You will need to pull out all your apple recipes – pies, compotes, cobblers, tarts. If the current crop of apples at Bashista Orchards in Southampton is any indication, Western Massachusetts is getting buried under an avalanche of apples.
With a crop "the best in a few years," Tom Bashista Sr. says that "we are doing the best we can," but he just doesn't have enough hired hands to get all the fruit picked. This is in stark comparison to last year, which turned out to be a horrible year.
What to do with all those apples? The cider mill at Bashista Orchards is currently running full-tilt. Thousands of pounds of apples are washed, ground to a pulp and pressed, yielding the sweet cider that is emblematic of fall in New England.
Click through the photos above and watch the video below for an inside look at the cider mill at Bashista Orchards, the sorting operations and apple picking. And don't forget to preheat the oven!