Indian Creek Farm

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– SUMMARY –

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U-pick peaches • U-pick donut peaches • U-Pick eggplant • U-pick hot peppers • U-pick sweet peppers • U-pick tomatoes (first wave) • U-pick herbs • Open 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM every day rain or shine • Fresh donuts every day 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM (except Monday) • Shop for peaches, apples, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, garlic, scapes, flowers, honey, syrup, pottery, slushees, 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 • Thank you

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DEAR FARMKETEERS:  Do you have a friend that keeps changing their tune?  Yeah let’s hang out… Sorry I can’t hang out… Hey let’s hang out… Sorry I have to cancel…  If so, you might not want to take it personally or doubt their sanity or impugn their integrity.  Your pal might simply be buffeted by the breezes whooshing through the orchard of their life, giving you real-time reporting on the fruits of their mind.  As it is with people, so it is with peaches.

U-PICK PEACHES = NOW.  For real!  Come picking asap!  It is true that 3 weeks ago we said:

 NOT YET in red paint

And 2 weeks ago we said:

 YES in pink paint

And 1 week ago we said:

 BRIEF PAUSE in yellow paint

And this week we are saying:

 PICK NOW!!! in orange paint

Well at least it was color coded.

And we’re not loopy!  Promise!  Each weekly claim was true – solid as a gubernatorial denial.  So here’s to peach season in the Empire State.  We now re-sound the Horn Hen of Plenty to signal the re-dawn of peach picking and an abundant local harvest of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and donuts.

U-PICK PEACHES = NOW.  It is a big and beautiful crop.  Peach season should last about as long as the governor – perhaps two more weeks.  But peaches are our most popular summer crop, so don’t wait too long or you might miss them.  And remember!  If you pick a peach that isn’t quite ripe, do not panic.  Do not throw it away.  Do not curse Baby Boomers or Generation Xers or – gasp! – Millenials for your failure to pick the best peach.  Simply take responsibility for the peach you picked.  Put the peach on your kitchen counter for a day or two.  It will be great.  Or grill it.

HAPPY PEACHER.  Farm Fan @karin.n.uwrote:  “Peach picking 🍑 @indiancreekfarmithaca 果物狩りの時間ですよー!! 朝一、誰もいない時間に行ってきました🍑 朝活☀️朝日が眩しい☀️気持ちいい☀️ 朝の空気はヒヤッと爽やか、もう秋を感じる✨” which might mean something like: “It’s time to pick fruits!! ︎ I went there in the morning when nobody was there 🍑 Morning activity ☀️ The morning sun is dazzling ☀️ It feels good ☀️ The morning air is refreshing and I feel autumn already ✨”  Thank you, Karin!

U-PICK DONUT PEACHES = NOW.  These move like hotcakes, but ask at the stand and we will try to direct you to the best picking.  Good luck!

U-PICK SWEET PEPPERS & HOT PEPPERS = OPEN!  Bell peppers, frying peppers, jalapeños, serranos, and more varieties ripening each week.  You just have to come explore.  The hots are not red yet, that comes later in the growing season.

U-PICK EGGPLANT = OPEN!  Several varieties on the vine, you just have to come hunt around.  Look under the leaves.  First come, first pick.

U-PICK TOMATOES = JUST STARTING!  Tomato season is winding up and there are lots of cherry tomatoes to pick.  There are starter crops of heirlooms, Romas, and beefsteaks.  Stay tuned for tomato alerts and stop by often.  First come, first pick.  We expect busy weekends; try weekdays to score big. 

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. 

COLD SLUSHEES = Lemon and tart-cherry.  Find them swishing round and round and round in the Donut Hole.

Love to y’all.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek!

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– SUMMARY –

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U-pick apples • U-pick hot peppers • U-pick sweet peppers • U-pick herbs • Brief pause in U-pick peaches (you picked the first round clean!) • Open 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM every day rain or shine • Fresh donuts every day 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM except Monday • Shop for peaches, apples, peppers, cherry tomatoes, garlic, eggplant, slushees, flowers, honey, syrup, pottery, 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 during the season • Drive slowly on the farm • Thank you

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DEAR FARMKETEERS:  Last week, in accord with our annual tradition, we sounded the Horn, er, Hen of Plenty to signal the dawn of peach picking and an abundant local harvest.  This fomented such a ferment – commonly called a “bumrush” in the farmland vernacular – that you stripped the trees clean within a couple days.  For such exemplary locavoric exuberance, we offer our heartiest thanks.  This weekend, we predict a quiet time in Peachtown as the next wave gets ready.

