With October’s chill mornings and cool evenings, now’s an ideal time to get out and pick the last of fall’s bounty. Apples and fresh garden goods cheer up any day, especially if there’s someone handy in the kichen.

Recently the Rockland Farm Alliance held its first countywide farm fest, with walking tours of Rockland County’s unique working farms.

The celebration of local agriculture included the areas most noted farms and gardens, including Cropsey Community Farm, New City, the 300-year-old Orchards of Concklin in Pomona, Bluefield Farm, Blauvelt, and Duryea Farm at the Threefold Fellowship Community in Chestnut Ridge, Rockland’s only dairy farm.

Hundreds of people turned out for Farm to You Fest, organized by the Rockland Farm Alliance, where for $20 a carload, people could visit 15 farms and gardens.

The event was also a fundraiser with proceeds going to the Farm Alliance. The the tour allowed people to see exactly where their foods come from. Along with the walking tours, there were farming and gardening workshops, cooking demonstrations, and crafts for the kids. Participants were greeted with tables full of pumpkins, new growing greens, dairy cows, restored farm houses, and plenty of fields to amble across to stretch the legs.

There was also plenty of food tasting and apple-picking to welcome in the season, as well as scarecrow building.

The farm fest celebration was an effort to bring attention to Rockland’s local food producers. At one time Rockland County was a noted farming community, but most working farms were plowed and paved during the development boom. With the resurgence of in home gardening and people returning to a locally produced ethos, smaller-scale farming is beginning to thrive again.

Sunday’s event was an opportunity for people to see the sights and smells of food coming right off the trees and plucked from the ground. Hand to mouth.

Photos courtesy of Geoff Welch.