Harvest time is in full swing
in the east end, with some area farms offering a chance for
local residents to be part of the crop-gathering fun.
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Anne-Lory visits the pumpkin patch
at Proulx Farm earlier this week with her classmates.
Photo by Étienne Ranger |
The Orléans Fruit Farm on St. Joseph Boulevard recently
wrapped up its apple U-pick season, which gave visitors an
opportunity to pick the popular red fruit fresh off the tree.
Customers are charged by the pound and picking is unlimited,
explains co-owner Paul Henrie, “so you come in and
pick your apples, and on the way out we weigh how many apples
you picked and you are charged accordingly.”
This season’s apple U-pick season was “very
good”, he adds, crediting good weather and a great
yield.
“The volume of apples (was good), the crop was nice,
the weekends were extremely nice weather-wise, so it made
the people, the families come out,” Henrie says. “We
had those three elements that worked together.”
The Orléans Fruit Farm has been offering an apple
U-pick for at least 25 years, he continues, which receives
up to 5,000 or 6,000 visitors per day most weekends –
though rain or shine can often dictate turnout.
“It depends on the weekend,” Henrie explains,
adding that apples are still available at the farm’s
front gate until Nov. 1. “If the weather is not nice
on the Saturday, then the Sunday is twice as busy.”
For Proulx Farm in Cumberland, the harvest season traditionally
means a free-for-all U-pick pumpkin patch as part of their
Halloween extravaganza. But this year, explains Gisele Proulx,
many of the farm’s pumpkins aren’t exactly ripe
for the picking.
“This year the pumpkins are a lot more scare, because
they caught a disease,” she says. “Unfortunately
we just have a small patch … but it’s mainly
pumpkins for cooking.”
Normally the farm plants a field or two of the orange-coloured
gourds, Proulx continues, with enough for leftovers to donate
to local sports teams and various fundraisers – something
that just wasn’t possible this year.
Recent visits to surrounding areas like Oka, Que. only
uncovered further outbreaks, adds Proulx, who says she was
surprised to discover the pumpkin disease was so far-reaching.
“A lot of the producers (there) do pumpkins, and
they all have the same disease,” she explains. “We
always go around to get new ideas and new varieties, and
every producer that we talked to had the same problem. I
think it’s going to be, unfortunately, not such a
good year for people to pick out of the field – that’s
a shame.”
Pumpkins are for sale at the farm itself, with prices from
three for $1 for the smaller types to about $10 for larger
ones where “we recommend using a wheelbarrow,”
Proulx says with a laugh. “You don’t want to
pay and drop it beside your car.”
U-picks can offer a fun fall activity for the whole family
– and some delicious rewards to bring home, adds Henrie.
“It’s 99 per cent family oriented,” he
says. “It’s a great experience. You have the
fresh apples and the top quality the want – you get
to do the picking and choosing.”
It’s also a chance for family members of any age
to get involved in the harvest, continues Proulx.
“I know ourselves, when the kids were young, that’s
what we used to do,” she recounts. about using U-picks.
“It was their special pumpkin – even if you
want to take it away and give them a bigger one, no, that’s
the one they selected, that’s the one they want. And
they have the same scenario here. Even if they’re
picking out of the bin, or out of the stacks that we have
here, if a child picks their pumpkin … the parents
will often say, no it’s doesn’t fit, it’s
all crooked, and no, the child wants it. That bonding thing,
I guess.”
For more information about the Pumpkin Festival at Proulx
Farm, go to www.proulxfarm.com or call 613-833-2417. The
farm has been transformed into a giant Halloween play area
and be sure not to miss the hayride into “Mysteries
Forest” and the haunted sugarbush. Activities run
until the end of the month.
