Cornell professors respond to this year's drought and its impact on the crop yields and flavors of apples and wine grapes in the Cornell Orchards and campus vineyards.

Fall may be long gone, but the supply of healthy, harvested goods is still aplenty.  Apples are still being picked, big leafy greens are piling up, and butternut squash is being blended into soups, all to nourish our hard-working bodies.   One of my absolute favorite autumn crops is pumpkin.  Apart from their aesthetic qualities, pumpkins are packed with healthy nutrients.  Here is a quick nutritional run down of these colorful orbs:

Members of the Cornell and Ithaca community enjoy a weekend of apple fare at the Ithaca Apple Harvest Festival.

Swarms of hungry people flocked to the Commons this weekend in hopes of getting their hands on apples dripping of mouthwatering caramel and steaming glasses of apple cider.

Ithaca’s 27th Downtown Ithaca Apple Harvest Festival, more commonly known as Applefest, offered an eclectic range of performances, food and activities that attracted many who looked forward to a weekend of fun.

Applefest remained true to its name. Some vendors sold fresh apples of an array of colors, shapes and sizes, while others flexed their creative muscles and prepared almost every apple recipes imaginable: Candied apples, apple crisps, apple cider, apple pies and apple funnel cakes were all available for purchase.

It has been suggested that I love apples. Well, duh. Who doesn’t? There’s just something about the apple’s crispy, juicy sweetness that strikes a chord in the human brain that Jelly Belly will ever be able to mimic.

Apples are, for many, the taste of autumn and of childhood: From a steaming mug of mulled cider or a bright Yellow Delicious tucked lovingly into a lunchbox, apples have wormed their way into our social consciousness and our cultural identity in the form of folk tales about Johnny Appleseed’s random propagation or Isaac Newton’s painful inspiration. And what, aside from obesity, representative democracy and Tila Tequila, could be more American than apple pie?

To what extent is Fall Break actually a break? Sure, there are no classes Monday and Tuesday, but to what extent does the world around us pause, if even for a moment? The economic uncertainty did not cease, the presidential hopefuls continued to campaign, and for many, more prelims were around the corner. Nonetheless, I doubt anyone was complaining, and any day in which I can sleep past 9:00 a.m. is a nice digression from the norm.