DEAR LOVER OF LOCAL FOODS:  Are you a Farmketeer or ‘Creeknik?  Have you ever pondered this existential dilemma?  Have you mulled it with cloves and cardamom?

A Farmketeer is all business.  Always on the move.  Flapping her wings.  Scoring first crack at fresh crops.  Picking apples with two hands.  Never squeezing the peaches.  Keeping the farm buzzing.  Singing to the sprouts.  Our Farmketeers of the Week:  These two l’il dumplins who popped up on our Instagram feed.  You are an inspiration.

A ‘Creeknik is a creature of the porch.  The universal, cosmic, intergalactic Front Porch.  She watches the cavalcade of seasons, sipping on a mint julep.  Scoops up the last of each crop.  Never forgets that languor and indolence are the creators of improbable new worlds.  “Just because I’m daydreaming doesn’t mean I’m not working.”  A ‘Creeknik is never forceful, always purposeful.  She finds a way to harvest grape leaves even when she feels like a couch potato.

Which flavor are you?  Luckily, you don’t have to decide today.  But Lord knows the day will come.  We have seen the signs.  Saint Ichabod of Assisi appeared in the herb garden.  So you might take this moment to start thinking about your essence.  Farmketeer?  ‘Creeknik?  Either way, for the time being, we have something for each of you.

95¢ Apple Sale – Empire, Gala, Cortland.  Get these while supplies last for eating, saucing, baking.  Load up for 95¢ per pound.  Already picked and ready at the farm stand.  Priced to move.  Heck, when you get here, you can even tell us that you want the EXTRA SPECIAL 94¢ deal.  We’re cutting deals like Papadopoulous.  We don’t keep pennies in the drawer.  FYI.

Exotics and heirlooms.  Have you ever caught yourself voting for the pretty candidate?  The one with the gleaming teeth and superb coiffure?  Only to find out they’re a charlatan or worse – vapid?  How about the humble one with the scars and gnarls and crow’s feet and wizening?  Try Golden Russet and others now that Honeycrisp season is a distant memory.

Scabby, blemished apples make great cider.  Our sweet cider and slushees continue.  Fresh, cold-pressed Orchard Ambrosia.  Unpasteurized.  We squeeze the fruit.  You drink the nectar.  Important bulletin:  When we run out of apples, we can’t make cider.  This will happen soon.  Some of you really loveeeeee Ambrosia.  Stock up.  It freezes beautifully.

Donuts are still going 10 to 4 on Saturday and Sunday.  They were supposed to be a sideshow but they’ve taken on a life of their own.  That probably means that when you’re out here picking fruits and vegetables, you work up a hunger for a treat.  What should we add next year?  Local ice cream with farm fresh peach and raspberry sauces?  Handcut French fries with herbs from the garden?  Sweets or savories?  You can email the treat committee if you want:  news@indiancreekithaca.com.  Plant the seed now and give us 9 months to pull it together.

Brief commercial break for cat and kitten.  They are getting along pretty good now.  When they’re sleeping.  Got to build on the positives wherever you can find em.

Drop off your carboys now.  Do not wait.  When apples are gone, no more booze juice.  Leave your bottles at the farm stand inside the double doors that say “Do Not Enter, Employees Only.”  Write your name and phone on the bottle.  We will call you after next pressing.  Price is $8/gal which drops to $7/gal when you order more than 5 gallons.

You can pick more sprouts this week.  Come lop your own stalks in the field by piano #3.  Many of you have never seen a stalk of sprouts.  First strip off the leaves, then lop, then pop the sprouts off the stalk for cooking.  Fry them with bacon or roast and drizzle with balsamic reduction.  Singe the tips a little.

We still have honey from two local families:  Five Pads Farm (just up the street) and Gil’s Honeybees based in town.  Nice people.  Local bees.  Great way to support small, local food producers.  Find their jars at the stand.

There’s Sean from Five Pads Farm.  Get his garlic at the stand and roast it up.  Spreads like butter.  His maple syrup is on display, too.  Heat it up a little and pour over nuts.

Look at this cat-o-lantern in honor of Fe Fe and Mou Mou.  Since they’re getting along better.  Joanna overachieved on this one.  Anything for the furballs.

We are out in the nursery these days, digging 40,000 baby fruit trees and putting them into these pretty bins for winter storage.  That means we’ll let the farm stand go self-serve during the weekdays.  Open 8 to 5 every day.  You’ll see us here on the weekends.  We expect to stay open a few more weeks, perhaps til Thanksgiving.  Thus you might get another few newsletters, then things will taper off for the winter.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.