The harvest season of September around Blueberry Pointe on the Lake

It's the season of bounty in Rhode Island. The local farms stands are brimming with produce: deep and fleshy squashes, piles of sugar corn, plump red tomatoes, baskets of multi-colored peppers, vibrant purple eggplants, and crisp wax and green beans. Go to www.farmfresh.org/food/food.php?food=1&zip=02871 for a list of the local farms and the produce that is ripening at this time of year. Or, if you're interested in visiting a local farm stand, try www.rifruitgrowers.org/farmstands/.

The town adjacent to Chepachet, where Blueberry Pointe on the Lake is located, used to be called "Apple Valley." While several of the former orchards have given way to suburbia, many others remain in their original state. Long stands of sturdy trees with branches laden with fruit begin to take on red flames of color in September. We still remember our own joy of picking our own apples in our childhoods, and many families continue the tradition in our area.

Tractors transport groups down into the orchards, where the smells of hay, loam, and fresh air mingle as one. Woven baskets fill, an apple or two is tested, and the clear sky smiles over all. And who can resist a mug of hot apple cider afterward?

If the idea of "pick your own" is appealing, you might also like to choose the best pumpkin from one of the many local area fields. Imagine walking through long stetches of deep green bursting with pumpkins of all sizes around you. Who can decide which is the best? Will you be carving your special find? Drawing a ghoulish face? Thinking ahead to a freezer full of pumpkin pies for the upcoming holidays?

The joy of September is being outside in the clean fresh air and stretching our work-week legs. We hope you'll rejuvenate yourself in the outdoors while touring our little bit of heaven in the local region around Blueberry Pointe on the Lake.