The apples are ready!

We resurrected an old tradition on Friday. Maybe resurrected is not the right word; maybe relived or revived or revisited would be better. Whatever, my best friend and mother-figure Dorothy and my best friend and sibling Jessie (who is visiting from the vast expanse of the west coast) joined me in an upstate-New York drive of approximately an hour-and-a-half to Masker pick-it-yourself Orchards. In the past this tradition has also included a pre-orchard breakfast at a joint called the Orange Top Inn in Tuxedo Junction and a post-picking stop at a roadside stand called Auntie El’s. It’s been quite a while since I’ve made this trek so there was no guarantee that these “remembered” establishments are still functioning, but there they were, none the worse for wear. But Masker itself is the main attraction and remains the same as nostalgia waxes and wanes.

This time I had the Net as an information resource. Masker was founded as a very successful-from-the-get-go commercial apple farm in 1913 on a steep 200+ acre hillside in Warwick, NY. The pick-it-yourself tradition had its origins from the beginning when the owners allowed local residents to come and glean what was left after the commercial enterprise harvested the crop. It became a very popular destination for urban travelers and in 1976 the entire farm (under new ownership) was turned into a pick-it-yourself enterprise and subsequent years proved it a tremendous success and each year the attendance has grown almost to capacity, especially on weekends. Since there are 14 varieties of apples growing on abundant trees (there are about 20,000, some dating from the original planting) and since they ripen at different times from early September to early November there are always fresh apples to pick. And they are all just flat-out delicious! You can drive right up to the trees and, if you are cautiously cagey, you can even reach out your car window and reap the harvest. But that’s no fun and it’s a terrific experience to wander the groves and reach as high as possible for what one perceives as the perfect fruit just out of easy reach.

Since we went on a weekday we didn’t have to buck any crowds and it being an extra hot day (from which we suffered, with beads of sweat dripping off our various noses) the apples seemed to be ripening before our eyes. Since we didn’t take a camera the accompanying photos stolen from the Net do not do justice to the cascade(s) of fruit that overload the branches. Actually the overload is to the picker’s advantage since it puts the apples within reach and I don’t think climbing up and into the trees is a great idea in the best of circumstances, although I’ve done so in the past. Great views of the valley from up there, you know.

We brought home way too many apples but, thanks to said sibling, we've already almost polished off a terrific apple crisp and, just today, there's an apple pie cooling on the rack. Also, we are sharing the fresh, crisp fruit with whoever passes by, friend and foe alike. If you fall into one (or both) of those categories feel free to drop by; you’ll go away with unbelievably fresh apples to nosh on; to bake with, to shine up, to visually admire and to gush over.