On Halloween, we tried a grand experiment. Could we give away lots and lots of apples to ghosts and goblins accustomed to dried corn syrup in gaudy wrapping paper? The answer was an emphatic yes. We procured 6 bushels of apples from our farmers’ market standby, Wilklow Farms. They have five generations of orchard experience. The apples were small Empires and Macintoshes and we estimate that there was an exact Fibonacci number of 610. We were at the ready with a website reference in case anybody was worried about dangerous apples. (It turns out that those Urban Legends from the ‘70s and ‘80s had no basis in fact.) But nobody, not a single person, challenged us on this matter.

In the course of two hours, we and our Halloween party guests took turns handing out every single one of the apples. Only twelve individual 12-year-olds declined. Many parents wanted one for themselves. And they thanked us from the bottom of their hearts. Approximately 1 in 10 people took a bite of their apple within ten steps. Not a single person asked if they had been washed (they hadn’t.) Little children turned to their parents and exclaimed in delight, “Look! I got an apple!”

The office naysayers who told us we would come in the next day with 550 apples were wrong! So next year, perhaps you should consider doing the same thing on your front stoop. If you do, let us know.