U-PICK PEACHES = brief pause.  Sometimes people look at pictures and don’t read, or otherwise find our approach to corporate messaging nonsensical/difficult to decipher (special apologies to ESL folks!), so this picture was included for the “visual learners” in our readership.

Behind the scenes, the peaches are primping for next week, the start of High Peach Season which should last a couple good weeks.  They are trimming their fuzzy ‘dos with help from fashionista eggplants, who also are in short supply on the U-pick vines til further notice.  Please stay tuned to these Fresh Crop Alerts for news of the next wave of peaches and eggplants.  Pro tip:  Facebook and Instagram followers often score emergent tipoffs between newsletters.

PEACHTOWN = sad chapter.  During this meditative time between peach waves, an image to contemplate.  This road sign in nearby Cayuga County speaks of Chonodote. “As remorseless as a cannon shot, the axe levelled every tree though burdened with its loads of luscious fruit, and the freshly ripened corn was gathered only to be destroyed.  At 10 o’clock A. M., the torch was applied to the dwellings, and as the crackling flames lifted their fiery heads over this scene of havoc and destruction.”

U-PICK APPLES = PRISTINE.  They are the first real apple-ish apples of the year.  Lovely lemon-yellow orbs of fruitological blushitude.  Descendants of the venerable McIntosh and Golden Delicious varieties.  Perfect for eating fresh, saucing, and cooking.  Easy to pick in Row 10 of the Dwarf Orchard.  Easy as pie.  Tart, crisp, juicy, and firm.  And isn’t that blush prettier than a store-bought doll?  True foodies will branch out from Granny Smith and Honeycrisp to try Pristines and other summer apples.  Not shaming, just SAYING.

U-PICK JALAPEÑOS = NOW.  The plants are bursting with jalapeños, please come pick!  The much-anticipated moment is NOW!  As it is with your life, so it is with U-pick jalapeños. Carpe ‘peños!

U-PICK SWEET PEPPERS & HOT PEPPERS = Go time to come pick.  Bell peppers, frying peppers, cayennes, jalapeños, serranos, and more.  The hots are not red yet, that comes later in the growing season.

FRESH DONUTS = daytime snack.  You can get fresh donuts every day 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM except Monday.  We’ve said it before, and it might be true:  This is a revolution in small farm fryer logistics.  Six days a week, the Mark 2 Donut Robot is 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.  Again, no donuts on Mondays, when the Mark 2 Donut Robot observes its Cyborg Sabbath. Amen.

U-PICK HERBS = open every day.  Basil, flat parsley, curly parsley, dill, cilantro, thyme, sage, oregano.  The garden is right by 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 Type A pesto pickers. 

MODEL ORCHARD LADDER TECHNIQUE.  (1) Remain on lower rungs, (2) Maintain a poised athletic posture, (3) Have trusted assistant stabilize ladder.  Pictured are NYC-based singer-songwriter and bridal designer Jamie Burke and musician-actor Sean O’Shea.  “We make an annual trip upstate to check out the farm!  Fell in love with it!!  Can’t get enough of those donuts heehee.”  Thank you, @itsjamieburke!

PEACH COBBLER = DROOL!  Peach picking should start again soon!  “Peach Time 🍑🍑 Love picking fruits for pies and dessert 😊 Always local 😊🍑 #indiancreekfarm #dolcedelight #ithacany #localfarmslocalfood“  Thank you for being SOOOO local, @dolcedelightithaca! 

PEACH COBBLER = HEARTY.  Inspiration for the coming resumption of peach picking.  Thank you @katiemarievaz!

Love to y’all.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek!

