YOUR HEART IS AN ANIMAL in a cage.  An apple-sized creature pulsing behind your ribs.  But what kind of apple?

Is your heart a Honeycrisp?  Stolen by Farm Kitty, never to be seen again?  You won’t find a single Honeycrisp hanging on a tree on this farm.  Farm Kitty picked all the ones you missed.  But you can still get Honeycrisp at the stand while supplies meet demands.  So u CAN has honeycripspss!

Is your heart an Empire?  A true Baby Boomer, born in ’45 at the close of the war, suited for temperate climes but tolerant of cold winters and Empire State taxes.  A cross between Mac and Delicious.  A shiny red lunchbox apple that does not bruise easily.  Does that sound like your heart?  Pick Empire apples now.  Row 13.

Is your heart a Macoun?  Nobody knows how to pronounce your heart:  mah-COON or mah-COWN?  But it is honeyed and fragrant and, for people who have been stung by your sweet snap, the loveliest heart in the orchard.  A 1920s cross between Mac and Jersey Black.  (Foreground apple was shined on shirt.)  Pick Macoun apples now.  Row 14.

Do you have the heart of a Sweet 16?  Generation X, cherry Twizzler on the nose, raw sugar on the palate, a flash of 70s zinggg.  A late Cold War cross between Northern Spy and Malinda.  Pick Sweet 16 apples now.  Rows 5 and 15.

Do you have a Vintage heart?  You have seen too many hard times to count, just like the Macs and Cortlands on the century-old trees in our Vintage Orchard.  But you are reliable and cold hardy.  You see people reaching for the handsome Johnnies Come Lately – cough cough Honeycrisp – but you humbly truck on doing good work.  You trust that someone will remember that you are the backbone of brilliant ciders with a proud history back to the 1820s (Mac), or you are the bright white of fruit salads going back to 1898 (Cortland).  You are a great North American apple-heart and worthy of the truest love.  Orange ribbons (Mac) and yellow ribbons (Cortland) in Vintage Orchard.

FIRST TIME EVER!  Pick your own PEARS in super secret Row 19.  You earned this, Farmketeers!  Last weekend you picked the Bartletts clean with astonishing vigor, so we have opened the top-shelf pears for you to pick.  Seven years running we have kept these special pears in reserve, but this is your year.  There are 5 varieties ready to PICK – remember that they won’t be ready to EAT off the tree.  Pears need a couple days on your counter to ripen fully.  Because the trees are chaotically intermingled in the row without signs, we provide you with these photos.  Good luck.  (Above) Highland, Seckel, Anjou.  (Below) Shenandoah, Potomac.

Potomac and Shenandoah.  Two great pears, two great rivers.  They flow together at Harper’s Ferry, where John Brown led his armed abolitionist insurrection against slavery.  He was hanged.  Walt Whitman watched.  158 years later, you can pick these pears in Row 19.

Hot or not, it’s pumpkin season.  Wegmans has them on display, so the little guy must jump into the fray.  You can pick pumpkins in the new field starting now!  Early birds, you are living good.  Don’t let anyone tell you to chill.

Tomatoes, Eggplant, Peppers.  You know the story by now.  This summer’s cold nights have allowed pickers to keep up, but maybe this hot stretch will bring on a mass ripening event.  Please come out and check the fields for beefsteaks, cherries, heirlooms, Romas, Marzanos, bells, poblanos, jalapeños, cayennes, serranos, habaneros, chilis, Italian eggplants, Japanese eggplants, and fairytales.

Sweet corn continues!  How much longer?  Nobody knows.  Get cobs of summer on sale.  Two dozen “ears” for only $10!  This is not grocery store corn.  It’s freshly picked, super sweet, non-GMO, kickass Farmer Dusky corn.

Cider, slushees, and donuts.  These are all made of fresh pressed Orchard Ambrosia in various physical phases:  hot cider, cold cider, hyper cold fusion plasma slushee cider, and cider donuts.  You can take Ambrosia home in gallons and half-gallons.  Freezes beautifully.  Donuts are served Saturdays and Sundays 10 AM to 6 PM.

Farmketeers of the Week:  Mother and Child with Bag.  These Harlem-based farm fans took their traveling show of wholesomeness to the Columbia University Farmer’s Market, giving the new purple bags a New York City debut!  Sweet… cute… root-a-toot-toot!

October 5, 2017 –  “Cider Apples” – Tasting, tour, and picnic dinner at the farm with Eve’s Cidery, Indian Creek, and The Piggery!  Buy tickets and see event details on Eve’s Cidery web site.  Only 10 seats left!  Get tickets now!  Just $20 each!  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.