"Autumn is a second spring, when every leaf is a flower." -Albert Camus
I could not be happier to live in New England during this time of year. The flurries may be starting (sigh), but the landscape's colors are still better than ever. With an enthusiastic six year old in tow, and having gone without a fall for the last three years abroad, my family has been soaking in as much of the season as we can get.
Our morning pit stop to a Connecticut family farm on Columbus Day turned into what I hope is a yearly tradition. Known for their yearly Columbus Day bash, Buell's Orchard knows how to do fall. Though the orchard is open much of the year for a variety of picking, touring, tasting, and shopping, their harvest festival pulls together a number of fun fall activities into a huge family event. We arrived on a busy Columbus Day morning to fields of cars with enthusiastic locals and tourists wandering about, getting busy with hay rack rides, pumpkin picking in the pumpkin patch, free apple cider donuts and cider, face painting, apple picking, enjoying the barbecue and rolling fiddle and banjo music. As we made our way from the car, I said loudly to my husband, "We have got to know some people here. I think half the state is at Buell's this morning!" And sure enough, fifteen minutes later we were sitting down on hay bales, gabbing away with old friends in a rustic fall paradise.
Don't like crowds? Buell's is known for its for garden-fresh veggies, peaches, plums, pears, strawberries, blueberries, pumpkins, and apples during their picking seasons. They are open much of spring, summer, and fall for touring, picking, and field tripping, and I highly recommend them if you'd like to see a small family farm producing in a huge way for East Coast Consumers. Family farms that open their doors, sharing exactly where food comes from and how it makes it from the earth to the table? They have such a piece of my heart!
I could go on and on, but for more information on Buell's Orchard in Eastford, CT:
