by: Cate Peebles
One bright and early Saturday morning (some might argue too early, too bright):
Four intrepid Murray’s apple-enthusiasts met up at 25-19 Borden Avenue in Long Island City, Queens, to begin a trek upstate to gather apple leaves for this year’s batch of Cavemaster Reserve Little Big Apple.Fueled by pumpkin doughnuts and taknards of iced coffee we started here:
And wound up here, give or take an hour or two and an episode of Car Talk:
Where we spent the morning surrounded by these:
Skipping, Von Trapp-like, through lively, green, rolling hills–as demonstrated by Leo, here:
We also had to do a little quality control, sampling the Gala Apple wares that filled the air with their warm apple skin glow and sweet smell.
However, we did add a little muscle, having promised Brian, the Cavemaster, that we’d fill several boxes with perfect, cheese-wrapping-sized leaves, like these:
After several hours of plucking, munching and view-intaking:
We decided to celebrate our yeild and join the growing crowd down the hill for a little post-picking-picnicing, a fall tradition here at the Warwick Valley Winery:
Meanwhile, back in the caves,these little guys had no idea what was coming their way:
Stay tuned for: The Making of Little Big Apple
