Pick Your Own Peaches and First Tomatoes, Eggplants, Peppers; Get Swee!eet Corn; Last Chance to Pick Fresh Garlic; Sugar Plum Sale; A New Airplane and Firepit.

NOBODY IN THE WORLD knows the answer to this question: “Hkjs kguyt ouyt ugaa skjgt 42 asfafdsak?”

That’s what farming feels like some days. We don’t know the answers and we can’t pronounce the questions. And we don’t know who put this chair in the orchard or why. You can sit on it while cogitating the mysteries.

But we do have sweet corn. That’s something for your life toolkit. Corn is for coping. Use corn to chisel away at what’s eating you. This is Dusky’s second year of corn-ing and everyone is glad to see his slobberworthy ears back in the bag.

You can pick your own peaches. These, too, call for slobberance. Don’t be shy. We’re not judgy. Use your shirt for a napkin. An old farmer trick. Peach season will go FAST. Get out here and pick yours or wait til next summer.

Serving suggestion: Peaches ‘n’ cream. Ice cream, that is. Thanks to Farm Fan @acoustic_blue who posted about fresh peach ice cream therapy.

Pick the first tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers! Easy now, this is the soft launch. You can forage in the nightshade field (family: Solanaceae) for the first round of heirloom and cherry tomatoes (genus: solanum), purple bell peppers (capsicum), and classic, fairytale, and Japanese eggplant (solanum). Be smart and be kind. Only pick eggplants that are full size. IT IS THE OPPOSITE OF PUPPIES. You pick out puppies when they are young to get all the wriggly squiggly feels and train them proper. Eggplant babies are not ready to go home with you. Taking a baby eggplant home just robs the world of a real eggplant. The babies will be ready in a week or two. Give them a fighting chance to size up in the field. Plus we make more money when you buy them full size. Somebody has to pay for all the improvements around here. Let the eggplants do their part. They’ve had it easy far too long.

Here’s an improvement that appeared out of thin air! Farmer Steve’s red airplane finally succumbed to the forces of entropy, also known as children, rugrats, squirts, ankle-biters, yougerns, tumble tots. Then Jamie from down the street, a loyal ‘Creeknik if there ever was one, showed up the other day with a BRAND NEW HOMEMADE BIPLANE. Just like that. BOOYAH. Jamie is not in the photo, he was too modest. But his team of assistants are pointing at him off camera. He has thrown down the gauntlet for Farmketeer of the Year, and it’s only August. Good luck to the rest of you. You’re going to need it! Thank you Jamie and family. Super cool. Vroooom.

This more modest contraption was cobbled together farm-style from old “plow” parts. More properly called a disc harrow, but plow is fine for you city types. It’s a fire pit. Up at the ‘Henge. You can see photos of the DIY job here.

Last chance to pick your own garlic. Farmer Greg (without glasses) is going to leave the field open one more weekend, then strip the crop Monday for curing and storage. Hundreds of you went half-nuts at the Garlic Harvest Party last weekend; come pick the remaining bulbs by Sunday night.

Something nuevo! Pumpkin’s sweeter cousin. Emily brings us a new treat from her veggie field: Japanese kabocha squash. It’s a great summer treat, roasted with maple syrup and ginger or lots of creative ways. Emily has posted recipes at the farm stand, or just hunt around the web: “kabocha.”

Sugar plum sale – almost gone! We had 17 boxes on Monday, down to 5 today. Get a whole box (a peck or 8 quarts) for $24 which works out to $3/quart – just in time for making jams, pies, and puddings. Plums are very special. This is the Ousi Wase (“wishy washy”) Asian sugar plum.

Plum coffee cake with pecans! This delight showed up on Instagram courtesy of @dolcedelightithaca who has emerged as a front runner for Purveyor of Most Delicious-Looking ‘Creek Creations. (Note: These are not for sale at the farm. You have to go to Dolce Delight cafe and bakery up past Ithaca College.)

Fresh apricot almond scones! Another delight by @dolcedelightithaca. Apricot season is adios. Crops really do come and go. Come experience the August collection.

Fresh raspberry galette with lemon thyme! You can scrounge for the last summer raspberries now. Could be a fall crop in September, but last chance for the current batch. Photo by @dolcedelightithaca. Thank you, Dolce!

Wash it all down with peach raspberry sangria. Thank you to @4lettersfood for the photo featuring local flavorites @damianiwinecellars and @myerfarmdistillers and peaches and raspberries from The ‘Creek. Go Finger Lakes!

Last and probably least: Pristine apples. Almost nobody cared about the Yellow Transparent apples of last week. Now we are into August apples, a little better than July. Please come pick these. PLEEEASE? It’s a real apple. Real tart. One of us here at the farm stand says, “They get better the more you eat them… just keep chewing.” Got to love a gal who can put a positive spin on anything. But Pristines are good keepers and, for some of you, the first apples of the year. And that blush!