Rich's Fruits and Vegetables, South Wellfleet

Our favorite for many reasons is Rich's Farm Stand in South Wellfleet. Just over the town line from Eastham, it's convenient to both towns. The small retail stand on the highway is just a place to start. Here you will find fresh vegetables and fruit trucked daily from off-Cape farms by owner Sheila Rich, who only selects the best and will refuse any produce she feels is not perfect. The stand also has a large selection of jams, jellies, and other bottled items Sheila makes herself from local fruits. Behind the stand is the Rich family's own cranberry bog, although they also harvest cranberries from bogs in Orleans. In the shed in back is an antique cranberry sorter where hundreds of pounds of berries are "bounced" every year and all the even slightly imperfect berries are removed and discarded. The demonstration is worth watching and appointments in the fall may be made at the stand. The Cape Cod National Seashore recommends this demonstration as an educational and informative sight worth seeing, and it is the only place we know where you'll actually see the "real thing" instead of movies or photographs. Fresh Christmas trees fill out the multi-season market.

Fancy's Farm market, East Orleans

Fancy's Farm Market, on the way out to Nauset Beach in East Orleans, is another favorite side-of-the-road market and vegetable stand, but a LOT more. Meredith Fancy is known throughout the Cape for her sensitive skill with flowers, and many weddings and other events have been graced with the arrangements that come from this market. The variety of home-made foods and local crafts add to the unique offerings, making this store almost a mini-field trip, a destination in itself for an afternoon with nothing to do. But it's also worth a stop just for the family pumpkin, with probably the largest supply of farm-picked pumpkins on the lower Cape.

Atlantic Spice, North Truro

While you're thinking food, flowers, and fall, Atlantic Spice in North Truro is NOT outdoor and offers nothing fresh, but it's worth a trip for all the things you need to complement your produce purchases. In this wholesale warehouse, tucked off Route 6 where 6A branches off to go to Beach Point, you can buy herbs and spices by the pound at a fraction of the retail price. (And by-the-pound means just that. You'll find items such as dried oregano, basil, parsley, peppercorns, and and dozens of other herbs and spices from around the world packed in plastic bags the size of travel pillows for well under $10 apiece in most cases.) They also carry dried flowers, aromatics,and essential oils for making pot pourri and have a small retail area with books and gift items. If you're getting ready to put food by the old way, you'll find dill and other pickling ingredients. For Thanksgiving pies and Christmas treats, stock up on ground or stick cinnamon, ground or whole cloves, nutmeg, and allspice.