"but can it core an apple...."

Team VFH went green this past weekend, or should I say red. Over the years Janet and I have enjoyed going out to pick apples. It is a tradition that has carried over from when my kids were younger.  We usually go to a silly sounding place in Port Murray, NJ... Tree-Licious. Set on a picturesque farm in western NJ for 7 generations, Tree-Licious not only grows apples, but plums, pears, apricots and cherries. You can visit their website to get a schedule of what is ripe. They are very friendly and encourage lingering over picnics on their land. 
TREE-LICIOUS

I have very fond memories of visiting Tree-Licious with the kids climbing the trees or scouring for the best apples while communicating with walkie-talkies. Sometimes one of the Golden Retrievers that lived at the orchard would traipse along with us as we plucked more apples than we could ever possibly eat. With hands sticky from the apples we would eat while we gathered, it usually took two of us to carry the baskets heavy with the fruit down to the rustic shanty that served as the main building to pay. The drive itself from Lambertville is nice too, along the Muscetong River, which is a prime destination for fly fishing, and past farms. 

I also have fond memories of introducing Janet to this idyllic way to spend an afternoon; she had never picked apples before and was thrilled with the day. As kids growing up in our respective cities picking apples was an unattainable dream, but moving out to the country I was able to make it a reality. I am very proud that I have introduced my children, honorary members of Team VFH, and Janet, to this simple joy.

The most charming aspect of Tree-Licious is it's unpretentious way. There often is no staff around. You grab a basket and start off without guidance. Sometimes when you are finished you have to wait for a rattling truck to drive up in order to pay for your harvest. Sometimes the guy who drives up has both straps of his overalls properly cinched. Though they are supposedly only open on the weekends we would often talk our way in during the week because at the time I often worked weekends. The conversation was always brief and amiable. One year when Janet and I went up there, far too late in the season, we were told the apples were finished but were allowed to stroll the grounds. The  charm of Tree-Licious Orchards is in it's haphazard serendipity.

But work this fall has been pressing and time is limited. Port Murray is a bit of a distance from Lambertville and for some reason this year we decided to telephone first before making the trek. Turned out their last official "picking" day was mid-September with an Apple Fall Festival held just the week prior. We were out of luck.  Team VFH is resolute though and found a solution. Janet did a quick search and found the Disneyland of Apple Orchards, Terhune in Princeton, NJ. It is much closer to Lambertville and on Sunday they were holding some fall festival that was very well attended. The parking lot brimmed with late model expensive cars and the slick production offered pumpkins and apples and flowers, wine tasting in a perfectly decorated open barn, and a very fine, appropriately rustic country store with a lot of Terhune Orchard labeled products for sale was crowded elbow to elbow. They even had two perfectly appropriate Yellow Labs bounding about the grounds having escaped their pen. And, all this hilarity was before you had to pay to get into the actual festival! Incredible. Beyond the white picket fence entrance guarded by teens wearing money aprons were kids galore being chased by their parents as they bounded from the animal petting pen to the face painting table, from the pumpkin patch to the tractor rides.

Apple trees can be surly 

We of course did not dare pay for this. It is always always always comforting to see Janet screw up her face and roll her eyes when confronted with opening her wallet...or mine...for needless expenditures. It makes a cheapskate proud. But, we weren't here for a festival after all, we were here for apples. Turns out the apple picking area of Terhune Orchards is down the road and around the corner. It's an incredible expanse of land in a densely populated area of central NJ, just down the road from both Princeton and Trenton. After driving a bit through a suburban neighborhood we arrived at the orchard area of Terhune. The girl at the booth gave us a map that listed several varieties of apples and circled which ones were ripe for the picking. She then handed us a paper bag and explained that one would hold 20 pounds. We then joined the legions of others taking in this lovely Sunday afternoon. The place was packed with people. Some walked in, others took the little tractor ride they offered, incredibly for free!  We made a point of not picking too many apples and limited ourselves to about ten pounds. Though the season at Tree-Licious was finished there were plenty of apples at Terhune on this final Sunday in September. The rows were neat, the varieties clearly marked. It was like shopping in a supermarket. After tasting and approving the apple varieties we plucked just a few for the bag. Don't worry the ratio of eating to plucking was better than 2 to 1...we're not that bad. I did not feel like making apple pies this year, but we did take some for cooking and later that evening made baked apples.

We ended up having a good time at Terhune Orchards and despite the crowded aisles never felt pressed. It was fairly close to Lambertville so that was nice. Still there was an assembly line feel to the whole process at Terhune and they could never match the pastoral Eden Tree-Licious offered. I got the impression from many of the people visiting Terhune that day that this little slice of nature, no matter it's cellophane packaging, was good enough.
TERHUNE ORCHARDS

I leave you now fair readers of a clip that has something to do with apples.... It is from the Honeymooners. ... The "Chef of the Future" skit. Another example of a "better life through television..."
 CHEF OF THE FUTURE