Apple Picking Fun For Westhampton Beach First Graders: Photos

CUTCHOGUE, NY — Memories were made under vivid blue fall skies at Wickham's Fruit Farm in Cutchogue Wednesday as first graders from Westhampton Beach Elementary School enjoyed apple picking in the verdant orchards.

Students in Meaghan Moran's first grade classes joyfully boarded the tractor for the ride out into the orchard, where they were given lessons on apple picking from longtime North Fork farmer Tom Wickham.

"What can you do with the apples when you pick them?" he asked the excited group.

"Eat them!" one child chimed in happily.

"Put them in your bag," another said, giggling.

Both answers were correct; Wickham also taught the kids how to pick the apples out in the field.

The experience on the farm was invaluable for kids, Moran said, teaching real-life lessons about English language arts and science curriculum. "It's important for them to be part of the community, and to have these experiences, out of the classroom, that they can bring back in to the classroom," she said.

For generations, Wickham's Fruit Farm, a longtime North Fork family business, has stood on the Main Road in Cutchogue, its rich bounty bursting forth in a symphony of color and abundance — rich, ruby apples and strawberries, the sweetest of cherries, juiciest of peaches, tender, crisp asparagus — and the tantalizing aroma of freshly made donuts that draws hungry visitors eager for a delicious taste of North Fork life.

A bastion of the North Fork for 11 generations, the Wickham family's ownership of the land and historic, bicentennial farm stretches back to the 1600s.

The farm has a long and rich history, and Wickham told the children that the same land upon which they stood had once been farmed by Native Americans.

Wickham, later teaching the kids about Macoun apples, beamed at their enthusiasm. The school trips to the farm, he said are a critical educational experience. "It's important for kids to understand how we grow crops," he said, adding, of the tours, "I love it, too."

And, judging by the happy smiles on the children's faces, on the joy reflected in the eyes of parents watching their kids make memories to last a lifetime, apple picking was a class trip all will remember for years to come.

Photos by Lisa Finn.