“TURN IT UP TO ELEVEN!” 11 Reasons to Come to the ‘Creek This Week, Including Abundant U-Pick Pumpkins & Apples & Sunflowers & Sprouts & Vegetables & Donuts & Cider; Open Every Day Come Heck or High Weather.

– SUMMARY –

U-pick apples including Jonagold, Cortland, Mutsu, Ashmeads, Sir Prize, Macoun, Snowsweet, Prairie Spy • U-pick pumpkins • U-pick sunflowers • U-pick Brussels sprouts • U-pick tomatoes • U-pick peppers • U-pick flowers • U-pick herbs • Open every day 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM rain or shine • Fresh donuts every day 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM except Mondays • Shop for apples, pears, pumpkins, sprouts, squash, corn, garlic, ginger, cider, honey, syrup, pottery, slushees, 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, when Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel shocked rock-n-roll by turning it up to 11, minds were blown. This week at The ‘Creek, we’re turning it up to 11, and you are invited to blow your OWN mind by picking a big bag of nutritious, local, vegetarian, Finger Lakes Apple Country harvest treats. Plus donuts.

U-PICK APPLES = Cortland (pictured), Jonagold, Macoun, Mutsu, Ashmead’s Kernel, Sir Prize, Snowsweet, Prairie Spy, and probably more by the time you get here. You will find plentiful apples to pick in the Vintage Orchard and Dwarf Orchard. It is a glorious harvest and we hope you will share in the bounty. The picking is so easy that, in a single visit, you can pick for yourself AND pick a few extra to share with neighbors on your block – erasing any accumulated bad karma with a wee tote of fruit. The assortment of apples in this week’s lineup will cover the bases for eating fresh, baking, and saucing. Get a map at the farm stand and we will direct you to the best picking action. If you haven’t read our How to Pick an Apple tutorial, please do so! Thank you for picking mindfully. By the way, would you like to plant some of these apple varieties in your own backyard? See over 450 apple tree offerings on our fruit tree nursery site. You can order now for Spring 2022 shipping or local pickup. Cummins Nursery is us same folks as The ‘Creek.

U-PICK MUTSUS = OVEN BUSTERS! Mutsus gets a spot of their own on the list. Also known as Crispin, Mutsu is perhaps the most versatile apple on the farm. It is a dessert apple. A pie apple. A juice apple. A bake-it-right-in-the-oven apple. It is the little black cocktail dress of apples. Mutsus will not shrivel when stored, and they hold flavor through winter. They can get as big as pumpkins. The British call them “oven busters” since a couple of old orchard ladies could pick one giant Mutsu and bake it in the oven and split it as dessert for their afternoon stitch-n-bitch. But – as we have opined before – boys can do that, too. Ovens and stitching and b*tching aren’t just for girls. Same with dessert. And feelings. And sharing. And little black cocktail dresses. All welcome at The ‘Creek. Hooray.

U-PICK PUMPKINS = OPEN! Cozy up to your dream pumpkin! The pumpkin field moves around each year; ask at the stand for the map. You can also find pumpkins right at the stand if you don’t want to pick your own.

U-PICK BRUSSELS SPROUTS = OPEN! These massively nutritious spheroids of cruciferous craving are your ticket to a happy dinner. We call them BROUTS for short. Cut a fresh stalk yourself, pop off the sprouts, chop in half, stir fry with bacon or fakin’. Cut the whole stalk; don’t pick individual sprouts since that wrecks the plant. Don’t be a plant wrecker. Be a sprout lover!

U-PICK SUNFLOWERS = NEW THIS WEEK! You can pick sunflowers around the farm. People wait all year for the sunflowers, to cut them and – required in the Instagram Era – take endless photo opps. #sunflowerphotography

U-PICK PEPPERS = WINDING DOWN. You can hunt for bell peppers, jalapeños, serranos, and more varieties. You just have to come explore the patch for last-chance goodies.

U-PICK TOMATOES = WINDING DOWN. Time to pick the tomato fields clean. You can hunt for beefsteak, Marzano, Roma, heirlooms, etc., in the tomato patch. They are mostly green, but they will ripen after you pick them.

FRESH DONUTS = Every day 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM except Monday. We’ve said it before, and it is possibly 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.

U-PICK HERBS = OPEN! 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 Type B home chef who would pick a bag of mixed herbs for seasoning and dressing – not big enough for hordes of Type A pesto pickers.

NEW BUS STOP = IN FRONT OF FARM! TCAT has moved the bus stop to directly in front of the farm, so anyone can take the #21 into town from our doorstep. You want to avoid using the #14, which ends at the hospital requiring a walk on the highway. Be safe!

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