Self-serve apple harvest

One of my first posts (and one that generated the most feedback!) was about the broodautomaat, or bread vending machine. Well, brace yourselves, people... I now give you--the appelautomaat!

Guess what it sells? Yep--apples. The city where I live lies within a region of Belgium called Haspengouw, known for its apples and pears. I love riding my bike through the orchards in the fall. It's harvest time and the trees are absolutely dripping with fruit.

Yesterday I spotted this sign along the road and had to check it out:

Sure enough, the appelautomaat was sitting in front of a farmhouse, just behind an apple grove. You simply pull into the driveway, hop out, and select from two varieties of apple and one type of pear. The apples are available in a 1-kilo or 2.5-kilo bag, for 1.25€ or 3.00€ respectively.

Unfortunately, I had recently bought a big bag of "nieuwe oogst" (new harvest) apples so I didn't actually use the appelautomaat. Anyway, part of the fun of cycling during the harvest is picking up fallen fruit along the way. If it's still good, it goes in the bike bag!