LAST CHANCE APPLES! Come Pick Your Own Apples & Brussels & Sunflowers & Veggies; Fresh Donuts & Cider; You Probably Won’t Find a Pumpkin; Still Open Every Day Til Crops Gone!

– SUMMARY –

U-pick apples including Mutsu, Golden Russet, Newtown Pippin, Ashmeads Kernel • U-pick sunflowers • U-pick Brussels sprouts • U-pick tomatoes • U-pick peppers • U-pick eggplant • 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 Monday • Shop for apples, pears, sprouts, eggplant, peppers, squash, corn, ginger, turmeric, cider, honey, syrup, pottery, slushees, donuts, and more • COVID: Farm stand staff are vaccinated, and current protocols include: (1) We are not requiring masks as 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 CAREFULLY when approaching and leaving the farm on Route 96 • Thank you for being the best Farmkeeteers

– FULL STORY –

DEAR FARMKETEERS & ‘CREEKNIKS, once in a while the bumbling newsdesk that produces these Fresh Crop Alerts improbably brings you accurate and actionable reporting on the crops at The ‘Creek. Last week we projected that pumpkins would be picked clean well before Halloween, and this week we can confirm that projection. Pumpkins are kaput, though you might find a straggler. Especially if you are one of those blessed beings who meanders through life with only the most occasional effort and for whom everything slides into place as if Zeus and his sister/wife Hera were your personal assistants. For the rest of us, it is last chance to pick apples – you’ll have to earn them – and possibly last chance to get sprouts, vegetables, flowers, cider, and donuts. This year’s harvest will wrap early and suddenly! Come soon!

U-PICK APPLES = Golden Russet, Newtown Pippin, Ashmeads Kernel, Mutsu. At this point in the newsletter, we usually say, “And other varieties will be ripe by the time you arrive.” But that might not be true now, as the picking has been vigorous – historic even – and you will find the orchards thinner over the coming days. Nonetheless the assortment of apples in this week’s lineup will cover the bases for eating fresh, baking, and saucing. Get a map at the stand and we will try to direct you to the best picking. But be prepared to wander farther afield than usual, scanning the horizon for scattered apples in distant trees. If you still haven’t read our How to Pick an Apple tutorial, it hardly matters for this year, but please do so to incubate best practices for next year! Thank you for picking assiduously, ebulliently, and mindfully!

U-PICK BRUSSELS SPROUTS = OPEN! These massively nutritious spheroids of cruciferous craving are your ticket to a happy moment of plant appreciation. We call them BROUTS for short because they are just so broutish. Cut a fresh stalk in the field, pop off the sprouts in the kitchen, chop in half, stir fry with bacon or fakin’. You can also get them at the farm stand while supplies last. ALERT: Cut the whole stalk; don’t pick individual sprouts since that wrecks the plant. Do not be a plant wrecker. Be a sprout lover!

U-PICK SUNFLOWERS = STILL GOING! You can pick sunflowers around the farm. People wait all year for them – to cut them and, of course, add them to their social media haul.

U-PICK FLOWERS & HERBS = OPEN. Word from farm stand staff is, “Half the herbs are extinct but the flowers are enjoying a last hurrah.” Come cut flowers for your home and friends. You can probably find enough herbs to flavor dinner.

U-PICK PEPPERS = EXTENDED SEASON! The pepper patch has kept producing, especially for ghosts and jalapeños, Hungarian waxes, and habaneros. Also some green bell peppers. Tomatoes and eggplants are actually still going, too! You just have to come explore the patch for last goodies.

Get local GINGER and TURMERIC. You only need to taste an itsy-bitsy slice of fresh ginger root to be a convert for life. Good enough to eat out of hand, not to mention bringing life to your cooking creations. Same with the fresh turmeric root. Have you tried golden milk? Sharon and Dean from TreeGate Farm around the corner have been delighting farm fans with these Hawaiian roots grown right here in the FLX.

FRESH DONUTS = Every day 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM except Monday. 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.

DREAM TEAM = STILL HERE! Just a snapshot of two members of our starting lineup All-Star Squad. They have been tireless in helping countless customers this season – often THOUSANDS of visitors in a single busy harvest weekend! You think that’s easy?! Try it! Thank you, Dream Team! We love you! (And yes, we hear you, we need our own shirts and sweatshirts next year :-))))))))))))

BUT WE DO HAVE TOTES! Reusable on the farm and anywhere. Two sizes. Last chance to get some for toting stuff around in the winter. They make great gift wrapping too – instead of paper or foil that gets rumpled, torn, and tossed, put presents in these cute bags. Here’s the little ones.

AND THE BIG ONES. Collect ’em all.

NEW BUS STOP = INDIAN CREEK! Take your public transportation right to your u-pick destination! TCAT has moved the bus stop to directly in front of the farm, so anyone can take the #21 from town to 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