Brilliant Harvest Alert! Pick Your Own Apples & Pumpkins & Sprouts & Veggies & Flowers & Herbs; Hot Cider, Fresh Donuts, Rain or Shine!

– FRESH CROP ALERT –

U-Picking

Empire, McIntosh, Cortland, Macoun, Autumn Crisp, Early Fuji, Spartan apples • Pumpkins • Brussels Sprouts • Tomatoes • Eggplant • Peppers • Flowers • Herbs

Shopping

Fresh donuts (Thu-Sun 11:00 to 5:00) • Hot Cider • Cold Cider • Pumpkins • Apples • Pears • Winter Squash • Peppers • Eggplant • Garlic • Slushies • Coffee • Mugs • Honey • Beeswax • Syrup • Pottery • Potted fruit trees

Business

See current hours on home page
See map & tips & safety in 2022 Farm Guide
Drive extra carefully on highway & farm
Thank you for being kind & nice

– FULL STORY –

LOYAL FARMKETEERS: Today’s Fresh Crop Alert offers our final reflection on the royal succession. Don’t worry, this brief observation will bring us directly to your questions about the weekend’s fruit forecast.

DID YOU KNOW that the Sovereign Formerly Known As Prince Charles was born Charles Philip Arthur George, and that therefore according to the laws of succession, His Royal Highness could have chosen the title “King Arthur” – as in, Arthur, King of the Britons?! His Majesty’s choice to be known merely as Charles III thus could be one of the great missed opportunities in the history of really rich people. Well, the coming days offer you a chance at richness of another kind, a bounty of u-pick apples, pumpkins, and sprouts, and we don’t want you to miss your opportunity. So please read on, and come soon! We’ll even supply British weather. Free!

U-PICK APPLES! 7 KINDS OR MORE! Close followers of the autumnal apple succession know that Honeycrisp has come and gone for the season. But if you are just tuning in, do not despair! October brings apples upon apples to pick – and many of them are classic, dignified, even regal varieties compared to the gauche noveau riche thing that farmers see in Honeycrisp. Come pick your own Empire, McIntosh, Cortland, Macoun, Autumn Crisp, Early Fuji, Spartan, and more. McIntosh was identified in the early 1800s, and has outlived the Georgian, Victorian, and Edwardian periods, and will likely persist after the House of Windsor has succumbed to scandal and ignominy!

U-PICK PUMPKINS! You can pick your own now. The crop is big and beautiful. BUT! Remember that we sold out of pumpkins several WEEKS before Halloween last season. So don’t delay. You can find them in the field or at the stand.

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’. 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!

FRESH CIDER! 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. Bolster your locavore credentials by getting jugs each week – the flavor profile evolves as new varieties enter the apple harvest. Freezes great, just pour a little off the top before freezing to keep it from going boom.

FRESH DONUTS! Served Thursday through Sunday 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM. With ever more vim and verve and vigor as October arrives, the Mark 2 Donut Robot churns 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 served on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, when the Mark 2 Donut Robot observes its lavish Cyborg Sabbath. Amen and hallelujah.

U-PICK EGGPLANT: Thank you for letting them size up instead of picking the babies. Time to eat the grownups!

U-PICK PEPPERS: Come browse the pepper patch for a Capsicum smorgasbord. Sweets and hots!

FRESH COFFEE! Get a cup at the farmstand. We are brewing hometown roaster, Ithaca Coffee Company, and you can serve yourself. No latte! No spice! No venti! No ice! Just a simple cup for your agritourism adventure. Self-serve kiosk next to the Donut Hole. New tumblers are great – they keep stuff hot or cold for hours and hours!

NEW – BULK CIDER GALLONS. This year we are offering volume discounts on gallon jugs of cider instead of filling carboys. The bulk cider will be between 1 and 2 weeks old, still fresh and not yet turning. Prices are $8/gallon (5-9 gallons), $6/gallon (10-49 gallons), and $4.50/gallon (50+ gallons). Call the stand for availability before you come over, 607-227-8248.

BUS STOP = INDIAN CREEK! You can 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 SLOWWWLY ON YOUR U-PICK ADVENTURE! We have witnessed several terrible, high-speed collisions on Route 96 by the farm in recent years. Approach the farm carefully, exit the farm carefully, and drive SLOWwwwwly when you are on the farm! Here is a free driver’s education reminder.

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 farm 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 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.