BELOVED ‘CREEKNIKS & FARMKETEERS:  Of all the astonishing behaviors in the vegetable kingdom, perhaps none inspires so much bewilderment – and such a collective sense of resignation about the inexorable advance of winter – as the precipitous annual exodus of the Eastern One-Holed Cider Donut Bird.  “Ambrosiabirds,” as simple folk call them.

It happened this week.  Even perspicacious ornithologists, and their fanatical hobbyist counterparts, were left stunned, and quite embarrassed in the eyes of their mainstream colleagues who quietly revel in this dance of professional schadenfreude, that not a single donut bird aficionado captured the event on film.  Except us farmers.  We got the only known image.  See the flock scramming southward high above the sprout field.  (Great job Farm Fan Jamie K on the photo.)

Yes, just like that, in a flash the donuts were gone.  Nobody could really be blamed for missing the fleeting and unpredictable photo opp.  Rather, the proper shame of the specialists is letting another year pass without offering a cogent theory of how these otherwise pedestrian members of the vegetable kingdom manage to fly at all.  Nor even why the antiquated phylogenetic taxa “animal-vegetable-mineral” are still part of the lexicon.  But we are just farmers; our theories are dubious; so let us not ruffle any feathers; there is much to celebrate and be thankful for.  Please read on.

With donuts gone, we farmers won’t be long behind.  You might find someone bopping around doing Novembery work, but the stand has switched to self-serve mode til we send notice of adios.  Open every day 8 AM to 5 PM.  Cash only; you can cram any of your hard-earned bills into the gray metal box.  You can pick the last apples off the trees including Mutsu, Spy, and Rome Beauty.  You can also get heirloom apple varieties at the stand.  You can lop your own Brussels sprouts; they are available at the stand, too.  We are pressing fresh cider every week.  Jugs in the cooler on the front porch.  Cider freezes great – stock up and drink all winter.  We will stop pressing soon.

What a great way to finish our best season ever – You picked enough apples to raise $500 for conservation.  Thank you for supporting the Finger Lakes Land Trust.  You can enjoy many of their nature preserves through the winter.  You can also explore this map of the best outdoor adventures in the whole region on their web site Go Finger Lakes.  And of course you can come to the farm anytime.  Hike around.  Use the playground.  Ski.  Meanwhile, let’s have a spin through the year with your Instagram photos tagged #indiancreekfarm… 

Well, everyone, this is the last weekly newsletter of the year, but we won’t say sayonara just yet.  Within two weeks you’ll get the annual spiel about Apple Gift Boxes.  You’ll be able to order online and send a beautiful box of heritage apples to your friends and families.

Another bright idea – plant your backyard orchard.  You can order trees to be planted in spring.  Now is a good time to pick your trees, before big orchardists claim big blocks of our inventory for their 2019 planting strategies.  It would be fun to help you start your own little orchard.  Then we could come picking in YOUR yard.  And you could make the donuts.  And you could dig the ditches and fix tractors.  But we would never be half as good customers as you are.  Nobody does it better.

Love to y’all.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.