🎃 Pumpkin patch time | Outdoorsy Newsletter

It’s finally starting to feel more like fall around here.

Welcome back to Outdoorsy. Quick shout-out to my colleague Julie Zeglen for keeping the lights on here while I was away on vacation. I’m excited to show you some of the natural sights I encountered.

Here’s what we’re up to today:

🌧️ Your weekend weather outlook: Friday (which also marks the anniversary of Philly’s earliest snowfall) is the best bet for lovely outings. Be sure to check your local forecast before you head out.

— Paola Pérez (outdoorsy@inquirer.com)

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A bit of pumpkin spice is quintessential to the full fall experience. To get festive for the season, we narrowed down the best places around Philadelphia to pick pumpkins and get lost in corn mazes.

Here’s a preview:

🎃 Charlann Farms (in Yardley, Pa.) has pumpkin bowling, a loose corn sandbox, a straw mountain, and sugar pumpkin painting for all to enjoy. Find your perfect pumpkin right in front of the farm stand.

🎃 Terhune Orchards (in Princeton, N.J.) offers pumpkin, flower, and apple picking all week long, but there’s way more autumn activity over the weekend. Think live music, barnyard animals, and pedal tractors. Try the fresh-pressed apple cider at the farm store.

🎃 Styer Orchard (in Langhorne, Pa.) won’t charge you for admission or to take a hayride — you only pay for what you pick. Pro-tip: Bring your own bag and containers for an even more affordable adventure! Stop by the market for pies and doughnuts.

Follow the pumpkin patch road to the best Philly-area farms and events where you can claim your gourds.

🎤 Now we’re passing the microphone to my former colleague Rita Giordano, who penned this piece in March.

As a girl growing up in New Jersey, Judith Vogel learned early that there never was a waffle that couldn’t be improved by a scoop of ice cream and a glorious drizzle of pure maple syrup.

Now a professor with Stockton University, Vogel is on a mission for Jersey kids of all ages to know that same real maple joy — thanks to none other than their own Garden State trees.

Welcome to the Stockton Maple Project, a plucky effort to prove that along with the state’s legendary tomatoes, world-class sweet corn, and up-and-coming oysters, maple syrup can indeed become the latest — although unlikely — example of South Jersey’s bounty.

“We’re going to really be looking at the idea of marketing maple syrup to the South Jersey consumer,” said Vogel, a math professor, who has partnered with like-minded professors in other disciplines. “It’s not a part of our culture.” — Rita Giordano

Discover how they are working to make a product that could rival even the Vermont standard for sweet syrup.

I took this on a small beach near the Seven Sisters cliffs in England, part of South Downs National Park. The sound of the water pulling back and over the rocks again and again was entrancing.

Did you catch the Harvest Moon in the sky this week? Did we miss your favorite pumpkin patch farm? Or do you have a different autumn activity or tradition? Let me know by sending me an email me with your favorite outdoor memories.

Pictures, if you have them, are always welcome. You might see your adventures featured in a future newsletter.

👋🏼 Let’s do this again next week.

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