All Ages Apple Picking

A Fun Family Tradition: ALL AGES APPLE PICKING

BY ALI BECHTEL | PHOTOS COURTESY RALIA VARDAXIS

The Vardaxis family has a fall tradition that spans two decades and three generations. Ralia, her mother Vasilia, and her niece Natalia, have been celebrating the season, and the memory of Natalia’s father, Chris, every year for the last 22 years by picking apples together at Weaver’s Orchard in Morgantown.

FULL HEARTS AND APPLE CARTS

The tradition started when Natalia was just three years old. Her father took her apple picking first at Hopewell Furnace, joined by her aunt and grandmother. After the first few years, the family moved on to Weaver’s Orchard, where the tradition continued to grow.

“My brother passed away when Natalia was 8 years old,” Ralia shares, “and it became a tradition that we wanted to keep doing so Natalia could remember something her dad did with her when she was a little girl. Now my mother is 90 and Natalia turned 25 this past year, and we’re still trying to keep it alive.” Even after Natalia moved to Florida for school, she traveled home to surprise her grandmother at the orchard.

“I’ll always remember my dad doing whatever it took to get the best apple at the top of the tree,” Natalia remembers. “Whether it was me on his shoulders or climbing the tree. Getting together for this tradition is something I look forward to every year. We always have such a good time and get a good laugh out of Yiayia over picking and seeing the abundance of apples we end up with.”

“Abundance of apples” might be an understatement. “My mother can’t just pick a few apples,” Ralia explains. “We always end up with a whole cart full. Sometimes we take home nearly 100 pounds and have to find people to give them to.” But the fruit never goes to waste. Visalia has apple cake and pie recipes that have become famous among their family and friends, and Ralia makes enough applesauce to last the whole year.

“I’ll always remember my dad doing whatever it took to get the best apple at the top of the tree."

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Our staff helps clients find benefits and programs they may be eligible for, including:"Sometimes we take • Food Stamp Benefits (SNAP) are home nearly 100 pounds available to those who have sufficient and have to find people income to meet most of their basic living costs but need help to supplement their to give them to." food expenses.

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Program (LIHEAP) Qualifying house- Friend, Inc. holds may receive cash benefits to assist with heating bills, crisis benefits to resolve heating emergencies, and weatherization/ energy conservation assistance to provide long range solutions to the heating problems of low-income households. A TRUNK FULL OF GOODIES Join us in making northeastern Berks County a better place for all of us. As the economic climate of Berks County changes so do the needs of our families. You can help by making a tax-deductible • Cash Assistance is available to lowOver the years, as Weaver’s Orchard has expanded their offerings, the contribution: income people/families based on rules Vardaxis family tradition has grown as well. “Weaver’s has gone from Online: www.friendinc.organd standards established by the state Department of Public Welfare. just apple picking to a whole fall festival. We love the food, and we By mail: Friend, Inc. Community Services 658D Noble Street Kutztown, PA 19530 • Medical Assistance (including Medical Assistance to Workers with Disabilities and the Medical Savings Program always take the hayride to the pumpkin patch. They know how to do fall,” says Ralia. The day starts in the orchard, where the family picks as many Crispin for Payment of Medicare premium) apples as Visalia can manage. Weaver’s also grows quince, a fruit that identifies eligible individuals/families and helps them overcome the barriers to getting enrolled in free, comprehensive reminds Visalia of Greece, that she uses to make jelly. With the apples loaded in the trunk, they head to the pumpkin patch where, if they time health care coverage. it right, they can also gather squash flowers – the yellow flowers put • Children’s Health Insurance Program out by pumpkins early in the season. When stuffed with a feta, cottage (CHIP) is Pennsylvania’s program cheese and egg mixture, then battered and fried, squash flowers are a to provide quality health insurance Greek delicacy. The Vardaxis women end the day in the market where for children of working families who otherwise could not afford it. All children are eligible. Cost is income dependent. they load up on local honey and baked goods, before getting a cone of ice cream for the road. • Child Care Works Program helps eligible families of low-income pay their childcare fees. KEEPING THE TRADITION ALIVE

The pandemic kept the family from the orchard last year, and time and distance are making it even more difficult for the Vardaxis family to keep their tradition alive, but Natalia is doing her best not to let the distance be a factor. “I like coming home to randomly surprise Yiayia because she always has the best reactions, and never expects me to be there,” she says.

Even if it does look different in the coming years, the family will always have their memories. “It has been our way of preserving Chris’s memory all these years,” Ralia says. “We wanted her to have that memory of him. It’s been our way of keeping his memory alive in the family and his influence in her life.” 

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