Dried Apple Rings & Filberts

I have heard stories of my dad's dad driving from Tennessee to Pennsylvania in the 20's (the 1920s that is!) to visit his sister & her family and taking all sorts of food from the farm. 

My aunt told of returning to college (Lees-McRae) in the 50's and taking butter and cheese from home and storing it on the window ledge out her dorm room. 

The same aunt, when she and her family came for Christmas in the 70's and 80's, would come laden with their own harvest and baked goods. 

My dad's other sister brought us marzipan from Cyprus in the 80's and one time even sent lemons from their yard back to the U.S. in the 90's in my cousin's suitcase (!). And after they moved back to the States, she would bring fig jam from the fig tree in her backyard. 

Jim's uncle always used to bring HUMONGOUS (& delicious) sweet potatoes to the family reunion that happened in the fall and the every-4-years extended family Thanksgiving. 

When Jim's dad's cousin flew from Oregon a few weeks ago, he brought dried apple rings and filberts (some raw & some roasted with butter) to share.  

(The filbert tree is a close relative of the California hazel and a variety that is native to Oregon. Nearly 99 percent of the nation's filbert crop is produced in Oregon and often marketed as hazelnuts, to avoid confusion.)

Do you have relatives who always bring produce? At this point, I'm just in the observation stage. I haven't figured out how to interpret it (or to apply it, since I grow nothing). :)