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– SUMMARY –

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U-pick peaches • U-pick apples • U-pick sweet peppers • U-pick hot peppers • U-pick herbs • U-pick flowers • Open 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM every day rain or shine • Fresh donuts every day 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM (except Monday) • Shop for peaches, apples, peppers, garlic, eggplant, apricots, slushees, flowers, honey, syrup, pottery, 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 during the season • Drive slowwwwly on the farm • Thank you

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DEAR FARMKETEER:  If, by some very lucky chance, you were an agricultural ethnomusicologist – the world’s top expert on theme songs of fruit farms around the globe – how would you classify our anthem? 

It is called “The Horn, Er, Hen of Plenty” and it is playing now.  Watch Archie the unabashed chicken smash the ivories in a stirring rendition of the official theme song of Indian Creek Farm, trumpeting the dawn of picking season proper and an abundant local harvest.  (Sidelight:  Imagine a jazz band braying on their “horns of plenty” – fruit flying higgledy-piggledy and ‘Creekniks dancing like peaches kaschnockered on bottom-shelf Finger Lakes apfelwein.)   

U-PICK PEACHES = NOW.  Yes, Farm Fans, it is opening day of peach season, the one day each year when we let the barnyard beasts host an open mic on the family heirloom instruments.  It is the best peach crop ever, and there will be waves of ripening over the next 4 weeks.  Remember that if you pick a peach that isn’t quite ripe, do not panic.  Do not throw it away.  Do not curse Baby Boomers or Generation X or Millenials for your failure to pick the best peach.  Do not blame your ex-wife or her brother’s narcissistic shih tzu.  Simply take responsibility for the peach you picked.  Put the peach on your kitchen counter for a day or two.  It will be great.  Or grill it.

How to avoid heartbreaking WASTE in peach season:  Don’t squeeze peaches on the tree.  A thoughtless thumbprint is textbook fruit abuse.  Exhibit A:  Somebody was testing ripeness.  They found out it was ripe.  They left it on the tree.  Nobody else will pick it.  Peach ruined.  Remember that an experienced eye is needed to judge peach ripeness by merely looking.  So if you can’t squeeze it and you can’t tell by looking, what’s a Farmketeer to do?  Ask us which rows are ready.  Pick the peaches in those rows.  Take them home even if they feel a little firm.  In 2 days you’ll have delicious peaches.  Stick them in a paper bag to expedite.  It is up to you whether you squeeze the peaches after they are yours. 

“Donut” peaches are NOT ready yet, but donut-donuts are.  Donut peaches will be ready in a week or two and we will announce when ready.  Meantime, you can get fresh donuts every day 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM except Monday.  We’ve said it before, and it might be true:  This is a revolution in small farm fryer logistics.  Six days a week, the Mark 2 Donut Robot is 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.  Again, no donuts on Mondays, when the Mark 2 Donut Robot observes its Cyborg Sabbath. Amen.

U-PICK APPLES = PRISTINE.  Pristine is a real apple – real tart.  One of us here at the farm stand says, “They get better the more you eat them… just keep chewing.”  So once again, a dose of resilience and positive action saves the day.  Don’t decry the tartness; instead chew your way to a delightful early season apple.  Some of you will swear off Honeycrisp forever.  Pristines are good keepers and the first real apples of the year.  And that blush!  Come pick now.  (You can get cold-hardy Honeycrisp trees from our nursery to plant in your yard next spring.  We sell out every year so now is time to order for spring 2022.)

U-PICK SWEET PEPPERS & HOT PEPPERS.  Now open!  Bell peppers, frying peppers, jalapeños, serranos.  More varieties ripening soon.  The hots are not red yet, that comes later in the growing season.

U-PICK HERBS = 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. 

COLD SLUSHEES = Lemon and tart-cherry.  Find them swishing round and round and round in the Donut Hole.

U-PICK PEPPER PROWESS.  Three cheers to Faithful Farmketeer @samanthafountain for three jars of exemplary locavoric culinarity!

A DAY AT THE ‘CREEK.  Thirty-one cheers to ‘Creeknik @kathyrutherford12!  Thank you for including us!

