Fly Creek Cider Mill

My folks were in town and it was on a whim that we took a day trip to Fly Creek Cider Mill near Cooperstown. Normally, Fly Creek is a mecca of samples from pickled vegetables to apple wine, cheese, fudge, jellies, jams, sauces, dips...you name it they have it. The list goes on and it's a delicious tour of the country store. The cafe next door is a great spot to grab an icy cold apple cider slush (free with a coupon from various visitor's guides) and an array of apple goodies from doughnuts, pies, dumplings, and cookies. For the kiddos and kiddos at heart, there's a coop of live geese, chickens, turkeys, and ducks who would be very happy to be fed corn treats for a mere quarter. There's also a play area, plenty of educational apple and cider related trivia, and displays of John Deere tractors. 

This past weekend just so happened to be the Annual Cider Festival and the line to get into the shop and the cafe were crazy long but we did not miss out on our small share of freebies. It's not every day that the International Society of Apple Parer Enthusiasts come to town. We arrived toward the end of the day but managed to sneak in samples of freshly pressed cider and sliced apples, sliced the old-fashioned way of course. 

Created with flickr slideshow.

The core of apple parer enthusiasts were a happy bunch of volunteers demonstrating the lost art of peeling an apple and slicing them through an array of antique yet functional machinery. There was even a demonstration of hand-pressed apple cider. 

It was a fun little side trip for us, but our main goal was to get a bite of the famous Brook's BBQ chicken for dinner and boy did it hit the spot. Nothing beats charcoal roasted meat.