Apple Picking on the Chicken Farm

My absolute favorite part of last week was launching my new book called Pastor Jay! I loved all the Facebook messages, texts, and emails congratulating me on my new "book baby". Thank you to all my readers for your love and support, it means so much!

Despite the joy that Pastor Jay brought and continues to bring me, last week was also a challenging week. If you ever heard the expression, "when it rains it pours", that would be an excellent description of last week for my family. My kids were nervous about starting a new school this upcoming school year, making brand new friends, and riding a school bus for the very first time. My oldest son had his tonsils removed on Monday, so he was in pain and discomfort for most of the week. And to top off a highly emotional week, one of our loved pets, a beautiful black cat named Jasper, unexpectedly passed away from kidney failure. The animals in our family are treated like family members, and this loss was especially sad because this was the first pet my kids had to say goodbye to. They were devestated.

My kids' grief and sadness made my heart break, and the loss of Jasper was so tragic (he was the BEST cat!)...so, we did what everyone does when they're upset, we grabbed our apple pickers and went outside to pick apples.

Hmmmm, that's an interesting way to mourn the death of your cat...going apple picking.

One of the many rotten apple trees on my front yard, most of its trunk is missing.

Well, I have to say, picking apples all afternoon was actually quite therapeutic, and I would recommend it to anyone who needs to have a quiet moment with God.

When we bought our small farm six years ago, our front yard came with 20 ancient, rotten apple trees. The only reason those trees are still standing is because our kids have been strictly instructed not to climb them. A small push of the hand with any of these trees might knock them right over.

It's amazing to me that a rotten tree with half of it's trunk missing, completely covered in holes from our woodpeckers, with hundreds of ants feeding on its decay...this ugly tree still has strong roots that can weather most storms and can still, miraculously produce fruit and a lot of it!

These trees provide us with a yearly supply of applesauce, one of my kids' favorite snacks.

This apple tree is only standing because of the bungee cords holding the trunk together.

I believe God went with me to pick apples last Sunday to give me some hope and inspiration for this coming year. He gave my anxious and sad heart peace and quiet while I grabbed one apple at a time off the trees. I had time to reflect on all the good and the bad things that happened throughout the week, and know that everything was going to be okay. It's amazing how pulling and tugging apples off a tree clears the mind, and I felt so much better after a day of manual labor and spending time outside on a beautiful day.

Even in the sad or stressful moments when no words can express our feelings and we just feel awful, God can still use us to produce fruit as long as we remember that He is the Rock we stand firm on. I took a lot of comfort in this while I picked huge, red apples from my rotten trees.

My 15 Foot Apple Picker

I spent all afternoon picking apples off the trees with my 15 foot apple picker. Some apples feel off effortlessly from the trees, other apples were so high up in the trees that I had to pull and maneuver the apple picker to finally get the apples to fall to the ground.

My kids helped me carry the heavy buckets of apples and picked up apples off the ground. Of course, I had a flock of feathered helpers surrounding me to eat the extremely wormy apples that we didn't want to eat. They love their sweet, wormy treats!

How many apples would you say 20 rotten apple trees gave us?

Answer: About Two Bushels, not too bad for a bunch of old apple trees.

We used every single apple that afternoon to make homemade apple cider. During next week's post, I'll share how we made the cider with our cider press. It was fun, hard work that was definitely rewarding at the end. A better end to a very stressful week.

And then we got a new kitten....life is definitely never boring!

Thanks for reading my Country Squawk,

Kelly