Sour Red Fruit

My nieces took an instant liking to the crab apple tree, which is now loaded with completely ripe mini-fruits that plonk down to the ground at unsuspecting moments.  They spent a considerable amount of time shaking the tree, pulling down its branches, and whacking it with a broomstick all in the name of obtaining handfuls of the tart red fruit.  They ate crab apples, and ate more crab apples.  They constructed a trap made out of plastic boxes with crab apples as bait to catch our resident tame chipmunk (who hangs around our deck snacking on the plethora of crumbs under the outdoor table).  My favorite part about my nieces is their IDEAS.  They always have some kind of a plan cooking.  I love sitting back and just observing it unfold.  

It ended up that they did not actually catch any chipmunks, although they did do a lot of chipmunk chasing.  Before they left I gave them a few jars of crab apple jam, and they picked some extra fruit to take a long for snacks.  One of them, I think it was Madison, explained that she was going to save them to put in her lunch box at school this week.  Another niece got so excited putting the crab apples into bags that that she exclaimed, "This is just  like trick-or-treating, only from a tree!"