As soon as the weather takes on a chill and the leaves begin to change, the apple harvest begins. While you can buy apples at your grocery store year-round, there’s something magical about finding them at a farmers market in the fall—or taking a basket and heading to a local u-pick orchard to pluck them from the trees yourself. Those experiences—talking with growers, getting your food straight from the source—reconnect you with the seasons and your community. They also give you the opportunity to forge new traditions and reclaim forgotten ones, too. The Case for Picking Local A fresh-picked apple, sweet and crisp, holds a special kind of appeal. Apples sold at grocery stores can be up to a year old by the time they reach your shopping basket. Growers pick supermarket-destined apples early and unripe, before their flavor fully develops. Conventional apples are sprayed with 1-methylcyclopropene, a gas that …