day in the country rather than sit in front of the TV playing nintendo all day.
So what if we are in our 30's and want to pretend we are 6 again? Climb a tree? Bake a cake? So what if we are mislabled as yuppies, hipsters or geeks? So what if we pay a little more than $1.49/lb for a full day activity?
This is not a new phenomenon that "savvy" farmers are discovering. Why not let people enjoy time away from the city and pick their own damn apples (or strawberries or pumpkins or Christmas trees) without having an opinion about it?
Where can I pick Fuji apples?
They're just about the only apple (aside from Gala) that I can stand to eat any more... the rest are mushy and tasteless. Gross.
Rich,
This farm had Fujis. When you get off the hay ride, the guy tells you that if you specifically want them, that they will show you where they are. 2 of our party went but I did not follow. They came back with Fujis though!