Love to y’all.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

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– SUMMARY –

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U-pick garlic • U-pick raspberries • U-pick eggplant • U-pick herbs • U-pick flowers • U-pick apples • U-pick peaces (first few) • Open 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM daily rain or shine • Fresh donuts every day 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM (except Monday) • Shop for garlic, eggplant, apricots, Yellow Transparent apples, lemon & tart cherry slushees, flowers, honey, syrup, pottery, and more • COVID: Farm stand staff are vaccinated, and current protocols include: (1) The farm is an outdoor experience and we are not requiring masks, (2) We recommend that non-vaccinated people wear masks, (3) Practice social distancing inside the covered farm stand area, (4) These protocols could change during the season • Drive slowwwwwwwly on the farm • Thank you for being here

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DEAR FARMKETEERS:  If you want to make the gods laugh, tell them your plans.  They will hear you out – then promptly amuse themselves tinkering with the dials, tilting the playing fields, and generally enforcing Murphy’s Law with all the mercurial zeal of a banana republic despot.  Heck, those same almighties might even trick you – and millions of others – into unutterable infamies such as installing linoleum over nice wood floors.  Gasp!  Be mindful!  Meantime, for our part here on the farm, we accept that our plans for a synchronized dance of weather and harvest will occasionally meet with an impish, even radically contrary response, so we humbly adjust our ag ec as needed.  To wit:  The u-pick garlic harvest has been extended to this weekend, since last weekend’s downpours kept some of you at home.  Please pick garlic now!  Last chance.

U-PICK GARLIC = NOW.  We will strip the field on Monday.  Hardneck varieties:  Continental and German Red.  Softneck varieties:  Inchelium Red and Tochliavri.  The softnecks are perfect for braiding.  You can pull a head for tonight’s dinner or stock up for the whole year.  If stored correctly this year’s garlic will last until about April 2022.  Garlic Greg explains, “The best way to cure garlic is to tie cloves in bunches of 15-20 and hang in a dry, well-ventilated area such as a front porch.  After the stalks have totally dried in three or four weeks remove dried stalks for storage.  Keep at a pretty even temperature and as low humidity as possible, but don’t refrigerate or freeze.”

U-PICK GARLIC PRICING = $2/head (1-9 heads), $1.75/head (10-49), $1.50/head (50-100), $1.25/ head (100+).  There are also garlic heads and garlic scapes at the stand.

U-PICK RASPBERRIES = WANING BUT STILL GOING.  Summer crop will wrap up soon, but people have been finding quarts to pick every day.  There are probably about 2000 individual berries hiding around the farm.  There are several patches.  They recharge with days of heat and rain.  If you arrive just after a surge of pickers, do not despair.  Look under the leaves!  Check the next row!  We provide picking containers for berry season because we sell u-pick berries by quarts and pints (by volume, not weight).  Of course you can bring your own buckets or boxes for taking the berries home after you have checked out.  You can also buy our farm totes in 2 sizes and 2 colors.

U-PICK EGGPLANT = COME NOW!  There are several varieties and some of them got BIG with the heat and rain – come pick for stirfry, Italian cutlets, baba ganoush.

U-PICK APPLES = Yellow Transparent.  We know what you are thinking.  “Yellow” and “Transparent” combine to make the most unappetizing apple name since Edelborsdorfer.  But truly, nothing creates a community orchard bumrush like Yellow Transparent apples – time to pick now!  Your Siberian cousins REALLY LIKE these apples.  The Yellow Transparent apple is a cold-hardy variety imported in the 1800s from Putinlandia before it was officially called that.  It ripens in July for the short northern season.  To cut the acidity, people in the olden days added salt (take note, foodies!) and called them salt apples.  We call them Old Yellers.  They are way better than Honeycrisp.  They make a CREAMY apple sauce, first chance of the year.  They are good stuff to be thankful for.  Please come pick these apples.  By the way, now is the time to order apple trees for planting in your backyard next spring; see our nursery web site.  For example, Winecrisp has a nice name.

