Ten things to love: #3 Pies from Mourningkill Bakery, Ballston Spa

On my ever-running list of why I do or do not want to move back to Oregon, pie is always on the Oregon side.

Oregon is a state devoted to pie. There are pie restaurants, some are mom and pop places others are big chains devoted to the art of flaky crust and sugar and fruit.

And then there are the berries that grow big and fat and juicy in inexhaustible tangles pretty much everywhere. As kids we would run down the large hill where we lived, white 5-gallon buckets banging against our legs, and pick blackberries on the side of the road until our fingers were stained purple and our stomachs and the buckets were full.

On my deepest, darkest, I-miss-Oregon days I am usually thinking about violent, blood red sunsets, crashing oceans with salty smelling driftwood, and pie.

Well, it has taken me 17 years, but I found a pie here in New York that makes me think of Oregon with something other than desperate longing.

Here is the best bakery-made pie I've found outside of Oregon.

The pies are made by Mourningkill Bake Shop in Ballston Spa. If you are in Albany, you can buy them at Gade Farm, which is out Western Avenue in Guilderland. At Gade Farm they are $10.99. You can pre-order the pies to pick up at Gade's if you like. Here is the information:

Mourningkill Farm and Bake Shop
(518) 885-6166
310 Charlton Road, Ballston Spa, NY

I've had the strawberry-rhubarb and the raspberry so far. They are both wonderful. No cornstarchy, gloppy filling. No runny berry soup. Just perfectly sweetened tender chunks of flavorful fruit with buttery crumb toppings. (They have plenty of regular crust-topped pied as well.)