The fall season, during the months of September and October, is characterized by beautiful weather that is perfect for enjoying outdoor activities. This weekend I ventured out to the great outdoors and went pumpkin and apple picking with my friends and family. After waiting almost an hour in traffic to get to the orchard, we finally got to stroll around and pick some apples. The wait as totally worth it! As you walk up and down the apple orchards, you see apples of all sizes and colors. My personal favorite are the granny smith apples. I love eating the apples right off the tree. After we finished apple picking, we proceeded to pumpkin picking. To me, this is not as enjoyable because you cannot eat the pumpkins as you pick them. However, I love anything made from pumpkin.

As I walked around the orchards, it amazed me that the orchard centered itself around the food stands. Everywhere you turned, products from apples and pumpkins were being sold, such as apple pies, pumpkin butters, apple cider, apple donuts, pumpkin coffee, and so much more. Roasted corn and kettle corn were also being sold, which are always a favorite in my family. I noticed everyone focused on the food that they could buy at the orchard. The orchards use the apples and pumpkins grown there to produce all of the products sold. I realized that although all the people there were enjoying the beautiful weather and picking fresh apples and pumpkins, they were signaled from the moment they walked into the orchard, to buy food. The food cues were the huge signs on the road leading up to the orchards, or the signs by the food stands showing what products were sold there, or even the other customers walking around eating something they just bought.  Even after eating an apple, a roasted corn and some kettle corn, my mouth was watering for the apple cider donuts everyone was walking around with. This really opened my eyes to how much people base their activities around food and how much society places value on food.