We've wondered for years where the mysterious apples come from. Whose backyard is it where a cultivated apple tree grows and its fall burden of beautiful apples are ultimately discarded? Why not ask neighbours if they'd like some of those apples for their own happy consumption? Someone obviously regularly wheels along a full wheelbarrow load of apples up the street we live on and into the ravine where they dump the apples on the side of a hill.

No idea who they might be. On the other hand, they must live north of where our house is, either on our street or the one behind, in fairly close proximity to the ravine entrance. These days when we enter the ravine, the gorgeous aroma of ripe apples reach our nostrils. And there they are, scattered in a great pool of green and red over the ground below the trail. Apples that could be eaten by anyone who appreciates fresh fruit.

Apples that could be used to make applesauce, apple pie, packed in children's lunches, you name it. With such an abundance of fruit there is no reason why they couldn't be regularly contributed to the local food bank. Those people who need the assistance of the food bank would most surely welcome the addition of fresh fruit to their diets. On our weekly food shopping expeditions we buy non-perishable food items, boxes and tins of fish, beans, spaghetti, meat products, to bundle into the large bin accepting donations for the food bank. Fresh, perishable items are obviously not a good idea there.

But baskets of freshly picked apples, ripe, juicy and ready to be eaten? How is it preferable to collect them and trundle them over to the ravine? Mind, a minuscule portion of them would be nibbled by squirrels and birds. They will soon begin to rot. Making them more desirable to wild creatures. In the past we've seen wobbly robins after a feast of such rotting food. The raw stupidity behind the casual dumping of ripe fruit in the forest to get rid of their presence is mind-boggling. Biodegradable, the discarded apples will form part of the forest humus. But they're a waste there, and it's a pity.

The drive over to the depot for the local food bank where all collected donations are distributed from isn't that far. They're grateful for all donations. It's the least that can be done for those among us needing that help. Apples? Everyone appreciates apples!

For our part, fall is enhanced by the ripening of the wild apples dangling just out of reach on the wild apple trees in the ravine. There are several copses of such trees. Their presence is a boon to the forest. The fruit grown on these wild species is much smaller than the cultivated varieties, but when fully ripe they're tart, sweet, juicy and fragrant. Those we can reach, we polish up (on our clothing), and share with our two little dogs who know exactly what they are, and appreciate them just as much as we do.