Quell Berry Breath with U-Pick Garlics & Shallots; Also Pick Your Own Raspberries & Flowers; Fresh Donuts Friday, Saturday, Sunday; Peach Crop Survived ~60%, First Picking in Roughly a Fortnight.

– SUMMARY –

Farm is open 7 days a week 9:00 to 6:00 rain or shine • Pick raspberries now • Pick garlic now • Pick shallots now • Pick flowers now • Strawberries are kaput • Fresh donuts Friday, Saturday & Sunday 11:00 to 5:00 • Goodies at the stand = cukes, blueberries, honey, syrup, pottery, flowers, slushees • COVID protocols include (1) Keep SAFE social distance, (2) wear your MASK in closer quarters, (3) monitor your KIDS, (4) We provide CONTAINERS for picking til further notice • Drive slowwwly on the farm • Please see our updated dog policy below • Thank you for supporting small farms • Thank you for not being willfully irresponsible about reasonable advice from epidemiologists

– FULL STORY –

LOYAL FARMKETEERS: Every question, no matter how puzzling, has an answer. Are Congresspeople vertebrates? Who was the first human to blork a squinkle? Why did the chicken cross the chicken? Yes, Gentle ‘Creekniks, even these abiding perplexities have answers. But we must not reveal them til after the election. TOO RISKY! So we will take up a few easies from your inquiries.

Can I pick raspberries now? Yes you can. Thank you for asking. Enterprising berryists, like @peanutbutterandjuliette, have been picking for a couple weeks, but the patches still seem plentiful. Nights (and days) of warmth (and sun) have brought new waves of berries to a pickable state. What you find when you get here depends. Who got here before you? How much did the birds eat? As usual one question begets a whole family of questions. (Linguistic parthenogenesis?!)

Can I make a mixed berry pastry with princess power? Depends – are you a @pastry_power_princess?

Can I pick garlic now? Each year, when you see this picture of Garlic Greg channeling the Garlic Goddess, it means time to pick your own. There won’t be a 4th Annual Garlic Harvest Party this year – TOO RISKY! – but you can come pick now. Greg says it’s the best crop ever. Fourth time’s the charm.

What kinds of garlic can I pick? Garlic Greg says there are the hard-neck varieties Continental and German Red, and a soft-necked variety. U-pick pricing is by the head: $2/head (1 to 9 heads), $1.50/head (10-49), $1.25/head (50-100), and $1/head (100+). So you just do a headcount of vampires in your life, multiply by 3 heads per head, and stock up accordingly.

Can I also pick my own shallots for the first time ever at Indian Creek? Yes! Garlic Greg says you harvest them just like U-pick garlic, but pay like U-pick flowers: to wit, shallots are $6/handful. Yet another moment in life when Bigfoot-sized hands will save you a few ducats. What is a shallot anyway?

Can I pick bouquets of flowers? Yes, you can cut your own flowers in the field by the farm stand. Current flowers include zinnia, snapdragon, celosia, ageratum, gomphrena, scabiosa/pincushion, cornflower/bachelor buttons, dianthus/carnations, strawflower, aster, marigold, verbena, and statice. You can also get them at the stand in bouquets.

What time is donut time? Donuts are rolling off the Mark 2 Donut Robot three days a week this year. You can get them Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11:00 to 5:00. Nick the Donut Kid is churning out these fresh fried rings of fructotic splendor – optionally sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. “A sprinkle of SIN, SUGAR,” is all you need to say. You can also get lemon slushees every day at the combination donut-slushee window. (Tomatoes not ready yet.)

Can I bring my dogs? Only kinda sorta. Please consider our new dog policy, honed over many years of experience and revised for 2020. We love dogs, but we do not encourage visitors to bring dogs these days. If you must bring your dog, please:

Keep your dog on a LEASH and attended at all times,
CLEAN up right away and take the waste with you,
Keep your dog out of the crop FIELDS; orchards only.

Remember, there are often lots of people and vehicles around. Not everybody is comfortable with dogs – no matter how cute or friendly your dog is. And, nobody (farmer or visitor) wants to step in waste as they wander. Meanwhile, our dogs live here on the farm and mostly lounge around anymore. If they ramble up to you or bark, don’t worry, they will not chase you away. Just ignore them if you are unsure. Thank you.

Can I drive as fast as I want on the farm? Yes, if by “as fast as I want” you mean really slowww. It’s the right thing to do. Like masks and no giant indoor exercise parties.

May I wear my wask when in close quarters such as the checkout line and donut line? Please. Do.

Do you have a colorful, somewhat helpful, somewhat confusing, locally printed 8-page saddle-stitched brochure with maps and picking tips and rules and regulations that I can pick up at the farm stand and/or download in PDF form for viewing on my mobile as I wander the farm? Yes please!

Are peaches ready to pick now? Nowt yet. Hang tight. A couple weeks. We will announce in a Fresh Crop Alert. About 60% of the crop seems to have survived the spring frost. Competition will be vigorous. Be nice. Meanwhile there are Pennsylvania peaches at the farm stand. To hold you over.