By Carol Fisher-Linn
Have you ever noticed how fall is a season of heightened senses? It seems there is more pungent spicy fragrances to smell, more brilliant colors to see, more sounds of nature to hear, more textures to feel in the clothing we wear and the cozy blankets we snuggle under, and more hearty meals and sweet baked goods to taste. There is something about fall that invites us to remember with each new sensory experience. One bite of freshly baked apple pie transports me to my mother’s kitchen counter, where we’d sit nightly, after the ten o’clock news, with a cup of coffee and a piece of her home-made pie while we rehashed the day perched on blue painted wooden stools. No one made apple pie and her special flaky crust like my momma. I‘ll bet you say the same.
The first walk on a path filled with colorful, crunchy fallen autumn leaves brings back sweet and funny memories of my three children, in the mid-70’s, jumping into huge just-raked piles of brilliant colored maple leaves on the front lawn of our Ellicottville home on Martha Street. Surely, your photo albums have cherished photos of your own young ones doing the same thing.
Ragweed is one of the first autumn smells and one of the first of the bright colors on my hill. Fall is, quite literally, in the air. Falling leaves, for example, let their leaves fall and exhale gases stored in the pores of their outer layer. We can smell these gases and interpret them as autumn smells. The funny thing is, according to science, our personal history defines if these smells are pleasant or not-so-much. As with so many things in life, it’s all about perspective.
Indoors, fragrances fill the air. Summer windows, normally open, are closed. A/C turns to heat. Ovens are on more frequently filled with freshly baked cookies, bread, coffee cakes or roasted turkey or beef roasts. Every one of those smells take us to another place, with every bite. Maybe that’s why we seem so nostalgic in autumn. Here’s an interesting tidbit. Research has shown that days like the gloomy ones of autumn invoke more nostalgia and, get this, nostalgia tends to make feel people warmer. If you are interested, the study can be found at this site: https://journals.sagepub.com
In the home, and often in retail surroundings (to get us in the fall spending mood, of course), we are immersed with the smells of fall: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, maple syrup, sage, and even candles that smell like pumpkin bread fresh from the oven. All these smells make us feel warm and cozy, especially when we switch from light summer duds to warm woolens, fleeces, plaids, argyle sox and beautiful leather shoes/boots.
All of this talk about fall makes us think of decorating our homes. Nothing says fall quicker than some colorful mums and pumpkins of all sizes scattered at doorsteps, in yards and in the home. The local granddaddy of all pumpkin related events is Pumpkinville on Sugartown Road in Great Valley. This season, they are opening on September 16, every day from 9am-7pm through to October 31 when they will close for the season at 5pm. They can be reached at 716-699-2205 (pumpkinville.com). There is no fee to shop at the market, but a fee is charged for the activities section of the farm. Check for details online. You will be able to find any pumpkin you imagined in their five-acre patch or already picked and laid out waiting for you along with an assortment of apples for any recipe you may have. The cider mill will be churning out fresh cider (and cider slushie swirls), pumpkin donuts are made on site, pies are on sale along with maple products, candies, gifts, etc. Pumpkinville is no longer just for the kids. Weekends bring bar-be-que and everyday adult guests can enjoy an EBC brew or a glass of wine or wine slushie from the winery of Ellicottville as they watch their kiddies have the time of their lives. While you are there, check out the corn maze.
Drive down 219 toward Great valley and you will find several stands selling pumpkins and other vegetables. In fact, there are pumpkin stands across our counties, including those offered by the Amish in the Randolph, Little Valley area. Carry cash because some of these places only accept cash. Happy Fall.