Good news for Snow White

Going to an orchard to pick your own fruits are good, wholesome fun activities that cleanse your soul and liver after an action-packed weekend.

The Russian winter had me on my knees and begging for spring. I was allergic to spring and wished for summer. Samara's summer was boiling hot this year and I was aching for fall. Fall is here and I couldn't be happier.

Fall is a special season. Many people describe the air as "crisp and cool." I know that it's fall because there's a special fresh, dewy smell when you walk out first thing in the morning. No high definition could ever capture the brilliant colors of New York trees in fall. I've missed this fall for the past three years. Today, I gave autumn a bear hug and went apple picking with my new classmates-turned-friends.

Autumn didn't return the hug.

Our plan for an exciting apple-picking jubilee was quickly extinguished when we saw a sign telling us that there would be no more apple-picking for the day. Not all was lost because they picked the apples for us and sold a bunch in their farmer's market. I'm not complaining because they picked the good apples.

Nature and gravity also stole the apples from us. As public health students, we are ready to serve the public. I figured that we could put the apples back on the trees so that other people could pick them.

That plan to replace the apples onto the trees surprisingly didn't work out too well.

Fortunately, this farm had a petting-zoo of soft (but smelly) animals to distract customers from the fact that there were no more apples left on the trees for the week. I also learned that there are other well-educated adults cannot correctly or confidently identify different types of farm animals.

Below: Popular fall crops sold at their farmer's market.