DEAR FARM FANATICS and bargain hunters:  A pressing report on the hottest crop sales and harvest opportunities.  Then we jump into major news about 3 farm events.

WEEKDAY TOMATO SALE, ONLY 75¢ PER POUND:  Pick your own Beefsteak and Roma TOMATOES on weekdays for only 75¢ per pound — that’s a saving of 50%!  The plants are loaded and the season will disappear very soon.  This is your alert.  This is your call to action:  Pick pounds of juicy red tomatoes NOW.  Tick tock!  Thousands of farm fans got this tomato alert on Facebook 2 days ago.  Follow the Facebook page to get burning hot midweek updates.

PEACHES, PEARS, and APPLES:  Last chance to pick juicy and delicious summer PEACHES.  We’ve had a great year with peaches, but that will be no consolation when they’re all gone.  Pick yours now!  Last chance for PEARS, too.  Pick Bartletts for only 75¢ per pound!  In the APPLE orchards, you can pick McIntosh, Dayton, Jonamac, and Autumn Crisp.  Apple season is really starting now.  Crisp cider is available every day; fresh cider donuts on Saturday and Sunday 11-4.

VEGGIES and FLOWERS:  Tons of EGGPLANT to pick.  Tons of PEPPERS.  And the lavish LILY sale continues:  Only $2/stem, a savings of 33%!  You don’t need us to tell you that these things are summer things.  Oops, just did!  Get these beautiful, local creations while they last.

Picking for Puppies — Saturday, September 12 — You guys pick McIntosh apples, and we’ll donate 50% of the proceeds to benefit local animal shelters.  It’s a collaboration with the Shelter Medicine Club of the Cornell Vet School (see cool videos on that page).  It could be a very busy day.  It’s rain or shine.  If you don’t like crowds of good people doing things to help puppies and kittens, you can come on Sunday.

Pigs-n-Apples Party — FALL 2016 — That’s right, Farm Fans, no Pigs-n-Apples Party this year.  We’ve had 3 years of great times.  The party grew and grew and we hosted well over 1,000 people last year.  Not bad for a free party thrown by a bunch of farmers.  Last year, we had a clear field for handling traffic and parking hundreds of cars, but that land is being prepared for new orchards which are the future of the farm.  We need to take a year off to finish farm projects and work on the fall harvest—our biggest apple crop ever—in hopes of bringing the Party back next year.  We know that many of you will be sad.  We are telling everyone that our rivals, Those Nutty Pigs, need a year to get in better condition for the tug-of-war.  They lost to the Apples 3 years in a row and we started feeling bad about it.  So, we hope you understand.  By the way, kids, we have some new stuff coming to the playground!  That stuff will be available for you every day, even if party day isn’t til next year.  So, no moping!  Come out and play.

Apple Harvest Festival — October 2-4 — For the first time in memory, Indian Creek will be at the 33rd Annual Ithaca Apple Harvest Festival downtown.  You can find us in the madding crowd with our cider, apples, and nervous smiles.  (Those are pears you’re looking at, but the Apple Festival isn’t just for apples.  You can come, too.)  We don’t leave the farm very often, but we’ll be in the thick of downtown.  Say hi!  Til then, hope to see you at The ‘Creek.