In spite of threats of an autumn rain storm the festival was crowded. There were definitely apples to be purchased by the peck, and some old favorites; cortland, northern spy, and pippins.
Busti, (pronounced Bust Eye) in NY is a very small crossroads town with a fascinating history.
It was here that several well known abolitionists lived and preached. This part of PA/NY is famous for its underground railroad, Buffalo and Canada being only 114 miles or so away. John Brown was said to be friends with the daughter of one of the abolitionists.
The general area, not necessarily Busti itself, was also known for some odd religious groups that tried to set up closed communities similar to Old Economy or the Shakers. There is still a spiritualist community up near Fredonia.
In other ways it was also just a country town; sugar maples and apple trees everywhere. In winter we still celebrate our sugaring and in fall our apples.
When I mentioned pippin apples at work one of the women remembered a request many, many years ago for a recipe for a pippin pie that involved several whole pippins, cored but left whole with raisins, nuts and sugar in the center than placed all together in a crust and baked. She said once they found the recipe a couple of them actually made it and taste tested it and said it was delicious. I just did a quick check of the Internet and can find nothing similar. Sounds yummy though.
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