U-Pick Garlic Harvest! Beautiful Crop Expected to Be Picked Clean Within A Week, Best Picking Is Now; Come Soon to Help Harvest Rain or Shine; Also Pick Raspberries & Herbs & Flowers; Fresh Donuts & Slushees; Sweet Cherry Sale While They Last.

– SUMMARY –

U-pick garlic • U-pick raspberries • U-pick herbs • U-pick flowers • Sweet cherries only $6/quart while supplies last • Open daily 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM rain or shine • Fresh donuts EVERY DAY (except Monday) 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM • Shop for garlic, garlic scapes, sweet cherries, lemon & tart cherry slushees, flower bouquets, blueberries, local honey, local syrup, local pottery • COVID: Farm stand staff are vaccinated, and current protocols include: (1) The farm is an outdoor experience and we are not requiring masks, (2) We recommend that non-vaccinated people wear masks, (3) Practice social distancing inside the covered farm stand area, (4) These protocols could change during the season • Drive slowwwly on the farm • Thank you

– FULL STORY –

HELLO, DEAR FARMKETEERS. Fact: Since the start of 2020, the bottom 50% of Americans by household wealth have gained $700 billion. Sounds pretty good, right? Meanwhile, the richest 1% gained TEN THOUSAND BILLION DOLLARS, also know as $10 TRILLION BUCKAROONIES. So, yeah. Does it sound like time to occupy something? Wall Street? Pennsylvania Avenue? Hollywood Boulevard? The Ithaca Mall? Of course we cannot say. For we are simply garlic farmers, with a field full of ripe allium heads to wrap our heads around.

U-PICK GARLIC = NOW. It can’t be a movement with only one sopping wet garlic grower. We need Farmketeers and ‘Creekniks in large numbers immediately. Please OCCUPY THE GARLIC PATCH. Rain or shine. It is easiest pulling right now so early bird gets the best picks. Last year the field was picked clean within a week, and the sweetest action was the first few days. Hardneck varieties: Continental and German Red. Softneck varieties: Inchelium Red and Tochliavri. The softnecks are perfect for braiding.

U-PICK GARLIC STORAGE. You can pull a head for tonight’s dinner or stock up for the whole year. If stored correctly this year’s garlic will last until about April 2022. Garlic Greg explains, “The best way to cure garlic is to tie cloves in bunches of 15-20 and hang in a dry, well-ventilated area such a front porch. After the stalks have totally dried in three or four weeks remove dried stalks for storage. Keep at a pretty even temperature and as low humidity as possible, but don’t refrigerate or freeze.” Maybe you already knew that, but it seemed like a teachable moment, because not everybody automatically groks agrarian domesticity stuff. And we’ll all need it when the prepper prophesies come true.

U-PICK GARLIC PRICING = $2/head (1-9 heads), $1.75/head (10-49), $1.50/head (50-100), $1.25/ head (100+). There are also garlic heads and garlic scapes at the stand.

U-PICK RASPBERRIES = STILL GOING. Summer crop will wrap up soon, but people are having no trouble finding quarts of berries every day. There are several raspberry patches on the farm. They recharge with days of heat and rain. If you arrive just after a surge of pickers, do not despair. Look under the leaves! Check the next row! We provide picking containers for berry season because we sell u-pick berries by quarts and pints (by volume, not weight). Of course you can bring your own buckets or boxes for taking the berries home after you have checked out. You can also buy farm totes.

SWEET CHERRY FLASH SALE = LAST OF THE YEAR. Find them at the farm stand for only $6/quart. We have about 83 quarts to move in the next couple days and that will wrap up cherry season. Thanks for giving them a home.

FRESH DONUTS = Every day 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM except Monday. We’ve said it before, and it might be true: This is a revolution in small farm fryer logistics. The Mark 2 Donut Robot is churning out fresh fried rings of fructotic splendor – sprinkled, if you like, with cinnamon sugar. “A sprinkle of sin, sugar,” will get you the sweets. Again, no donuts on Mondays, when the Mark 2 Donut Robot observes its Cyborg Sabbath.

U-PICK FLOWERS = Some are in full flower, more coming along each day. Zinnia, snapdragon, scabiosa (pincushion), ageratum, ammi, dianthus, celosia, statice, gomphrena, marigold, strawflower, dahlia, aster. U-pick flowers are $8 per handful, vases available for $2 or bring your own. The flower garden is right next to the farmstand.

U-PICK HERBS = Basil, parsley (flat and curly), dill, cilantro, thyme, sage, oregano. The garden is at the farm stand. This is a modest patch suitable for the middling home chef who would pick a bag of mixed herbs for seasoning and dressing – not big enough for hordes of ambitious pesto pickers! U-pick herbs are $3 for a brown paper sandwich bag full, the kind the donuts used to go in. Or like your bologne sandwich back in the day.

FIRST EGGPLANT = AT THE STAND NOW! Some people REALLY like eggplant season. Even more than strawberries and raspberries combined. Yeah, it’s like that for those special people. Go time.