By Louis Platt

Fall is officially here and that means everywhere you look apples, squash, and pumpkins will be on the menu. It also means that your weekends can be spent picking raspberries, apples and the perfect pumpkin to carve Ottos into – who would have thought!

Raspberries in October? In Central New York, fall is prime raspberry season. If the idea of snacking on fresh raspberries or yogurt with raspberries for breakfast is not mouthwatering enough, knowing that raspberries are high in vitamin C should have you in the car and on your way. Cold and flu season is no joke here at Syracuse and the best way to stave off the coughs is by packing your diet with lots of raspberries and oranges! Burrell’s Navarino Orchard and O’Neill’s U-Pick Orchard both welcome raspberry pickers through early October.

Here in Syracuse it is Orange Nation, so you know we love Halloween. If you can’t wait for the spook-fest to kick off already, get out of your dorm and go to one of the many pumpkin patches near campus. Pumpkin seeds are full of antioxidants and can easily be roasted with some oil, salt, and cinnamon for 30 minutes in the oven for a nutritious snack once you scoop them out of a pumpkin to make a jack-o-lantern. Just going out to pick pumpkins with your friends will lead to a memorable fall afternoon. Head out to The Pumpkin Hollow to pick your very own pumpkin from their patch to get the holiday festivities started early.

One of the best parts of fall is that it is apple season! All throughout the winter, spring, and summer consumers are given the choice between tart Granny Smith apples and juicy Red Delicious apples, but not much else. During autumn in Central New York there are a plethora of apple varieties to choose from, so many it might leave you feeling confused. The amazing thing about apples is that they can be enjoyed through numerous ways like cooking them down into applesauce, tossing them into a salad, or just snacking on them with the nut butter of your choosing. Apple picking is available all around Syracuse at local farms such as Beak and Skiff, Vollmer Farms, Burrell’s Navarino Orchard, and O’Neill’s U-Pick Orchard.