We’re at the crossroads of summer and winter squash, a sure sign that fall is here. While summer squash is as easygoing as the season itself, winter squash is another story. When raw, its thick skin resists even the sharpest of knives. Internet recommendations to open the freakishly large Blue Hubbard squash include putting it into a bag and dropping it onto a cement patio. For a more reasonably sized acorn or butternut squash, putting it into a 350-degree oven for 15 minutes or the microwave for five minutes will soften the skin enough to cut easily. Or just roast it whole if it’s small, although you will have to poke holes in it to keep it from exploding, something the thin-skinned summer squash would never do. But it’s fall now, time to get used to life and squash being a bit harder.
Carlson Orchards, 115 Oak Hill Road, 978-456-3916
Pick-your-own apple varieties for this week are Cortland, Macoun, Ginger Gold, Honeycrisp, Gala, and McIntosh. Check Facebook for updates. Apples available in the store include Cortland, Macoun, Ginger Gold, Gala, McIntosh, and Paula Red. Massachusetts-grown corn is also available in the store, along with vegetables from Idylwilde Farms, including tomatoes, green and sweet red peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, jalapeño peppers, and winter squash, including acorn, carnival, buttercup, and butternut.
Store is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily; pick-your-own is open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Doe Orchards, 327 Ayer Road, 978-772-4139
Pick-your-own apple varieties for this week are Macoun, Empire, Honeycrisp, Gala, Ruby Mac, McIntosh, Fuji, and Cortland. The stand is stocked with all of those varieties, as well as pumpkins, gourds, apple firewood, and apple cider from Box Mill Farm in Ayer. Check Facebook or the website for updates.
Stand and pick-your-own are open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Good Spirits Farm, 106 East Bare Hill Road, 978-456-8291
At the self-service farmstand this week: blackberries, raspberries, ground cherries, no-spray apples and pears, heirloom tomatoes (some priced as “seconds” because of minor rain damage), tomatillos, New Zealand spinach, green beans, kale, winter squash, fennel, and basil, along with the farm’s own honey, berry jams, and dahlia flower bouquets, and eggs from Harvard’s Goose and Hen farm.
Stand is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
Old Frog Pond Farm, 38 Eldridge Road
Pick-your-own apple varieties this weekend will be Blushing Golden, Cortland, Esopus Spitzenberg, Florina Querina, Golden Delicious, Jonafree, Liberty, Macoun, and Red Delicious. Pick-your-own raspberries continues for intrepid pickers, according to owner Linda Hoffman; there are tasty berries out there, but they’re getting sparse. The self-service farmstand on the porch is stocked with certified organic fruit and vegetables, including apples, Asian and Bosc pears, green beans, lettuce, eggplant, sweet peppers, kale, leeks, tomatoes, husk cherries, potatoes, Mesclun greens, Swiss chard, zucchini, summer squash, winter radishes, basil, garlic, hazelnuts. Also at the stand are fresh-pressed cider, the farm’s blueberry, raspberry, and raspberry rhubarb jams, and fresh eggs from Maplebrook Farmstead in Sterling.
Stand is open 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. during the week, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Pick-your-own apples hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends only. Raspberry-picking is open daily.
Westward Orchards, 178 Massachusetts Avenue, 978-456-8363
Pick-your-own apple varieties this week are Empire, McIntosh, Cortland, Macoun, Gala, Golden Delicious, and Red Delicious. Available in the store are Westward’s Honeycrisp, Gala, Roxbury Russet, Empire, McIntosh, Cortland, Macoun, and Ginger Gold apples, Seckel, Bartlett and Bosc pears, watermelon, honeydew melon, tomatoes, lettuce, mixed peppers, kale, collard greens, Swiss chard, eggplant, Japanese eggplant, beets, carrots, potatoes, shallots, cabbage, mixed winter squash, mixed herbs, pumpkins, and gourds.
Store is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, pick-your-own hours are 10 a.m to 4 p.m. daily.
All produce listed is Harvard-grown unless otherwise noted.
—Compiled by Joan Eliyesil
