LA PLUME, Pa. — If you're ready for fall, then farmers are ready for you.
For Susanne Green, the change of seasons is less dependent on the calendar than on Mother Nature.
"Because of the little drought over the summer, some things have been ready a little earlier."
She's selling the last of her summer blueberries and moving on to apples, pumpkins, and squash.
Susanne and her husband are the proprietors of the Great Produce Experience farm stand in La Plume.
For the first time they remember, the pumpkins had to be irrigated — a costly endeavor.
"It was a little bit of a harder summer, but hey, it's fall now. Let's celebrate."
For a small operation, there are plenty of people who choose to celebrate the arrival of the seasons here. Whether it's neighbors who have been coming to this farm stand for years or people who happen to drive by and stop to smell the roses, so to speak, the Greens owe a lot of their success to their laid-back approach. A walk through the flower fields here to get some fall mums, for example, won't cost you a thing.
"We're kind of easygoing. Folks can come and just take a look at everything that we have. We let everyone taste everything that we have."
In the summer, the farm stand is known for its massive tomatoes. In the fall, the theme of colossal crops applies to pumpkins.
"We can have some pumpkins that are up to 200 pounds. They're amazing."
The Great Produce Experience farm stand is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The season usually lasts through mid-October.