Raspberry U-Picking Continues in the Quiet Time Before the Peaches; Coffee & Donuts & New Tumblers; Garlic Scapes & Cherries & Blubes; First PA Peaches Arrive Friday; Open Every Day Except Mondays.

– SUMMARY –

U-pick raspberries • Fresh donuts 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM Thursday-Sunday • Coffee • Garlic scapes • Sweet cherries • Tart cherries • Blueberries • Lemonade • Slushies • Local honey, lotion, lip balm • Local syrup • Local pottery • Potted plants including herbs, flowers, and tomatoes • First Pennsylvania peaches • Open Tuesday-Sunday 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM rain or shine • Closed Mondays • COVID protocols = (1) All farm stand staff are fully vaccinated, (2) Masks are not required, (3) We recommend that everyone practice distancing in the farm stand and that non-vaccinated people wear masks at the stand • Drive carefully when approaching and leaving the farm on Trumansburg Road • Drive slowly on the farm • NO DOGS in the berry patches and vegetable fields • Thank you for being Kind ‘Kreekniks

– FULL STORY –

DEAR FARMKETEERS: For some cheery folks, it is the Twizzler-sweet Sweet Sixteen apple. For others, it’s the charm-school graduate Red Haven peach. Doubtless there are others who would claim the haute couture San Marzano tomato. And for at least one rabble-rousing chap in our troubled republic, it might be the colossal, aggrieved, narcisstic pumpkin. What is your spirit fruit?

CALLING ALL RASPBEOPLE TO RASPBANIA! This is your time to shine, the one week each year when raspberries – and their human devotees – claim solo billing in the u-pick lineup. Soon enough the rabble will be all a-titter about peaches and tomatoes and apples. But for now, we happily incite the raspble. First come, first get! Discover your drupelets!

SO COME PICK YOUR OWN RASPBERRIES. The berry patches are seeing a lot of action, so the abundance varies day to day (strawberries are done for the year). But you can come picking, hunt for berries, and get many goodies at the farm stand during this period of relative quiet before we see the cornucopia of harvest season over the next few months. To whet your appetite for the full u-pick harvest, we’ll have the first peaches from Pennsylvania farmers on Friday.

NEW – COFFEE! First time ever, you can get a cup of coffee at the farmstand whenever we are open. We are brewing from hometown roaster, Ithaca Coffee Company, and you can serve yourself. No lattes, no pumpkin spice, no ice. Just a simple coffee for your agritourism adventure. Self-serve next to the hole-in-the-wall donut shoppe.

NEW – INSULATED TUMBLERS! For hot and cold. Notwithstanding the dog in the logo – we’ve loved our herd of working farm dogs – please see our updated dog policy below. We included this last week but it bears repeating so we can all have a happy farm experience.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT WE KNOW YOU LOVE YOUR COMPANION ANIMALS. Our updated policy is in everyone’s interest. It will be published in our 2022 Farm Guide next week. Thank you very much for going with the program.

FRESH DONUTS = THURSDAY TRHOUGH SUNDAY. Served 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Yes,the Mark 2 Donut Robot is magically churning out fresh fried rings 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, Tuesday, or Wednesday, when the Mark 2 Donut Robot observes its Cyborg Sabbath. Donuts, like Britons, prefer the 4-day week.

A PROPER RASPBERRY JAM SESSION! From Farmketeer @kitchensense: “This morning’s jam session. Before breakfast. Not even half the raspberries from yesterday’s harvest. @christine_ferber_officiel_ technique. Copper pot. A year’s worth of goodness. #jamsession #raspberry

LOCAL HONEY, LOTION, AND LIP BALM! When you shop for these local products, you support the local economy and ecology. Area pollinators produced this stuff.

MAKES GREAT GIFTS. Love the craft tube on the lip balm.

FROM GIL’S HONEYBEES. Local family, local business, local bees. From gilshoneybees.com: “Our beehives are located in natural areas in Ithaca and its surroundings, and our bees collect honey and pollen mostly from wild flowers and trees. We harvest raw honey – unfiltered, unheated, and undergoes minimal processing.We do not use heat or chemicals in the extraction process, just strain the honey from the wax and pour it directly into glass jars, leaving the honey with all its natural sugar complexes, pollen traces, enzymes, proteins, and natural volatiles that give each honey its distinct aroma. The honey you get is all natural – from the beehive directly to the jar. We also produce other beehive products, such as beeswax candles, and skin creams, all natural and non-toxic.”

IN SEASON – GREG’S GARLIC SCAPES. Get them for stirfry or make scape oil for your garlicky bread. So delicious.

NEW THIS YEAR – POTTED HERBS, FLOWERS, TOMATOES. Get them at the farm stand. Start your own ‘Creek. Send us a newsletter. We’ll come picking and cidering and donutting and herbing at your house.

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 in recent years. 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

Do not pull out if you can even see a car coming. Assume the car is speeding and that you will get hit.

Be patient, an opening will come.