U-PICK HONEYCRISP! Come Now to Pick Your Own Honeycrisp, McIntosh & Cortland Apples; Pick Your Pears, Peaches & Pumpkins; Fresh Donuts & Cider; Open Every Day Rain or Shizzle!

– SUMMARY –

U-pick Honeycrisp, McIntosh, and Cortland Apples • U-pick Asian and European pears • U-pick peaches • U-pick tomatoes • U-pick peppers • U-pick flowers • U-pick herbs • Open 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM every day rain or shine • Fresh donuts every day 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM except Mondays • Shop for apples, peaches, pears, sweet corn, garlic, ginger, cider, honey, syrup, pottery, slushees, fresh donuts, and more • COVID: Farm stand staff are vaccinated, and current protocols include: (1) We are not requiring masks since the farm is an outdoor experience, (2) We recommend that unvaccinated people wear masks, (3) Practice social distancing under the covered porch area, (4) These protocols could change • Drive slowly on the farm • Drive VERY CAREFULLY when approaching and leaving the farm on Route 96 • Thank you

– FULL STORY –

DEAR FARMKETEERS: We are lucky farmers and fooders. Amen! Our September U-pick collection is an unprecedented convergence of coveted fruits. Starting today, you can pick your own apples, pears, peaches, and pumpkins – all in a single visit to The ‘Creek. Plus a humble crop of jam plums. Plus vegetables, flowers, and herbs. Plus fresh donuts and apple cider. You could go so far as to call it a full-diet harvest, unless you require steak sandwiches or fish tacos.

U-PICK APPLES = HONEYCRISP. So much has been said about Honeycrisp, some of it overblown to the Nth degree. But you would not be wrong to call Honeycrisp, “The rock-star, cold-hardy apples from Minnesota.” That’s the line from our nursery web site, where you can order own Honeycrisp trees for planting in your yard. Be advised that you will need to give your trees at least 5 years before you’ll be flush with fruits. Meantime you can pick Honeycrisp here. WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. Think of Honeycrisp as rockstars swinging through your little town on tour. Everyone’s all a-titter, all the hellions want a piece, but soon Honeycrisp will be back on the bus to faroff venues in Moravia, Lisle, Horseheads, Watertown. Snooze you lose. Blink and you’ll miss ’em. Get grounded by the folks and you’ll have to wait til next tour – a whole year. So if you want to pick Honeycrisp, please come pick now. Now would also be a good time to read our How to Pick an Apple tutorial.

U-PICK APPLES = MCINTOSH! Ask at the stand for directions to the Vintage Orchard. You will find the McIntosh apples on trees scattered round the grounds – look for ORANGE ribbons. We know a guy in Pocklington, Yorkshire, England, who says, “McIntosh is without doubt one of the great North American apple varieties, typified by attractive crimson colours and a crunchy bite. The flavor is simple and direct, generally sweet but with refreshing acidity, and usually a hint of wine — often referred to as vinous.” Please come be proper apple people and pick these vintage specimens with all the zeal you normally apply to Millenialcrisp, er, Honeycrisp. Now would be an especially good time to read our How to Pick an Apple tutorial. Apple season is here.

U-PICK APPLES = CORTLAND! Cortland is the lunchbox apple to the world. Slice it and it will stay bright white for a WHILE. Cortland doesn’t oxidize (brown) as fast as most apples. Perfect for fruit salads, and fruit in salads. Every year, people write to ask when Cortlands will be ready to pick. These are the expert lunchbox packers and veteran fruit saladiers. Find Cortlands in the Vintage Orchard on trees with YELLOW ribbons. Now would be an especially good time to read our How to Pick an Apple tutorial. Apple season is here.

U-PICK PEARS = ASIAN & EUROPEAN. Come up to the Asian pear orchard west of the playground, east of the vegetable patch, in the long rows behind the sign that says, “ASIAN PEARS.” Ask at the stand where to find the European pears – we’ll circle the areas on the farm map. Trust the markings on the map, rather than squeezing a bunch of specimens on the tree. Pears ripen from the inside out, you can’t easily tell by looking or even feeling. We’ll send you toward the varieties that are ready to pick – they’ll be ready to EAT a day or two later.

U-PICK PEACHES = THE LAST VARIETIES. Come pick the final rows of peaches. Go up the main farm road til you see the sign that says, “PEACHES” and you should find good picking. By the calendar, summer ends in a week. By the fruit, summer will conclude when all the peaches are picked.

U-PICK PUMPKINS = NOW OPEN! We aren’t stocking the stand with pumpkins yet; they’re u-pick only this week. Pumpkin time is one of the funnest pickings. The pumpkin field moves around each year; ask at the stand for the map.

U-PICK TOMATOES & PEPPERS = WINDING DOWN. Time to pick the summer vegetable fields clean. You can hunt for beefsteak, Marzano, Roma, heirlooms, etc., in the tomato patch. You can hunt for bell peppers, jalapeños, serranos, and more varieties. You just have to come explore the patch.

FRESH DONUTS = Every day 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM except Monday. We’ve said it before, and it is usually true: Making fresh donuts six days a week is a revolution in small farm fryer logistics. The Mark 2 Donut Robot is still churning out fresh fried toroids of fructotic splendor – sprinkled, if you like, with cinnamon sugar. “A sprinkle of sin, sugar,” is all you have to say. No donuts on Monday, when the Donut Robot observes its Cyborg Sabbath.

FRESH CIDER = READY NOW! At the farmstand you can get jugs of “Orchard Ambrosia” – that’s 100% unsweetened, unpasteurized juice of apples and sometimes a few pears. Nothing added. It’s like the old days, and it gets better each week as apple season rolls on. Freezes great, just pour a little off the top before freezing to keep it from going boom.

DRIVE SAFELY! We have witnessed several terrible, high-speed collisions on Route 96 by the farm this summer. Please approach the farm carefully, exit the farm carefully, and drive slowly when you are on the farm!

A Drivers Education
REMINDER

Entering from Ithaca

Indian Creek Farm is 1/2 mile north of the Cayuga Medical Center traffic light. We are on the left, just after the Dubois Road intersection, as you come over the rise. The entrance comes up quickly.
There is no need to increase speed to 55 MPH. Stay slow to keep the cars behind you slow.
Use your left TURN SIGNAL well before the turn. We have watched people stop to turn into the farm without using their signal.

While on Farm

Please drive slowly. There is no hurry. You are on vacation while on the farm. There are kids and folks of all ages walking around the farm. Take it easy.

Exiting