EVERYBODY KNOWS that donut birds fly south in November.  We ought to be able to steel ourselves.  But it hurts.  It hurts and it just happened.  THE END.

Well that was a bit DRAMA QUEENYYY.  It’s true that the donuts flew the coop – they were seen yesterday soaring over Taughannock which is north of here but remember that donuts fly in large circles (duh) eventually ending up south – but it is not THE END.  The farm stand is still open.
Every day, you can get the following farm-fresh items:  Cider, apples, pears, garlic, onions, taters, sprouts, honey, and syrup.  The cider is pressed fresh every week.  Taters got plucked from the ground the other day.  Sprouts are still in the ground if you want to lop them yourself.  Remember Empire apples are still ON SALE for 95¢ per pound.  You obliterated the Cortlands and Galas.  Good on yas!

And now for the Farmketeer of the Week.  A most extraordinary one.  Credentials nonpareil.  Possibly even overachieving.  Check it out.  So we’re having a wee dram at the Finger Lakes Cider House up the road and the host says, “I’ve been reading Fresh Crop Alerts for SIX YEARS SINCE THE VERY BEGINNING, and me and my friends, we used to have planning parties where we’d read the alerts together and scheme our weekly farm visits THEN I moved to Chicago for 5 years and read them the whole time I was gone AND now I’m back and I read them every week AND I send your apple gift boxes to my family in Texas and Chicago every year AND I’m making a miniature apple-themed quilt.  Do I win?  Do I win Farmketeer?”  Well, geez, Karin P.  Does an apple farmer bleed sweet cider?  Yeah, you win.

This week we find encouragement in a touching note from farm fan Amanda L., who would have won Farmketeer of the Week if not for Karin P. who obviously had it on lock down since 2012.  Amanda’s post on Facebook reminded us of why we have opened this farm to the community, why we invite the public to bumrush the place every weekend and throw tantrums when we run out of donuts, indeed why we keep farming at all (it ain’t for the 401k):  “I truly love this place, everyone is so kind, my husband and I came here today to go for a walk because it’s just so wonderful here, and as we were coming back and it was closing you offered us free donuts, it was so kind.  I have never been to a business that is so kind to customers or just visitors, I was surprised and so thankful.  As I very much enjoy coming here, I also brought my preschool classroom here a few weeks ago, it was such a wonderful time.  I love this farm and it’s bittersweet that the winter months are coming.”  Thank you, Amanda, for making us cry in our cereal!  Thank you, Farmketeers!

Go ahead.  Laugh in derision at our hillbilly cobjob Mad Max digging rig.  Yes it is homemade and yes those apple crates are filled with concrete doped with steel scraps.  Yes some parts of the machine are ACTUALLY held together by duct tape and bailing wire.  We’re not putting on airs.

But the “Tall Boy” is humming like never before.  A recent DIY session in the barn, powered by arctic blast anxiety and @gimmecoffee cappuccinos, gave us a sense of small-time, everyday, unsung heroics.  So we’re singing about it here.

You lock six human brains in a barn with a vintage, asthmatic, temperamental mechanical beast… something good might happen.  Thus 40,000 baby fruit trees will be saved from winter’s bite as we trundle through the nursery rows this week.  You dig the digger?

Winter is a time for reflection.  But don’t get too reflecty!  You’ll freak yourself out.  Step outdoors even when it’s not strictly necessary.  Explore your Finger Lakes.  Come to the farm anytime.  Hike around.  Use the playground.  Cut Brussels sprouts in the snow…

…even curse the gods at the top of your lungs.  Let it rip.  Nobody will hear you in the orchards.  We won’t report you to the thought police.  Of course your thoughts become our intellectual property, but that is a minor concern.  You can trust us.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.