Cold Spring Orchard Included on 'Boston Globe' Top Ten List for Apple Picking

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As Massachusetts reaches peak apple-picking season, The Boston Globe included Cold Spring Orchard—one of the Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment's research and education facilities—in its list of New England's top ten apple-picking destinations: 

Unlike orchards that feature lots of diversions, UMass Cold Spring Orchard is all about research and education. The orchard helps guide fruit growers to new varieties, different cultivation techniques, and low-chemical control of pests and fungus. Blocks of trees close to the big red barn are reserved for PYO [pick your own], which begins weekends with Zestar and Early Mac. Cold Spring interplants several different apple cultivars in its hilltop “variety plot,” where “we get to try cool things,” says farm manager Shawn McIntire. The lower “specialty plot” features apples that don't have names yet. At the end of the season, when scientific data is complete, Cold Spring opens these two plots to PYO. Dedicated apple lovers come back every year, for example, to pick a fan favorite called Shamrock, originally just a numbered apple. Certain heirloom apples aren't in the PYO program but are available at the farm store.

— The Boston Globe

Click here to view the full list on The Boston Globe. Or, if you have access to UMass Amherst Libraries, you can read Boston Globe articles through ProQuest.