It's apple season, and Okanagan orchards are heavy with fruit.

Jennay Oliver, owner of Paynter's Fruit Market in West Kelowna, says this is always her busiest time of year.

"We do tons of you-pick. People walk right out here and pick their own. There is no minimum. People can just pick one apple if they want and wander around the orchard. We will start picking in the next couple of days."

Paynter's currently has Pink Ladys, Golden Delicious, Spartans, and Red Delicious ripe and ready to go. 

"One of the things when picking is it has to come off the tree really easily. We also open up the apple and check if the seeds are the proper colour. You can also tell by the taste. We bite into (a sample) and make sure it tastes really good," Oliver said. 

Wildfire smoke slowed the harvest a bit this year.

"The smoke acted as a bit of a cloud cover. There was less sun getting to all of our fruit and vegetables. It definitely slowed down production."

"It made it a little harder on our staff. We had some shorter shifts and some people took some days off, but the taste of the apples didn't suffer at all," Oliver added.

Paynter's Fruit Market is open seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.