I love fall. Give me crinkly leaves, a pair of jeans, a cozy sweater and a hot cup of tea and I’m a very happy girl. To me there’s nothing more beautiful than the golden colours in the leaves as autumn arrives. So it’s no wonder that my favourite things to do in the fall are outdoors. This weekend we decided to do my two favourite fall activities: Pumpkin and Apple picking.
My roommates and I hoped on the train from downtown back to Markham and then piled into my van to drive up to Stouffville for Pumpkin picking Friday afternoon. We went to Resor’s farm market, and after picking a pack of their chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (that my sister and I practically finished in a day), we went off to explore.
The first of our fall activities at the farm was to try and find our way through the corn maze. Although the idea of labyrinths has been around since antiquity, corn mazes have only become a popular attraction since 1993. The first corn maze, created by Don Frantz and Adrian Fisher, was located in Pennsylvania and featured a pathway that was 1.92 miles long. Since then corn mazes have become quite popular, with some being done in shapes of popular characters or even spelling out words. The world’s largest corn maze is located in Illinois and has 10 miles of trail.
The corn maze we were at was no where near that long, which was good as we had enough difficulty finding our way out of this one. Full of dead ends and loops we had a blast trying to get to the exit. The corn maze spat us out into Reesor’s pumpkin patch, with different sizes and shapes of pumpkins we easily spent an hour hunting for the right pumpkin. Pumpkins have been grown in North America for over 5000 years, and have become emblematic of fall. As the sky began to darken we piled back into the car, heading back home for a girls night in Markham.
Unfortunately we awoke on Saturday to forecasts of heavy rain, making the hour and half car ride to the planned apple orchard seem like a bad idea. After a quick google, we found a local orchard less than 20 minutes from us. Seeming like a better idea, we drove up to Applewood Farm and Orchard for the second activity of our fall weekend. The weekend we were there Applewood was featuring 5 varieties of apples, we focused mainly on the Ambrosia and Cortland apples as most of our bag was going to be used to make pie.
Applewood has their apple picking divided into two fields. The Ambrosia were in the first field that was a quick walk from the entrance. To get to the second field that had the Cortland’s we hoped on the back of tractor and rode to the back of the farm. Apple picking is somewhat of a tradition in my family, I’ve gone every year since I can remember. Going apple picking just gives me such good memories of my childhood and makes me love the fall even more.
One of the best parts of the Applewood orchard is that upon paying the admission cost you get a ticket for a free pumpkin. We went pumpkin picking for the second time in 48 hours, this time however we were lucky enough to find a tiny patch of sugar pumpkins, perfect for fall baking and cooking. After a couple hours in the orchard we loaded up the back of the van with four pumpkins and 20lbs of apples.
After splitting up I was tasked with the job of making the apple pie. The oldest apple pie recipe we know of is from England in 1381. Printed by Geoffrey Chaucer it features apples, pears, spices, raisins, and pears. I decided to go for a more modern apple pie – Cinnamon Roll Apple Pie that is. Using Eva of Adventures in Cooking’s recipe with some vegan substitutions I ended up with a delicious apple pie. Not only did the pie get eaten between three people in less than 24 hours, it also converted a devout non-pie eater into a pie lover, which I am taking as a win.
While the pie was cooling on the counter I quickly roasted up the pumpkin and pureed it. So far I’ve used it for pumpkin gnocchi (inspired by this recipe) and mixed it in with my oatmeal. But I do still have about half a cup left to get creative with. Fall would not be complete without the flavour profiles of pumpkins, apples, and delicious spices. Especially in the fall it’s nice to get out of the city for a day or two, which makes these two farms perfect for a quick adventure. Happy fall and stay cozy!
