Orange Your Way into Fall

If you didn't notice the black spider webs and bags of candy corn shelved next to the end-of-summer pool toys and school supplies - it's almost Halloween.  Well, almost, if you are one of the millions of folks who will participate in some kind of Halloween activity and spend almost $7 billion for all the fun. (Yes, with a "b" - that was last year's spending, according to Forbes - and they know how to spell "billion.")  Doesn't it seem that the Halloween prep starts earlier and earlier each year?  I guess if the farmer's could get the pumpkins to grow earlier, we'd be carving jack-o-lanterns at the 4th of July picnic.

Other than the candy (bring on the chocolate!), I'm not a big fan of the holiday.  Basically, because it's scary and spooky. And carving pumpkins is messy and difficult.  But the theme colors - orange and black - are pretty.  So if you're like me, and peeking through one eye open until November 1, here's a few ways to enjoy the color of the season, without all the ghouls and mess.

Decorate with mums.  I can't grow anything, but I love flowers. Potted plants are the solution.  I'm sad when they finally wilt away, but I love the burst of color while the flowers are still in bloom.  The bright fall mums are the obvious choice for front steps or a flower arrangement inside.

Go to a farm for pick-your-own fields.  The kids and I enjoy picking our own whatevers - fruit, flowers, berries.  If you're lucky, there may still be farms with a few apples left, great for applesauce, apple pie, apple cake, caramel apples.  Of course, you can pick up the biggest, fattest pumpkin for carving and pumpkin seeds - or several little ones for a pretty table setting.  If you're lucky, there may even be a corn maze in your area and the kids can get lost for an hour or so (in a good way.)

Make orange jack-o-lanterns. Skip the carving and scooping and "what do we do with all the inside guck?"  Get a bag of oranges and a black Sharpie and let the kids decorate oranges as little teeny jack-o-lanterns.  Quick, easy, not messy. Fun to throw in the kids' lunchbox or sports snack bag.

Easy to make and cute for the lunchbox.

Crochet or knit in orange.  Mother Nature tells us without a doubt that orange is the color for the season.  Even if you think you don't like orange - it's a nice wake-me-up color to wear when it's dark when you get out of bed and dark on your way home.  Grab a skein of your favorite yarn - wool, silk, cotton - the season is just fickle enough that almost any weight will work and stitch yourself up a cute little scarf or hat.

An asymmetrical triangle-shapped scarf, made from a light-weight sock yarn.

Bake pumpkin-y goodness. Pie, bread, muffins. Even the seeds make a tasty treat.  On my list is a Pumpkin Cake Cheesecake that I noticed on another site - Sally's Baking Addiction.  There's pumpkin, there's cheesecake. Yum. Add a cup of creamy coffee. Wrap up in my new orange scarf.  Hey - it's fall!

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Fieldtrip: Blueberry Gardens

From spring through fall, my children and I will take occasional fieldtrips to a pick-your-own farm for whatever fruit is in season. (Yes, we refer to our outings as fieldtrips, just like in school.) Often, this is an intentional trip, in that we plan to go to the orchard to get 30 pounds of apples, which turns into jars and jars of applesauce, pans of fried apples, and multiple apple pies. But sometimes, its an impromptu stop because we saw a sign that said “fresh pick-your-own strawberries – straight ahead!” and all the sudden have a taste for fresh off the vine fruit. We are just as likely to stop for a farmer’s stand to get a load of sweet corn, peaches, grapes, berries, and nuts (one reason my husband doesn’t like for me to do the driving when we go to the Eastern Shore).

As a kid, we had, at different times, different houses, a pecan tree and a cherry tree in our backyard and I took for granted that pecans and cherries would always be available by the bag full, just a short walk from my kitchen. I imagine its returning to these childhood memories that keeps me driving miles through meandering country roads to find the garden patch at the end of the path of road-side arrow signs.

Fresh fruit is one of the sweet surprises of summer. And although, kids may decide they don’t like blueberries when you pick them up at the grocery store, they just can’t seem to resist popping one of the almost black berries into their mouths when they’ve picked it off the bush with their own hands. Each time we pick strawberries, I hope that the farmer has calculated the pound that’s eaten while walking through the fields into their price. Aside from the experience of tasting a fruit they otherwise may ignore, it’s a learning experience of what fresh fruit actually looks and tastes like. Last summer, on our southern road trip, we stopped at a peach stand. My daughter #2 was amazed and confused by the fuzzy fruit with a huge stone in the middle, that was nothing like the peach slices she found in her lunchbox.

In Ashton, just beyond Olney, Maryland, there is a little farm on the side of Rte 108 called simply “Blueberry Gardens”. Its an organic farm owned by a few farmers that’s open seasonally, according to the weather and fruit availability. My daughter was there for an activity (in their main house, they have space for drama classes, yoga, and massage therapy) and while I waited for her, she suggested I go pick some berries. At the edge of the field, there was a table with a box of berry baskets in various sizes, a price sheet, and a clear plastic box. A sign taped to the table instructed pickers to take a basket, pick their berries, then, according to the amount of berries picked, to leave the appropriate amount of money in the box on the table. Pick-your-own on an honor system!

For a few quiet moments, I wandered the rows and picked a pint of blueberries. This morning, I had a delicious blueberry coffee cake with my morning coffee. For $4, that’s a pretty good bargain.