Apple picking and getting “up close and personal” with hawks are on the list of activities for Prospect Park this fall. We’ll let the Prospect Park Alliance explain:

Prospect Park has two great weekends of fun and education lined up for kids of all ages. September 15 – 16, it’s apple picking time during the first weekend of the Harvest Days Festival at the Lefferts Historic House. Help harvest apples from our very own apple tree and make apple cider, apple pudding, applesauce, and apple butter. Learn how to preserve apples for the winter months. 1 – 4 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Free.

The Harvest Days Festival returns to Lefferts Historic House, September 22 – 23, and this time potatoes are what’s “hot.” You can harvest and cook potatoes, churn butter, run potato sack races, watch a spinster spinning flax into linen thread, and participate in a gourd instrument making workshop. 1 – 4 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Free.

Also September 22 – 23 it’s Hawk Weekend at the Prospect Park Audubon Center. Fast and powerful, hawks are the undisputed rulers of the skies above Prospect Park. Get up-close and personal with live birds of prey and learn about the resident raptors of Prospect Park. Discover how these creatures raise their young, catch their prey, and build their homes. There will also be plenty of fun activities, including hand puppets, hawk costumes, interactive games, and crafts. 12 – 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Free.

More about these another activities, as always, at the Prospect Park Alliance website.