Apple Picking

Chang grew up in Maui with avocado trees and Plumeria and no such thing as Fall which subsequently begins Winter.  I equate Fall with apples and pumpkins and sweater and all that jazz, but for Chang it means that it’s almost snow, almost dark all the time, almost time for the perpetual heating pad.  Chang looks like skin covered string beans affixed by tacks and I think this is why he has terrible circulation i.e. cold toes and fingers for 5+ months of the year.  I decided that if one is never moving back to paradise then one should start enjoying what one is around or else one might decided that most of the year is misery here in the Northeast.  Apple picking seemed to be the ultimate in autumnal enjoyment so …

I started with a website that I have used in other seasons for other fruits to decide where to pick.  This website has all 50 states and 10 countries worth of picking spots.  This is a warning: I tried to find a small farm, not too commercial, with pick your own apples and pumpkins.  There were many a farm with scary hay rides and haunted houses, I wanted to stay away from that.    There are places all over but I wanted to drive a little out of the city and a friend told me about a town on the Delaware River she was visiting soon, so I thought I would combine both.  I started with the ultimate destination, New Hope, PA and searched the database on pickyourown.org.  I decided on the family owned orchard, Styer Orchard.   It took a little over an hour and half, I followed Google’s directions on the way there and a meandered back to Brooklyn via map.  We picked apples and pumpkins.  We had the farm to ourselves given the misty weather and on and off rain, and we took advantage by trekking around in the wet grass; it was no comparison for a rainy day traipsing around the city.  Near the parking lot (a grassy roped-off area), near the orchard of Concord grapes is the farm stand.  Here a girl and her dog were staying dry and selling the farm goods: Long Island Cheese pumpkins, Blue Hubbard squashes, ornamental hay and corn, pumpkins in all sizes, and apples.  Simply put this place is a special little family farm.

From Styer Orchard we headed 30 minutes north to New Hope, PA.  New Hope is a little town on the Delaware River home to many a gallery, thrift shops, gift stores, and restaurants.  The drive from the farm to town showcases 300 year old homes with unique PA masonry.  We stopped into a hotel and asked for a map of the downtown area and spent a couple of hours touring.  We had a couple of drinks and a late lunch/early dinner at a restaurant on the river.  (No complaints.)  We stopped into a couple of galleries, watched the river, dug through the racks at a thrift shop and were home around 9pm.  We wanted to get back a little early but Point Pleasant is just over the bridge and apparently has lots to do too.