Cream of the crops

Autumn is perhaps the most cherished season on a farm, as the final crops are harvested before winter sets in. This is the time of year when rows of rosy apples line the orchards, tawny orange pumpkins lie in the fields, and city dwellers flock to the countryside in droves to get their fill of each. To get the full flavor of fall, we paid a visit to several farms to take in the sights and tastes of the season.

The first hint of fall

The combination of hot weather followed by a huge downpour has resulted in an evocative morning mist, which hangs in spooky wisps above a leafy road near Lanesborough in the Berkshires. It's a perfect atmosphere for the plastic bats and cobwebs laid out at Mountain View Farm's farm stand. It's 10 a.m. on a Sunday, and kids are already running about as families wander up and down the field choosing just the right pumpkin to carve into a jack-o'-lantern. The smaller ones are destined to be pumpkin pie.

Work never stops on a farm, and the results are bountiful: piles of produce, home-baked goods, a petting zoo, and people enjoying what used to be a means of survival. The farm is now a leisure destination.

"This is part of our Halloween festivities," said Tim Stone, who is drinking a steaming cup of coffee as he watches his two young girls while his wife shops for produce and flowers. "First step, every year, as soon as the first hint of fall comes, is to head to the farm and choose some pumpkins to carve."

An apple a day

Over at Russell Orchards in Ipswich one Saturday afternoon, it's gloriously hot and sunny. Summer, for now, is still here. Piles of pumpkins are sitting in the yard, and people are busy shopping for fresh, and we mean really fresh, produce. Russell has 25 varieties of apples including the Deliciouses (Red and Golden), McIntosh, Cortland, and the aptly named Honeycrisp. They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and the folks here are well aware of this: Their website touts the antioxidant qualities of the fruit.

Families and couples head past the store to the farmyard and climb onto a trailer for a hayride out to the orchards. Russell is on its way to becoming certified organic, and even the tractor runs on bio-diesel, which means no whiffs of nasty-smelling diesel for the people riding behind it.

It slowly chug-chug-chugs past rows of apple trees. Some pickers are already hard at work; a father and daughter wave as the tractor passes. There are no buildings in sight, no roads either. It's a peaceful place.

Back at the farmyard, sheep wander freely, nibbling and looking worried. Ducks are quacking and fussing on the pond; a big hairy pig sits in his pen. This is no petting zoo, though. A sign warns: "This pig bites." Only an idiot would mess with this giant.

"The animals aren't why people come here," said Rachael Adams, a supervisor at the farm. "They're here for the cider press, the cider doughnuts, and the apple picking."

"You have no idea how busy it is here," she added.

Inside the wooden barn that houses the store, the cider press has been working all day. Russell Orchards has a license to produce hard cider, and it makes all manner of fruit wines, including strawberry and dandelion. People gather around the sampling table, eager to try the funky-tasting traditional brews. Cider doughnuts are made across the room. After an agonizing wait for one to cool, the doughnuts melt in our mouths.

The beauty of the earth

At Belkin Family Lookout Farm in Natick, dozens of small children, moms in tow, head to the barn to board a mini-train out to the orchards. The trail is shaded by Concord grape vines, which are plump and almost ready to pick. It's a school holiday, apparently, and the kids are getting an education of a different kind today - perhaps learning where those apples come from before they are sorted into pretty piles in the store. They don't come any more packed with nutrients than the ones pulled straight from the tree - not that the small boy who climbs up a stumpy tree cares about that. The child is politely advised by a worker to get down.

Across the way, several farm workers are slowly traipsing back and forth from a field to a truck, each carrying a big, bright pumpkin in each hand.

Because of the dry weather, the pumpkins are smaller this season, but with a more concentrated flavor. The apples, however, are "sizing well," according to farm manager John Burns, due to vigorous pruning.

Burns and his crew are getting ready for their biggest event of the year, the Fall Harvest Celebration. The farm gets 100,000 visitors each year, he says - "most of them in the fall." Picturesque this may be, but on a working farm, nothing stands still. Discarded apples lying on the ground are pressed into cider. Fruits are made into nonfat gelato - including a spicy pumpkin one for fall. It's an idyllic place to work, says Burns.

"When you get stressed here, you just take a walk in the orchard," he says stretching out his arms in an embrace. "It doesn't get any prettier than this."

Pumpkins and apples are available until the first hard frost, usually at the end of October or early November.