Do you... do you see what I did there? No? Okay.
We got an entire team out today! And thank god, because the second house we went to, which was all the way out in Bolinas, had three MASSIVE apple trees. The drive was 50+ minutes, which my mom complained to NO END about, but we ended up getting 307 lbs from them so it was definitely worth it. And since these trees were so incredibly large, we also developed a new method of picking that included my developed skill in tree-climbing and one of my volunteer's tennis reflexes.
Can you see me? (hint: top left corner). I will be using this strategy in the future, let me tell you. It was actually so efficient, we got into a whole rhythm. I think we filled three boxes this way. The only downside was it was so. Hot. Like incredibly, insanely hot. I was sweating in the first two minutes of arriving, and because the house was right next to the beach, there was a whole backup of cars trying to get out. It was like one of those old parking lot games where
Backing up a bit, the first house we went to was actually my friend from dance's house, and I didn't even realize until we arrived. I had my suspicions, but it wasn't confirmed until I realized the house we went to was the same as the one that we had a dance company Harry Potter marathon at. He already went off to college, but his Mom was so nice! Their driveway was insanely steep though because the house was on a hill.
The third house was our first house with grapes. They were on a gorgeous trellis above two
lounge chairs and when I tell you my Mom actually sighed she was so jealous. These were pretty nice to pick because they were all within arms reach and we used clippers to just cut them off the vine. It was around 12:30 at this point, so it was getting really hot, but my friends and I went to grab lunch together after and had a lot of fun! We even spent the rest of the day together and went up to the headlands above Stinson beach to watch the sunset! It was absolutely gorgeous and a great end to the long weekend.
Either way, we ended up with over 400 lbs on this trip, which is actually beginning to become the norm and that's insane to me. We've picked over 5000 lbs just this season, so adding to the 3000 from last year we're clocking about 8000 pounds of fruit donated! I'm so thankful for all the community members that have contacted me wanting to contribute their bountiful fruits and of course, for the amazing volunteers that have stepped up and sacrificed their weekends to help us make a massive difference!
All the love,
Carrie