Bite into Autumn

For me, apple orchards are magical and enchanted places. I am reminded of this when I bite into the first perfectly crisp apple of the season – whether I’m at the green market or standing in an orchard, I lapse into a mesmerized daze: What is it about that tart, musky flavor that is mysteriously transporting?

I think of the apple orchard up the hill from my childhood home, where groups of my friends and I would spend hours playing. We’d climb the trees, searching each branch for an edible apple. The trees never grew well and produced small, hard and tarnished-looking fruit. Though most of the other kids rejected the bites they sampled, spitting them out with puckered faces, I secretly liked the sour flavor. Even then, on those autumn days in the southern hemisphere, I remember wondering what it was in that sour and tart combination that got my attention. I still can’t put my finger on it and I’m happy to leave it as a pleasurable mystery, until next fall anyway.

Though my kitchen is exploding with apples this week, I must confess, I am not a huge apple eater. It’s the fall tradition of picking apples that I love, and I’ve been doing it yearly since moving to New York over a decade ago. Every October, we pack a picnic and leave the city early. The day always seems to be perfect, with clear blue sky and just enough chill to pull you out of bed and into the country air. It’s an extra bonus if we catch some stunning foliage on our journey.

Last weekend, we went to Liberty View Farm near New Paltz, N.Y., and leased a certified naturally grown Cortland apple tree. For $50 you get to pick out a tree, name it, picnic under it and enjoy its fruit for the season. It’s an absolute bargain if you cook, juice or eat a lot of apples, and an absolute pleasure even if you don’t.

Fall seems to be the busiest season for everyone I know in New York, but I always feel grateful to have made time to spend in an orchard as soon as we turn off Route 87 and start winding our way along smaller country lanes.

Once the apple tree is chosen – this can take a while – I spread out a tablecloth and blanket for the picnic. This year’s lunch: roasted red pepper Swiss chard tart with pine-nut crust, simple arugula salad, radishes, cheeses from Murray’s, olives and flatbread. Most farms have a good selection of baked goods, so all you need to do is bring a Thermos for tea.

Apples are not the only attraction at the Liberty View. Orchardist and farmer Billiam van Roestenberg grows a small but vibrant selection of organic vegetables, and his partner, Rene, makes pies and pickles for their farm stand, which has now turned into a bustling little farmer’s market.

I got to taste my first freshly pressed cider straight from their old-fashioned cider press and pet a cute miniature goat. If you wander around the farm, you’ll see a stylish chicken coop that is home to their flock of Heirloom chickens, one of which accompanied Billiam to the Martha Stewart Show.

Liberty View Farm was named one of America’s top 10 orchards for picking apples by Travel and Leisure magazine and is one of only a few in the Hudson Valley that grow without harmful pesticides.

Once the sun began to drop, we filled the last bag with apples, but our tree’s branches were still laden with heavy fruit, giving us a good reason to return soon.