Fall welcomes you with fruits (and vegetables) of your labor

Ah, harvest time.

Toddlers can frolic among pumpkins almost as big as they are. Schoolkids discover apples taste all the sweeter fresh from the tree. And, after 15 minutes of stooping and plucking, Grandpa has enough tomatoes to can several quarts.

Thanks to the regional farms and orchards that allow visitors to pick their own produce, people of all ages can reap the joy of … well … reaping.

“I have my own garden, but my tomato plants got sick this year,” 74-year-old George Gurney of Tunkhannock said, explaining why he intended to pick ripe tomatoes at Dymonds Farm on Brace Road in Dallas earlier this week.

With an acre devoted to some 4,000 plants, Dymonds has so many large red Mountain Fresh tomatoes – some easily 6 inches in diameter – a half-bushel basket fills quickly.

The tomatoes will be good to pick until the first frost, co-owner Ted Dymond said, noting the farm allows people to pick their own pumpkins, too.

Weekend hayrides at Dymonds also add to the farm experience for visiting city slickers.

Experiencing a taste of agricultural life is one reason non-farmers enjoy pushing aside leaves and vines in search of fruit and vegetables.

“They like to see where their food comes from,” Harry Roinick said, shouting into his cell phone to be heard over a tractor at Pumpkin Hill Produce Farms on Wapwallopen Road in Nescopeck.

Earlier this year, visitors picked strawberries, string beans, peppers and tomatoes at his place, but at this point, pumpkins are the only crop still available at Pumpkin Hill.

There’s usually a cost savings when you do the harvesting ($6 for a half-bushel of tomatoes you pick at Thomas Farm in Drums, for example, versus $8 for a half-bushel already picked, and $10 for a half-bushel you pick at Dymonds, versus $12 for a half-bushel already picked).

Still, some people would enjoy an hour or so of picking, even if the price was the same.

“Picking is fun,” said Gurney, who went to Dymonds planning to pick red tomatoes from the vines but, on a rainy Monday, opted to buy some that were ready to go.

If you want to pick yellow tomatoes, plum tomatoes or peppers, Diane Thomas said, they’re available at Thomas Farm on St. Johns Road in Drums.

If apple-picking is on your agenda, you might have to travel a little farther. Among the orchards that welcome amateur pickers is County Line Orchard in Kempton (70 miles south of Wilkes-Barre) which straddles the border of Lehigh and Berks counties. Sun Crisp and Golden Delicious – both yellow varieties – should be available there this weekend, co-owner Cindy Smith said.

Another pick-your-own possibility is Grays Apple Ridge in Jonestown, Lebanon County (60 miles southwest of Hazleton) where you’re likely to find Cortland, Empire, Crispin and Delicious apples, as well as pumpkins for the next few weeks. “Some people come right before Halloween to get their pumpkins,” co-owner Pam Gray said.

If you go

Dymonds Farm, Brace Road, Dallas, tomatoes and pumpkins, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hayrides on weekends. 333-5011

Thomas Farm, 556 St. Johns Road, Drums, yellow tomatoes, plum tomatoes, peppers. Picking daily 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., 788-2571

Pumpkin Hill Produce Farms, 250 Wapwallopen Road, Nescopeck, pumpkins, daily 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

County Line Orchard, 9200 Kings Highway (Route 143) Kempton, apples, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 610-756-6411, www.clorchard.com

Grays Apple Ridge, 144 Greble Road, Jonestown, apples and pumpkins, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays, or call for appointment. 717-865-3997, www.graysappleridge.com

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Fall welcomes you with fruits (and vegetables) of your labor

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