The Pickin's Good at Jaswell's Farm

When the weather is nice on fall weekends, I need to be outside. It doesn’t matter if I’m running the East Bay bike path, roaming the glowing corridors at Waterfire or bopping from shop to shop at Garden City or the Wrentham outlets. But my favorite fall activity by far is apple picking.

This past Sunday, my husband and I headed to Jaswell’s Farm in Smithfield for some pick-your-own adventures. The farm is easy to find and it provides exactly the atmosphere we’d hoped for; country wholesomeness, a farmstand, apple crisp and candy apples, a pumpkin patch and hayrides, but none of the distracting bouncy houses and carnival games that tend to commercialize the fun.

We wandered past the barn and up the dirt path by foot to collect a bag that would soon hold our harvest. The fruit is decently priced at $1.50 a pound, which is about the same as we pay at our local grocery store, except we were spending the day doing something fun together, rather than pushing a cart along fluorescent-lit aisles.

Jaswell’s trees were full of fruit, and it didn’t take long to stockpile Cortlands, Macouns, Yellow Delicious and Red Delicious varieties. We plucked the juicy, untouched specimens bobbing high in the boughs. Traipsing between trees, we realized we had to be careful to avoid the poison ivy that crept along paths. We both wore shorts and sandals, but take note, pants and sneakers are a safer bet.

The farm ropes off specific areas of the orchard so that they can stagger the picking. There will be plenty more apples for those who visit this weekend.

After filling our bag with ten pounds of red and green options, we headed to the farmstand to find more produce for our feast. We filled our arms with farm fresh broccoli, green beans, peppers, tomatoes and eggs. Then we spied the bakery with homemade goods. Added to our bounty were flaky raspberry pastries and a giant red velvet chocolate chip cookie. But that wouldn’t stop me from baking an apple pie when we got home, too.

It was a day of just desserts.

Jaswell's Farm, 50 Swan Rd., 231-9043, jaswellsfarm.com