It's Gravenstein month in Gravenstein country

Sunset, August, 1984

It's Gravenstein month in Gravenstein country

The corny fun of old-fashioned harvest-time hoopla starts early in Sebastopol, California. Heart of Sonoma County's north-coast apple district, Sebastopol is home to summer's first apple, the Gravenstein --ripe in late July and early August.

Grown nowhere else as it is in Sebastopol, the Grav is an unusual as well as an early apple: crisp and very juicy within, it's a red-streaked gold without--with a unique taste that's right on the line where tart becomes sweet. If you haven't yet met this apple and the country where it grows, this month is the time to get acquainted.

The growers put on a fine Gravenstein harvest festival August 18 and 19. But any weekend you can wander the orchard-bordered country roads, stop at hospitable farms for fresh produce, and buy some fresh apples to take home.

Gravenstein country is 60 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge--a one-tank-of-gas round trip from anywhere in the Bay Area. Come for the day, or stay overnight at Strout House, a newly opened period bed-and-breakfast inn in Sebastopol ($65 per night; call 707/823-5188), the Green Apple Inn in Freestone ($55; 874-2526), or at a motel in nearby Occidental.

A century of apples

The first Gravensteins were planted in Sebastopol in 1883 (young Luther Burbank lent a hand in the task), but no one seems to know whether the seed came from northern Europe via Russians at Fort Ross or traveled overland with American pioneers. Whatever its origin, this apple had found the right spot: Sebastopol now grows more than 90 percent of the U.S. Gravenstein apple crop.

Take a map, and wander

Today, downtown Sebastopol is a one-crossroads affair with railroad tracks, a bank, a big feed store, a good bookstore and a better bakery, and a Main Street string of Victorian cottages recycled as office spaces. Locals complain about weekend traffic jammed at each side of the intersection of state highways 12 and 116, but the place still has plenty of country quiet in its character. "We don't,' one resident told us rather proudly, "even have a movie.'

Nonetheless, there are good places to eat or purchase picnic supplies, and many family-run farms to visit. Near Forestville, there are also small wineries to explore (Caswell, Dehlinger, Domaine Laurier, Iron Horse, Mark West, and Russian River Vineyards are six). And if you're attracted to specialty nurseries, you'll be veering off at practically every bend in the road.

Our map on page 36 guides you to ranches and roadside stands where you can buy just-harvested applies; it also shows where the orchards are concentrated. Plot your own route, perhaps with a visit to an outlying village, such as Occidental, Freestone, or almost-ghost Bloomfield. As you pass older orchards, you'll see structures from more prosperous apple eras: gray-weathered, open-gabled packing houses, chimney-topped dryers, and crate-loading platforms.

For a free but rather cumbersome map of Farm Trails stops in Sonoma County, send a stamped, self-addressed, business-size envelope to Box 6674, Santa Rosa, Calif. 95406; the Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce, downtown on S. Main Street, has this and other guides (it's open weekdays 9 to 4:30, Saturday 10 to 2).

The Gravenstein Apple Fair

This is a true harvest celebration--as unlike the commercialism of a county fair midway as apples are from oranges.

Yield yourself cheerfully to apple mania. You'll be offered fresh Gravensteins (by the apple, by the pound, by the lug), dried apples, apple pie, apple torte, apple cake, apple bread, apple strudel. You can sample applesauce, apple jam, apple juice, apple wine (drier than the German kind). You'll see apple soap and apple dolls. You can even throw darts at apples. And of course, there's an Apple Queen.

Other participants bring fresh eggs, live goats, garlic braids, dried flowers (and garlic braided with dried flowers), fresh honey, crafts. Food concessions sell Mexican specialties, Greek kebabs, and barbecued local Willie Bird turkey.

To help visitors understand farm life a bit better, farm families will demonstrate activities such as egg candling, tree grafting, bee smoking, goat milking, and the harnessing of draft horses.

The fair ($2.50 for those 13 and older) runs from 10 to 6 both days, in Ragle Park. Turn left off State 116 on Mill Station Road, then turn left on Ragle Road; continue about 1/4 mile to the park. The highway will be crowded both days, so be sure to allow extra travel time.

What to do with all the apples?

The best thing to do is eat them--fast.

But Sebastopol Gravs are also famous as sauce apples. If you're buying apples in quantity, you'll probably want to make sauce of some.

When we canvassed Sebastopol farm wives for a recipe for perfect Gravenstein applesauce, we got different advice from each source. "You see,' one respondent explained, "our Gravenstein is a very personal apple.'

That being the case, you might prefer your own recipe (or find one in the apple cook book prepared by the Sebastopol Apple Corps and sold at the fair or in town).