Pick-Your Own: Fresh Food, Good Prices, Great Fun

PYO can be a very economical way to get lots of great, fresh produce, because you are providing the labor to pick it, so it is cheaper than retail pricing. You also get the exhilarating experience of being outdoors with friends and family, getting your hands a little dirty. If you like, pick more than you need for eating fresh. Make applesauce or grape jam, or freeze strawberries. Not only do you teach your kids to explore the joy of being fully human (was there ever a time humans didn't pick berries and fruits?), but you get fresh air, great exercise, laughter with strangers and friends, and the freshest food at the best price.

Each October, Peter Lowes and Sarah Canterbury, of Sharon VT, drive down the road, find the pick-your-own apples sign and gather to their hearts' content. In less than an hour they have enough. They take them home and cut the apples into quarters, boil, and freeze. Nothing else is needed, not even sweetener. "You can't buy apple sauce that tastes this good." Sarah says.

List of Pick-Your-Own farms in the Upper Valley

Submitted by: Valley Food & Farm, a program of Vital Communities