Fall on the North Fork is one of the most exciting — and busiest — seasons of the year. It’s a time for farm stand visits, harvest-inspired menus, patches full of pumpkins and colorful foliage at every turn.
Before you know it, the North Fork will once again become quiet as farm stands and seasonal restaurants close up shop for the winter. Before the season slips by, we’ve compiled a list of things to check off on our fall bucket lists.
A day of fall fun
In the blink of an eye, it’s already the end of October and I somehow haven’t picked a pumpkin to carve (I’m going to get around to it before Halloween!) or even an apple.
With that said, there’s plenty of fall left to enjoy before we get into the holidays, so I’d love to have a quintessential fall day on the North Fork.
Lewin Farms still has crips apples on their trees that I’d love to pick to make a pie. I’ll also get lost in the corn maze and try an ear of their roasted corn.
Then, I’ll head to Woodside Orchards in Riverhead for a flight of hard apple ciders that include some of my favorites: a traditional dry English cider, ginger apple and cinnamon apple.
— Tara Smith, Digital Content Director
Modern Snack Bar
This may not seem quite like a seasonal activity but the number one item on my bucket list for the fall is a visit to Modern Snack Bar. They close in early December, and I need to get there before that happens! I’ll report back, but rest assured I am ordering the lemon meringue pie.
— Cerria Torres, Sales & Production manager
A farm pie tradition
Long before moving to the North Fork, my friends and I would make sure to make it out here at least once every fall to get an apple crisp from Briermere Farms.
Every year we’d trek over to the grassy yard of The Big Duck with a freshly baked pie, throw down a picnic blanket, grab a couple of spoons, and dig in. Since moving here, I’ve been determined to venture to as many farmstands as possible and taste their baked goods before they close.
— Victoria Caruso, Reporter
A delectable meal sourced from Miloski’s
My family has been going to Miloski’s Poultry Farm in Calverton for my entire life, and I can’t let fall end without a lovely meal sourced from them.
I know everyone lines up for Miloski’s famous Thanksgiving turkeys, but I’m a fan of the rotisserie duck and cheese babka.
— Lee Meyer, Reporter
A family lunch and fall stroll in Orient
Traditions are big in the Da Fonte house – morning hikes on Thanksgiving Day, balloon filled birthday wake-ups, and last day-of-summer swims are just to name a few. But then there are also a few smaller moments that we find ourselves repeating seasonally that are a touch less monumental but still hold their own kind of magic.
For us, lunch at Opties and Dinghes followed by a very long family walk around Orient Village’s neighborhood has become our “fall thing.” While we’ve done this exact pattern during other seasons it just doesn’t hit the same way that it does during November when the air is crisp and the lighting is golden. The first year we took this accidentally long walk my daughter was small and halfway through she needed shoulders to ride the rest of the way on. Last year we added a stroller into the mix filled with a little brother. This year my daughter is requesting to ride her scooter. I can’t wait to see what future walks bring us.
