Donut Peaches Open for U-Picking & Big-Time Peach Picking Begins; Irresistible Baby Eggplants for Perfect Pickling; Sweet Corn Keeps Getting Sweeter; Your New Loo.

DEAR FARMKETEERS, everybody always wants to know: “What have you done for me lately? What will you do for me next?” Our answer to both is: “Donuts.”

What have we done for you lately? Opened the donut peaches for u-picking. This is big news for you fanatics. You can expect the customary orchard bumrush when word gets out. It is first come, first git. Sorry, we cannot take reservations for these precious toroids of fructotic splendor. Pairing suggestion: Interlard your donut peaches with actual DONUT-donuts, served fresh and usually pretty warm every Saturday and Sunday 10 AM to 6 PM. Kabobs, anyone?

What will we do for you next? Share the cutest donut peach recipe – Personal Cobbler. The peach you see peeking out of that ramekin was originally used in a farmstand photo shoot (“kabob” photo at top). One lucky ‘Creeknik, @darcymartinrose, happened to be nearby when the display models turned into freebies. She took the donuts home and paid it forward with this droolworthy photo and recipe:

one donut peach from The ‘Creek diced small
one Tbsp butter
one Tbsp brown sugar
one Tbsp rolled oats
cinnamon

Darcy Rose says: Put your diced peaches in a ramekin. Fork up the sugar, butter, and oats to make a rough crumble. Smoosh it on top of your peaches. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Stick it in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes. Don’t share with anyone. Thank you, Darcy Rose! You = Farmketeer of the Week. Plus 5 points for “ramekin.”

Even bigger news for donut fetishists: Our secret NEW DONUT ORCHARD out back. Don’t ask where it is and don’t go sniffing around. It is guarded by a mercurial beast called Zorro. We are picking these babies for you. They are even specialer than the U-pick ones. Ask at the farmstand for these bigger, juicier, flavorier specimens. Gamechangers.

Zorro: 130 pounds of somnolent fluff. Genetically, he has the hardware for long days of mountain work in the Pyrenees. Culturally, his software has been hacked by the hippy ethos of Ithaca. A dogologist might describe this hybrid creation as an alpine canine bong hit, Canus alpinus bongus. He has an infinitude of engrossing if dubious ideologies to ponder in daytime dreamland. Please wake him when you go poking around for secret orchards. He is supposed to work.

Not to bury the lead story beneath dogs and donuts: it is PEACH SEASON proper. We are going to need you Farmketeers en masse over the next few weeks; row after row of peaches will be opened for picking. We want everyone to share in this bountiful harvest. Possible hail storms in the forecast – we shudder to remember what 3 minutes of hail does to peaches. Come pick while the fruit is happy.

William’s Pride is the name of the apples you can pick. On your walk to Row 7 in the Dwarf Orchard you can debate whether it is properly Williams’, William’s, or Williams. The internet has not decided. When you get to Row 7, you can pick your first apples of the year. These are RED APPLES, which seems to be what everyone has been holding out for. The yellow and green apples that kicked off the season were treated with precisely the contempt we have come to expect. Sigh. Note: You can also pick Pristine apples in Row 7. They are yellowy. Additionally in Row 7, sandwiched between William’s and Pristine, are Sansa apples. Sansa are NOT ready yet.

Dusky’s sweet corn is an OMGawdsend. Just crushing it with his second year as a corn cropper at The ‘Creek. Eat it right outta the pot or, like these juveniles of the farmer species, right offa the stalk cavewoman style. Zero butter and even less salt than that. (But try Old Bay Seasoning!)

Baby eggplant bonanza! Pick your own! Farmer Steve says eggplant is a headline this week. ESPECIALLY the baby purple Fairytales and baby Japanese varieties – perfect for pickling! How many of you are actually picklers is a question we don’t have to tackle right now. Steve is just throwing it out there: Please come pick Fairytale and Japanese eggplants, including the babies, despite our usual lament about such cradlerobbing. Now is the time. Pickle and stirfry and baba ghanoujjjjj. The “normal” godfearing Italian-American eggplants are pickable, too, but not in big abundance yet.

What else is pouring out of the cornucopia? You can pick sweet peppers, hot peppers, and the first tomatoes. All types of tomatoes are ready (they were late for the photo shoot) but the tomato field is not explosive yet. The farm stand is more loaded each week with goodies as August crops hit prime time. We also stock local honeys and syrups from our friends around the corner. Cut your own flowers. Locally foraged mushrooms from time to time. Pick up treats for friends.

Now back to the food. Because, you know, all those fresh fruits and vegetables we’ve just covered don’t count as food. Like when you’re a kid and you’re like, “Mommmm, there’s nothing to eattttt,” while the fridge and cupboards are full of good food. Just no CHEETOHS or LITTLE DEBBIES is what you meant. Well look what Farm Fan @gazzellie brings us today: pancakes stuffed with peanut butter and blueberry peach jam! Short stack o’ power.

Farmketeer Kelly made peach pizza = PEACHZZA. Don’t say, “Ewww! Fruit doesn’t belong on pizza! We are not in Hawaii!” Kelly will become Yelly and say she’s not sending you the photo. Then she will send you the photo. She perfected this recipe to bring around the haters: “Homemade dough topped with ricotta cheese and local peaches cooked on the grill. Finished with chopped basil and splashes of balsamic.”

Farm Buddy Hannah is at it again: Japanese kabocha! Ever the adventurer, she took a flier on Emily’s new squash, slathered it with oil and herbs, and roasted at 350 for 40 minutes. “Luxury abounds,” she rhapsodized, “tastes like decadent softness itself.”

Farm Alumna Anna K. made the New York Times! Our dear friend, and long-time fan of the farm dogs, studies foxes. “Dr. Kukekova and a team of scientists in the United States, Russia and China, sequenced the red fox genome for the first time and then compared three strains of red foxes — farm bred, selected for tameness and selected for aggressiveness.” See the story in the New York Times. Hi, Anna!

Your deluxe new playground port-a-potty with sink, mirror, standup, and sitdown. ‘Creeknik Elisha wrote, “Seriously deluxe! Had my birthday there last weekend, was expecting my guests to haul down to the storefront to use facilities. Was a pleasant surprise when I found this there. I swear every guest complimented that it was the nicest port-a-potty they had ever used. Flushing action, no smell, and a pretty bright light (maybe solar?) for after dark. Thank you, Indian Creek! You keep on improving on being my happy place…” Guess it’s the small things... that ring big.