apple picking

Today a group of friends and I drove 45 minutes out into the country to go apple picking. Everyone else was quite excited about the adventure, but I found it depressing. When we arrived, we walked down rows and rows of trees to find some apples still on the tree. After picking all we wanted, we payed more than grocery-store price for them. Under each tree were piles of apples in various degrees of deterioration. Most of the apples on the ground were still usable, but since we were paying top-dollar for these apples, of course no one was going to pick up a bruised apple off the ground. It was hard to see all these beautiful apples going to waste. I asked one of the workers if I could pick up the apples off the ground for a discounted price, and she said that they weren't allowing that this year. So all of those apples on the ground will just be wasted. It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. 

Something else that really bothered me was that everyone was eating apples. When I commented on it to a friend, she said, "Oh, I don't think they'd mind." One wouldn't do that in a grocery store, and just because there were a lot of apples around didn't mean that we ought to steal a few. 

But mainly what I realized was that I don't want the kind of lifestyle I'm living. I don't want to have to drive 45 minutes to buy apples for the same price that I pay at a grocery store and then drive back. I want to raise my own food. I want to take care of the land. I want to have land where I could grow fruits and vegetables. As much as I have learned to enjoy D.C., I need to remember how much I want to have a different lifestyle than the one I lead. I used to think that when I got married and settled down I would then have a garden and some fruit. But I think I'm about ready to settle down even if I'm not married. I want to be able to put some roots down and start living the way I want to live.