by Krystle Gard

Our family loves to welcome fall with a Harvest Festival. Every year, we celebrate with games, food and friends. The price of entry is some kind apple dish, so we all go apple picking together, figure out what we’re going to make with our harvest, and spend a day preparing delicious food together.

Thanks to COVID, we won’t be able to have our in-person party this fall, so we are doing things a little differently. Follow along with the suggestions below - and join us in a virtual shared celebration of the bounty of the harvest!

This year, each of us - myself, my husband, and our three boys - will choose our favorite apple dish, some sweet and some savory. We’ll share these recipes with our friends and encourage them to make them and send pictures of themselves cooking, baking and eating. Then on the festival day, as a family of five, we will play games, do crafts, eat lots of yummy food and tell silly stories.

We’ll start with apple picking - just like other years! Apple picking is a great outdoor event where you can be socially responsible and still have a blast. Here are a few Portland-area apple picking locations:

• Sauvie Island: Douglas Farms

• Beaverton: Bell’s Orchard

• Mt. Hood: Draper Girl’s Country Farm

• Sherwood: Sherwood Orchard

KITCHEN FUN

My kids love to join me in the kitchen. If yours do, too, here are some fun options for easy recipes to make with all those apples you just harvested:

• Snack Time Apple Rings

  • Peel apples if desired.

  • Slice the apple in thin rings. Cut out the center as needed.

  • Cover apple rings with nut butter, nattella, jam etc. and top with dried fruit, chocolate chips, coconut etc. 

• Baked Apples

  • Peel and Core Apples

  • Fill them with dried fruit, nuts, cinnamon, sugar or even nut butter. 

  • Place in a 2” deep pan. Cover the bottom of the pan with apple juice. 

  • Cover with foil and bake 350deg for 30-60min or until soft.

• Easy Crock-Pot Applesauce

  • Ingredients: 4 large apples, Juice from 1 lemon, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tbsp brown sugar (optional), 1/4 c water

  • Directions

1. Peel and core apples; cut into quarters

2. Add apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, brown sugar and water to crockpot.

3. Cover and cook on low 4 to 6 hours, until apples are very tender.

4. Mash with the back of a fork or potato masher.

5. Top with walnuts or raisins, if desired

CRAFTS AND ACTIVITIES

Here are some of the apple crafts and activities we’re going to do - we’re going to take and share lots of photos with friends and relatives:

• Apple Prints - standard method and adjusted for younger toddlers

• Apple-Peanut Butter bird feeders

• Apple relay races: Move one bucket of apples from one side to another in silly ways: hop, spin, hula, eyes closed, backwards etc.

• Apple doughnut eating from a string

STORIES

Stories are a sweet - and effective - way to cement memories and rituals for your kids. Here are a few of the ways we’ll be incorporating stories into our celebrations:

• 10 children’s books about apples

• Help your little to write their own story about your family’s harvest celebration in this cute apple-shaped book

Although this is the the fall season we all planned for ourselves, there are moments of joy between the moments of uncertainty and stress. Find them and enjoy!

Krystle Gard is a certified postpartum doula with Bridgetown Baby. When she’s not supporting new families, you can find Krystle hiking, kayaking, making healthy food or having a dance party with her boys ages 8 and 4.