They call it "The Big Apple," but for the farmers of New York's Hudson River Valley, it might better be called "The Big Stomach." New York City, with a population of 8.3 million and 12 million more in the metropolitan area, hes at the south end of thevalley, where the river—still fairly clean despite 400 years of economic activity—dumps into the New York Harbor. The valley is quite homely in winter, a dark landscape of leafless oak and hickory. Its residents apparently didn't choose to brighten upby planting a few evergreen conifers, but there's a different kind of brightness these days—one that comes with fruit trees and fields of vegetables. The Hudson Valley has long fed New Yorkers. The Hudson River, a deep-water shipping channel of 175 miles from New York City to the capital city of Albany, saw some of the nation's first steamships. They carried food, such as apples in barrels.
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