What Really Makes It Autumn?

Things we enjoy doing each fall help give the season its special flavor. Here, a half-dozen Bergen residents pick their favorite traditions.

It isn’t just the leaves in their paintbox variety. Or the chill in the air, or the fresh school notebooks (with all that graph paper) not yet dog-eared and scribbled on. Or baseball reaching its crescendo while the NFL year gets rolling. It’s the things we make a point of doing each year—our autumn traditions—that help define this time for us, and people have different favorites. We asked six Bergenites to describe the fall rituals they cherish most.

GOING TO APPLEFEST.

“We love going to Applefest in Warwick, N.Y. They have food vendors and crafts to purchase (candles, handmade gifts, plants, etc.), art galleries—kind of like a flea market. It is set up in one of the large parking lots, and the town has wonderful antique shops to browse through and good restaurants to eat at—a wonderful hometown feel. Our favorite activity there is to walk around, see the leaves in many colors, listen to the music from the many performers, taste the apples from the six different orchards and shop in the different antique shops. Every year we go to Fratello Brick Oven for amazing pizza and Italian food after walking around and shopping. We always buy an apple pie from one of the orchards, and fudge from the shop.” —Sheila Trinidad, 52, Fair Lawn

SHOPPING WITH THE GRANDKIDS.

“I have three granddaughters. When the first one was born, we started taking her to nurseries and buying plants and different things for the fall, taking her pumpkin shopping and apple picking but also clothes shopping—even though she didn’t understand. Then the next one came, and we did the same tradition. Now we have the third and will continue to do this every year. Since our oldest, Demitra, was born October 31—on Halloween—it’s a perfect celebration for her birthday every year, so it’s an excuse to go shopping for clothing for anything she wants for the fall. We go winter clothes shopping and get the kids warm sweaters and all the things they need for winter. I believe in shopping local. So, we always take them to Ginger N’ Cream, Hunt & Orchard and Threads. We go to the toy store; we just make a whole day of it. After shopping, we go home, watch a cute movie, cuddle up in bed with blankets and get cozy.” —Paula Clark, 66, Old Tappan

PICNICKING AT THE PARK.

“My family and I always try to explore the New Jersey Botanical Garden, especially in the fall because it’s so pretty. It’s a nice spot—very easy walking and there are many installations of mature plants. We like to bring a picnic and enjoy the scenery. We love the food at Morano’s Gourmet Market in Ramsey. Their sandwiches are just outstanding. We like to get the Italian sub and then we get other side dishes. When my kids were younger, we would go there for the day and hang out; they like to walk around. The Botanical Garden has different events. That was how I first found it—by going on one of their guided family hikes.” —Ellen O’Keefe, Ramsey

DECORATING FOR HALLOWEEN.

“I’m a Halloween person. Because my birthday is the end of September, I get Halloween-themed gifts, so I have a garage full of decorations that I usually put up. I’m in an apartment so can only decorate around my door, but I have fullsize mannequins that are dressed up and things like that. I have a 6-foot-tall coffin that has a clown that comes out of it. I have one that is a scary scarecrow and then I have skeletons and the like. I have been doing this for 15 to 20 years now. It started out as a goof, but now we’ve been doing it so long the kids like to do it too.” —Liz Maresca, 50, Fair Lawn

TAKING TO THE TRAILS.

“I’m a big trails person, so I’m always going leaf peeping out on the trails both here at the [Tenafly] nature center and at the Ramapo Reservation and McFaul Environmental Center in Wyckoff. We live in a very good spot for leaf viewing. We have a lot of red maples and sugar maples in the area, so those bits of red and yellow that the species bring make the colors of fall pop. Being in the woods this time of year means looking for migrating birds as they’re heading south. It’s always nice when the air shifts from the humid summer air to the nice, crisp fall air. It’s an all-around great time to be out in the woods. I’m 32 and I’ve been doing it all my life, as long as I can remember.” —Alex Braunstein, 32, Tenafly

MAKING PUMPKIN PIE FROM SCRATCH.

“From the time I was a little girl, my family always loved homemade pies and cookies, which my grandmother’s mother was good at, especially during the holidays. My mother loved making mock apple pie, which was made of crackers instead of apple—which she would not say until she asked what we thought was in it. As years passed by, I loved making pumpkin pie. About five years ago, my daughter Della had a friend who gave her two lawn bags of pumpkins for free! I had no choice but to make many pumpkin pies, stewed pumpkin, pumpkin soup, you name it. Hopefully, I will get on the bandwagon to make more pies—but not two lawn bags’ worth. That weighed several hundred pounds.” —Cheryl Delaney, 74, Hackensack

The Math Of Pumpkin Pi

Want to figure out how to make your own pumpkin pie like Cheryl Delaney of Hackensack? Follow this recipe, which may become one of your own autumn traditions:

Wash and steam the pumpkin. Since it’s still crispy, cook it in enough water or pumpkin juice when steaming the skin. Cover and cook slowly until pumpkin softens. Don’t cook too much, otherwise it will turn to mush and be hard to separate. Steam it just enough to peel clean from skin and remove seeds after the pumpkin cools.

While blending to the desired consistency, mix with evaporated milk until it’s like pudding but not too thin.

Next, add pumpkin seasoning: a little vanilla, cinnamon and sugar to preferred taste.

Beat about three eggs per pie in a separate bowl and then add to the pumpkin mixture.

Bake at 400°F for about 15 minutes, then down to 325°F for about 45 minutes.

When fork comes out clean from the middle, shut oven off but leave door open so pie doesn’t overcook.

For crust, use white unbleached flour and pure butter—about one stick per pie.

Fork together and add just a few tablespoons of ice water if needed.

Roll crust and place in pie shell.

Bake the crust first and let cool, then pour in mixture. Let cool thoroughly and serve with whipped cream.