U-PICK PEACHES = JUST STARTING.  Many of you have written to ask, “Is it time?”  It’s hard to know what to say here, folks.  The very MENTION of peaches in a Fresh Crop Alert – even burying it below the sleepy news of Yellow Transparent apples – risks inciting a premature stone fruit riot.  Mind you, we understand the mania:  Biting into a fresh summer peach is like biting into… a juicy bag of music, a drooly symphony of piccolos and violas and French horns and organs.  And not just sacred churchy organs.  Rock-and-roll organs.  Take-me-out-to-the-ballpark organs.  Even Parisian monkey grinder organs.  Yes, a peach is a bag for all organs.  (To quote a phrase perhaps never uttered in earth history.)  At any rate, we are reporting today that there is a small first wave of peaches to be picked, a small starter wave, and it will be first come, first pick as usual.  Stay tuned for the announcement of peach season proper in a week or two, followed by donut peaches in mid-August. 

U-PICK FLOWERS = Some are in full flower, more coming along each day.  Zinnia, snapdragon, scabiosa (pincushion), ageratum, ammi, dianthus, celosia, statice, gomphrena, marigold, strawflower, dahlia, aster.  U-pick flowers are $8 per handful, vases available for $2 or bring your own.  The flower garden is right next to the farmstand.

U-PICK HERBS = 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 middling home chef who would pick a bag of mixed herbs for seasoning and dressing – not big enough for hordes of ambitious pesto pickers!  U-pick herbs are $3 for a brown paper sandwich bag full, the kind the donuts used to go in.  Or like your PB&J with Little Debbies and brown mushy apple slices back in the day.

FRESH DONUTS = Every day 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM except Monday.  We’ve said it before, and it might even be true:  This is a revolution in small farm fryer logistics.  The Mark 2 Donut Robot is 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.  Again, no donuts on Mondays, when the Mark 2 Donut Robot observes its Cyborg Sabbath. Note:  Donut peaches are not ready yet.  Farmer Steve estimates mid-August.  Stay tuned.

COLD SLUSHEES = Lemon and tart-cherry.  Find them swishing round and round and round in the Donut Hole.

Three cheers for this dedicated locavore.  Farm Fan @mtravisdunham posted:  “I support #EatingLocal which is why I’m having fresh-picked raspberries from @indiancreekfarmithaca over lemon ricotta ice cream from @ithacaicecream #FingerLakesFood #YummyFood #UPick“

Three cheers for this enterprising Farkmeteer.  @kitchensense posted:  “Jam session complete. @drnategoldstein and I picked and jammed the raspberries. Used @christine_ferber_officiel_’ overnight technique to maximize pectin. Decided to keep the seeds for both visual and textural appeal. @indiancreekfarmithaca.”  You can see the free newsletter about home cooking, Kitchen Sense, which includes over 600 recipes, some with ingredients from The ‘Creek!

Love to y’all.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

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– SUMMARY –

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U-pick garlic • U-pick raspberries • U-pick herbs • U-pick flowers • Sweet cherries only $6/quart while supplies last • Open daily 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM rain or shine • Fresh donuts EVERY DAY (except Monday) 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM • Shop for garlic, garlic scapes, sweet cherries, lemon & tart cherry slushees, flower bouquets, blueberries, local honey, local syrup, local pottery • COVID: Farm stand staff are vaccinated, and current protocols include: (1) The farm is an outdoor experience and we are not requiring masks, (2) We recommend that non-vaccinated people wear masks, (3) Practice social distancing inside the covered farm stand area, (4) These protocols could change during the season • Drive slowwwly on the farm • Thank you

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HELLO, DEAR FARMKETEERS.  Fact:  Since the start of 2020, the bottom 50% of Americans by household wealth have gained $700 billion.  Sounds pretty good, right?  Meanwhile, the richest 1% gained TEN THOUSAND BILLION DOLLARS, also know as $10 TRILLION BUCKAROONIES.  So, yeah.  Does it sound like time to occupy something?  Wall Street?  Pennsylvania Avenue?  Hollywood Boulevard?  The Ithaca Mall?  Of course we cannot say.  For we are simply garlic farmers, with a field full of ripe allium heads to wrap our heads around.

U-PICK GARLIC = NOW.  It can’t be a movement with only one sopping wet garlic grower.  We need Farmketeers and ‘Creekniks in large numbers immediately.  Please OCCUPY THE GARLIC PATCH.  Rain or shine.  It is easiest pulling right now so early bird gets the best picks.  Last year the field was picked clean within a week, and the sweetest action was the first few days.  Hardneck varieties:  Continental and German Red.  Softneck varieties:  Inchelium Red and Tochliavri.  The softnecks are perfect for braiding.

