STAR REVUE THE AMAGANSETT There's nothing better than an apple plucked from a tree

Yes, the snake knew that, and Eve attested to it. The world's biggest religions start their stories right there. And yes, the Garden of Eden, in other words, utopia, remains out of reach of all of us, but eating a ripe, fresh apple is maybe not such a bad exchange.

My mother was born in Europe, and must have picked apples in her youth. The picture over on the right is when I took her apple picking in New Paltz, which I would do with someone or other every October. She taught me not to pick an apple if it didn't come off the tree easily. When it falls into your hand without fuss, that's when it's ready to pick. A piece of good advice I never forgot.

In those days you would pay around $12 for a very big bag which you could fill to the brim with apples. I would come home with three or four of those bags and then visit everybody I knew to parcel them out. In those days, many of the people you'd meet orchard were Asian families. Those were the days when Koreans were taking over the NYC fruit business in NYC from the older Italians. Over the years, apple picking morphed into kind of a northern Disneyland, with the top orchards adding petting farms, corn mazes, pony rides and anything they could think of to create a day that large families could make a day out of. The farm-

by George Fiala

ers were pretty much forced to do this because of the economics of the farming business.

The last time I took my daughter and her kids apple picking we also picked pumpkins, bounced on a giant bouncy thing, saw camels and peacocks, and oh, yes, picked some apples. Plus of course ate cider donuts and I think even pizza.

Jump forward a few years and I start this paper and write an article about turtles which led me to Jamesport's Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons. I did my interview there in August, and when I left I made a right instead of a left and passed by an apple orchard. The gate was open and I drove in, but couldn't find anyone there. I was tempted to pick an apple or two, but I also know that sometimes if you steal fruit you could get shot.

I went back to Turtle Rescue after the paper came out to leave them a bundle, and went back to check on the orchard (we are talking about Manor Lane in Jamesport), and lucky me, it happened to be the first day Woodside Orchards was open for picking. I drove up, parked and made my way to a little building called The Apple Shed.

As in all the orchards, you don't HAVE to pick, there are already picked apples in bags, ready to take home. And you could get fresh cider, jams, donuts and apple pies that looked deli- cious. I went up to the counter to get my apple bag for picking. Woodside is a family business, three generations strong right now. The woman at the counter was the daughter-in-law of the founder, Bob Gammon. She told me that a one peck bag would be $20. When I pointed out that you could get a one peck bag of already picked apples for $18, she laughed and said that people fill up their bags to the max, which is more than a peck. Which to me was a very reasonable explanation and something I wanted to get into print.

I got my bag and walked up to the rows of apple trees that ready for picking that day, which were Gala and Jonamac, both red apples. The first row was just about picked clean, but there were plenty in the other rows and it didn't take long before my bag was over-filled, not to mention a few extra in my stomach. One thing I really liked about Woodside was that the main focus is still apples. No corn mazes or hay rides. However, there is a very nice yard with benches and play areas for families that do show up can relax.

About 20 years ago, the family began a second orchard in Aquebogue, where they began a second business making hard apple cider. You can sample the different ciders they make as they built a cider bar in that yard. The orchards will stay open through

November. Right around now is the time for the Golden Delicious and probably Fuji's.

And PS - Jamesport at harvest time is worth multiple day trips.

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Editor & PublishEr George Fiala

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