🎃 Follow the pumpkin patch road | Outdoorsy Newsletter

Summer’s over. Orange you glad it’s fall?

Growing up in Florida, seasons weren’t really a thing. Crisp fall in Philly is more my vibe. So bring it on, sweater weather! We need you for our iconic foliage to shine.

To get festive for fall, today we’re exploring the best places around Philadelphia to pick pumpkins and hop on for a hayride. Later, we’ll enter the lucrative and dangerous world of ginseng diggers.

📮 What are your favorite autumn activities? Got any cool pumpkin patch snaps or traditions to share? Tell me your experience for a chance to be featured in this newsletter.

🌧️ Your weekend weather outlook: Friday will be mostly cloudy with a high around 73. A potent storm is expected to lash our region beginning late Friday night through Saturday night, and possibly into Sunday. We may see heavy rain, strong winds and some gnarly beach-eroding waves. Keep an eye on your local forecast and stay safe out there.

— Paola Pérez

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Add a little pumpkin spice to your life. It’s quintessential to the full fall experience.

Whether you eat them, paint them, or carve them, or put them on your steps, it just doesn’t feel like the season is here until you claim your own gourd. So take your pick from our roundup of the best farms and events to grab your pumpkin in the Philly area.

Each destination features a variety of exciting and affordable activities for everyone to enjoy including:

🎃 Visit with farm animals, ride a pony, and a petting zoo

🎃 Take a classic hayride, or wagon ride through the woods

🎃 Beer gardens and wine tastings

🎃 Jump in bounce houses, playgrounds and other family-friendly fun

🎃 Walk nature trails, enter haunted attractions, or test your sense of direction at corn or straw bale mazes

🎃 And, of course, pick your pumpkin straight from the patch, and other fall goodies like apples and sunflowers

Keep reading for the full lineup of nearby spots to have a gourd time and carve out some fall fun.

🎤 Now we’re passing the microphone to Jason Nark. You’ll always find his work here.

The digger had a sixth sense for ginseng roots, a preternatural ability to see leaves from a distance amid a swirling puzzle of forest life. He was driving, quickly now, on a gravel road that wound through a deep valley between those forests. Then he hit his brakes.

“Do you see that road sang?” he said, excitedly, before jumping out of the car.

Sang, a longtime nickname for the mysterious and lucrative ginseng root, might just be Pennsylvania’s most valuable crop, often selling for hundreds of dollars per pound. Some say the slow-growing root is being exploited, overharvested by deer or greedy newcomers. Many longtime diggers believe that’s an excuse to drag the harvest, one of Pennsylvania’s oldest, closer to licensing and taxation.

Most don’t want to talk about ginseng at all.

The full-time digger and forager who allowed The Inquirer to accompany him for a day wanted to be identified only as “Justin G.” A savvy competitor might use his full name to get his address, he said, then glean his hunting grounds. “Western Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh” was as specific as he wanted to get about our location. Other diggers wanted this reporter to wear a blindfold or leave phones behind on account of GPS capabilities. Justin, 39, only requested anonymity — and full camouflage.

“I’d just rather no one see us,” he explained. — Jason Nark

Keep reading to go deeper in the woods with Jason and the enigmatic enthusiasts.

🎤 Jason says: Caught these geese recently at Newton Lake Park in South Jersey. They are so common these days it’s easy to forget how beautiful they are.

I can’t stop staring at the goose in the middle that suddenly rushed up to another, spooked it away, then stood there like, “Was it something I said?”

Any fellow Philly newcomers out there? Know someone who just moved here?

📬 Check out Navigate Philly, a free newsletter series to help other newbies like me get settled into the city we now call home.

I moved here just over a year ago. I’m still learning new things every day, so I’m fortunate to work in a place full of people who love this city and know it inside and out.

Consider Navigate Philly your ultimate guide to living like a local, topped with wisdom from lifelong Philadelphians and experts. Join me by signing up for free here.

📮 Got any awesome outdoorsy experiences to share with us? Give us a review of your adventures for a chance to be featured in this newsletter by emailing me back.

I’m excited to soak up all the seasonal scents, tastes, sights and activities ahead. Fun fall hikes and other adventures await. See you again soon.