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Growing up, I never thought I would get to live next to the Great Pumpkin Patch.
Imagine my delight the first year I watched the pumpkins grow and change colour in the field behind our house. Magically, they appeared through the leaves and began to glow in orange and pink tones.
Now, that we are almost at Halloween, I feel just like Linus, excited to see if the Great Pumpkin will land and visit us.
OK, so I’m a bit of a sucker when it comes to holidays and getting in the spirit. Well, why not? Life is busy, and mostly serious. Look deep down in your soul... Don’t you want a bit of silliness to creep in, once in a while?
Living on the Westside at the edge of Westbank, we have agricultural land all around us. Paynter’s Fruit Market is just down the road. But throughout the Okanagan there are pockets like this with orchards and fields and vineyards.
Farm markets are not a rare thing in our part of the world, and the end of the harvest season is our last chance to enjoy them.
You may already have your pumpkin for Halloween, all set up for carving into a suitable Jack O’Lantern. But you could take a trip out to visit the fields, pick an apple off a tree or even out of a bin, polish it off on your shirt and sample the crisp taste of fall.
Or pile the kids in the car and let them run in an orchard. Take some family photos with all the fall colours. Doesn’t that sound more fun than a trip to Walmart or Safeway?
Every season deserves respect. As I wrote about a month ago, fall often takes me by surprise. Therefore, I feel it deserves a proper toast to send it off before I prepare for winter. So my final gesture of the growing season is to stop by at Paynter’s Market and get a pumpkin for roasting and apples for baking.
I enjoy the beautiful view as I share an apple with the dogs (they shouldn’t eat the seeds, so they can’t have a whole one.) I highly recommend it. Your soul will thank you, and so will your local farmer.
I have given you references for places to go; if you need a simple recipe, how about Apple Phyllo Strudel Cups? This one is dairy free, nut free and kid-tested. You can treat yourself to a taste of fall and not even feel guilty.
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
