Local apple orchards preparing for the upcoming fall season

ALTAMONT, N.Y. (NEWS10) - With September beginning, some are looking forward to some classic fall activities like visiting apple orchards. At Indian Ladder Farms, guests are set to return to pick apples this weekend.

"We are excited because the weather is fall weather, even today you can feel the coolness, and that always gets people excited for picking apples," said Laura Ten Eyck, manager at the farm.

While the farm has berry picking throughout the summer, fall is their big season, as they look forward to another successful year.

"We have about 40 different varieties that will ripen throughout the fall. Starting with Jonamac, then we’ll move onto the McIntosh and Honeycrisp, and then straight on through to the end of October," Ten Eyck explained.

Despite the bouts of heavy rain throughout the summer, there have been no issues with the farm's apples thus far.

"Heavy rain and moisture does have an effect on the spread of disease and insect outbreaks, as well as molds, but we have been good with that," said Ten Eyck.

She says the only potential issue the farm is concerned about is apples growing too big from added moisture and potentially splitting.

Now looking ahead to the busy fall season, the farm will have similar precautions in place as last year, as COVID cases continue to rise locally.

"It was done very safely, and everyone had a good time and COVID didn’t really interfere with the experience of apple picking at all, even though we had even more people than normal," the farm's manager said.

Indian Ladder Farms is following health guidelines, recommending everyone to wear a mask inside. People are also suggested to mask-up outdoors if social distancing isn't possible.

"We have all the outside you want, and lots of fun things to do," Ten Eyck said.

All retail staff at Indian Ladder Farms will also be vaccinated by September 15th.