Apple Harvest Afternoon

It's apple eating time, or so says the racoons who came out to play today. There are actually 4 little ones in the tree next door this afternoon, play fighting on the branches, scratching and scritching, racing up to the top and back down, and chowing down on dozens of ripe apples, mostly knocking them to the ground with just a few bites in them. The air smells like a fresh cider press over there, so many apples crashing to the ground below and collecting in mounds and piles all over the place.

I'd love to do a little eating myself, but they are hard and bitter, more like crab apples than anything tasty. But the little guys seem to be having a fine time cavorting around and staring at the stranger with the camera staring back.

I've taken the week to sort of rest up a little bit. I say sort of, because it wasn't so much. Just a little less pressed and on deadline than the last couple of months. A few extra hours to play with new labels and packaging prototypes for the fall products. A chance to mull over some ideas for winter holiday products. Nothing is truly set in stone yet, although I've started on some soap production for fall. Depending on how they turn out, I'll pick the best ones and do another bunch of batches in the next week or so. I only hope the apple one smells as good as the tree next door.