Seasonal events.

I'm slightly lightly sunburned from apple picking. If it'd been colder, I'd have worn my sweatshirt and been fine. As it was a gorgeous sunny day up near New Paltz, I left it stuffed in my backpack while wandering over the hills, between the rows of trees in the orchards, sampling apples and tossing them away after a bite or two with a feeling of untold-of decadence. It was delightful.

Old-school cloning facilities are always charming.

We'd gone up to see some family friends and hang out for a little while beforehand, with all of us going to a local crepe-based restaurant for lunch. Which proved New Paltz to be a college town and then some when it managed to ran out of batter while making our orders - an event which prompted me to comment it was definitely a restaurant for theatre majors. And a nice revisiting of the sort of place I always liked eating at back in Davis. Not quite the same aesthetic, but a deeply congruent vibe. I would've liked to see more of the town, but it was a long drive there and a long drive back, so the orchard beckoned as soon as the coffee was done.

The sight of the orchard cresting a hill, sloping down into the valley, and and continuing on for row after row after row all the way to the bottom and going on from there was a shining, promising vision. Almost nothing was labeled, so if I couldn't tell what section I was in from obvious cues like the green Granny Smiths, I had no idea what I might be picking off the trees. Which made it more fun to try something to see if I liked it, because I'd really have no idea. As it turns out, Red Delicious is pretty tasty. If picked fresh and organic, right off the tree, while still the size of a ping-pong ball.

Better were the raspberries. They were a surprise, found by wandering through the hills and getting lost and keeping on to see what came next. Three long rows of vines, completely unpredicted and outside of my realm of knowledge both practical and theoretical for this sort of thing, my brother and I took a moment to take it in before we went in for the glory. Brushed lightly, they fell right into my hands. If I maneuvered carefully, I could go so far as to eat raspberries right off the vine - berries completely untouched by human hands. The freshest raspberries I've ever eaten, intense and joyful. After them, the apples were almost an afterthought.

There were patches of wilderness throughout the orchard, well-contained, left to their own devices but carefully worked around. Two goats, a goose, four ducks and some chickens sharing a comfortably-sized enclosure. Apple-related products and congruent produce available for purchase at the main stand. Five species of butterfly, a couple of ravens and a bald eagle spotted just before lunch, bees having a go at the discarded samples, deer grazing on the side of the road on the ride back. No time for hard cider, but I'm fine with that. The day was more than rich enough. I wouldn't do it again next week, but next year sounds about right.