Is your Facebook feed full of beaming people in light fall jackets hoisting up bushels of crisp apples? Is Instagram a series of homemade pies cooling on stovetops? Don’t be left out. Grab your selfie stick and head out of the city to one of these photo-worthy pick-your-own spots. Bonus: The selection of pumpkins and gourds you have in mind for your Halloween tablescape will be much bigger here than at Whole Foods. Linvilla Orchards Related: PHOTOS: Perfect fall weather brought thousands out for Old City Fest Shady Brook Farm Cherry Hill Orchards Harvest Festival at Reading Terminal Market
137 W. Knowlton Road in Media
Pumpkins get top billing at this 300-acre family-run farm enticing visitors with everything from hot apple cider and fresh-made pies, to pony rides, to moonlit hayrides. This month, the big attraction at Linvillais Pumpkinland: Piles of pumpkins as far as the eye can see, plus an impressive display of hand-carved Jack-O’-Lantern and fall-tastic oversized scarecrows. After you select the perfect pumpkin to cart home, its time for apple picking. The gates open at 8 a.m. and the fields don’t close until dusk, so that’s plenty of time to fill baskets with Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and more varieties.
931 Stony Hill Road in Yardley
PumpkinFest is going on all month at Shady Brook, a working farm in Bucks County. Hop on a wagon to hitch a ride to the pumpkin patch, where you can pose like a celeb — plaid button-down optional — or spend a morning wandering through the corn maze and gathering apples from the orchard. When night falls, you have two choices: Keep up the wholesome fun in the moonlight, or opt for Horrorfest, which include a haunted hayride, a walkthrough (or, run-thorugh-screaming) Barn of Horror, a 3-D alien encounter and a maze dubbed Carnage and scary enough to be for visitors 10 and up only.
400 Long Lane in Lancaster
Trek a little farther, out to Lancaster, where you can pick your own fruits and veggies in the fields or just head straight for the rows of fresh fruit, jams, baked goods and flowers in the picturesque country store at Cherry Hill Orchards. Apples, in more than 40 varieties, and bright orange pumpkins are both available for picking. Keep this one in mind for a summer excursions too, when the orchards overflow with sweet cherries.
Filbert Streetbetween 11th and 12th streets in Philadelphia
If you can’t spare a day out of the city, Reading Terminal Market is here to provide your hay bale backdrop. On Saturday, Filbert Street outside of the market will be turned into a pop-up farm, complete with a tractor, plenty of hay and tall corn stalks, plus pumpkin-carving and arts and crafts for the kids. Come hungry: The market’s vendors will be offering up the perfect autumnal fare, like hot apple cider, caramel apples, pumpkin bread pudding and apple-bourbon ribs. Seasonal produce —pumpkins, squash, apples —will be available for sale.
Instagram-worthy pumpkin patches
