This is the last week of our 2014 Sizzlin’ Summer Challenge. This week’s focus is to find and pick your own produce. What a wonderful time of year to do so. The fruits and vegetables are plentiful. This morning, Amy Gilbert, VEHI PATH’s wellness coordinator, appeared with a pint of juicy raspberries in hand, and promptly added them to her breakfast regime. Amy and her mother traversed Pomfret and Rochester last Saturday, first picking blueberries at Moore’s Orchard 
and then discovering fall raspberries at the Sunshine Valley Organic Berry Farm. When I asked Amy if she had any specific plans for the berries other than eating them, she said she had frozen some of the blueberries and may indeed make some jam.
My small freezer at home is overflowing with frozen berries and the Montmorency cherries I picked earlier this summer. I guess that means it’s time to start using the blender once again for blueberry smoothies and the rolling pin for cherry pies.
On my way to our office this morning, I passed Ray Allen, the owner of Allenholm Orchards in South Hero. Because he was driving a truck with a trailer attached, I envisioned both vehicles packed to the gills with a variety of apples. This is for me a welcome sign that Vermont’s orchards are open for business.
You might also consider gathering zucchinis, yellow squash, pumpkins and eggplant or digging up beets, carrots and potatoes.
And should darkness arrive before you have filled your basket, rest assured that the harvest moon will provide you will all the light necessary to accomplish your mission.
Because this is the final week of the challenge, if you want to qualify for the grand prize and earn 25 points toward this year’s PATHpoints, you must do the following: Complete the Sizzlin’ Summer Game Card in full and drop it in the mail this coming weekend. We must have your game card in our hands by September 19th at the latest. Our address, also listed at the bottom of the game card, is: VEHI Sizzlin’ Summer Challenge, 52 Pike Drive, Berlin, VT 05602
See you on the PATH Ahead.