U-PICK GARLIC STORAGE.  You can pull a head for tonight’s dinner or stock up for the whole year.  If stored correctly this year’s garlic will last until about April 2022.  Garlic Greg explains, “The best way to cure garlic is to tie cloves in bunches of 15-20 and hang in a dry, well-ventilated area such a front porch.  After the stalks have totally dried in three or four weeks remove dried stalks for storage.  Keep at a pretty even temperature and as low humidity as possible, but don’t refrigerate or freeze.”  Maybe you already knew that, but it seemed like a teachable moment, because not everybody automatically groks agrarian domesticity stuff.  And we’ll all need it when the prepper prophesies come true.

U-PICK GARLIC PRICING = $2/head (1-9 heads), $1.75/head (10-49), $1.50/head (50-100), $1.25/ head (100+).  There are also garlic heads and garlic scapes at the stand.

U-PICK RASPBERRIES = STILL GOING.  Summer crop will wrap up soon, but people are having no trouble finding quarts of berries every day.   There are several raspberry patches on the farm.  They recharge with days of heat and rain.  If you arrive just after a surge of pickers, do not despair.  Look under the leaves!  Check the next row!  We provide picking containers for berry season because we sell u-pick berries by quarts and pints (by volume, not weight).  Of course you can bring your own buckets or boxes for taking the berries home after you have checked out.  You can also buy farm totes.

SWEET CHERRY FLASH SALE = LAST OF THE YEAR.  Find them at the farm stand for only $6/quart.  We have about 83 quarts to move in the next couple days and that will wrap up cherry season.  Thanks for giving them a home.

FRESH DONUTS = Every day 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM except Monday.  We’ve said it before, and it might be true:  This is a revolution in small farm fryer logistics.  The Mark 2 Donut Robot is churning out fresh fried rings of fructotic splendor – sprinkled, if you like, with cinnamon sugar.  “A sprinkle of sin, sugar,” will get you the sweets.  Again, no donuts on Mondays, when the Mark 2 Donut Robot observes its Cyborg Sabbath.

U-PICK FLOWERS = Some are in full flower, more coming along each day.  Zinnia, snapdragon, scabiosa (pincushion), ageratum, ammi, dianthus, celosia, statice, gomphrena, marigold, strawflower, dahlia, aster.  U-pick flowers are $8 per handful, vases available for $2 or bring your own.  The flower garden is right next to the farmstand.

U-PICK HERBS = 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 middling home chef who would pick a bag of mixed herbs for seasoning and dressing – not big enough for hordes of ambitious pesto pickers!  U-pick herbs are $3 for a brown paper sandwich bag full, the kind the donuts used to go in.  Or like your bologne sandwich back in the day.

FIRST EGGPLANT = AT THE STAND NOW!  Some people REALLY like eggplant season.  Even more than strawberries and raspberries combined.  Yeah, it’s like that for those special people.  Go time.

COLD SLUSHEES = Lemon and tart-cherry.  Find them swishing round and round and round in the Donut Hole.

Love to y’all.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

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– SUMMARY –

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U-pick raspberries • U-pick herbs • U-pick first flowers • Open daily 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM rain or shine • Fresh donuts EVERY DAY (except Monday) 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM • Garlic scapes • Sweet cherries • Lemon & tart cherry slushees • Flower bouquets • Blueberries • Local honey • Local syrup • Local pottery • COVID: Farm stand staff are vaccinated, and current protocols include: (1) The farm is an outdoor experience and we are not requiring masks, (2) We recommend that non-vaccinated people wear masks, (3) Practice social distancing inside the covered farm stand area, (4) These protocols could change during the season • Drive slowwwly on the farm • Thank you

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– FULL STORY – 

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DEAR FARMKETEERS:  Most people want to choose their own hat.  Fair enough.  But if there ever was a time to obey your local farmer, it is now:  Please put on your RASPBERRY HAT.  Don’t trifle with your strawberry hat – strawberries are so yesterday.  Don’t dust off your peach hat; you won’t need that for a couple weeks.  And for those who have written to ask whether it’s time to wear your Honeycrisp hat, well, let’s just say you don’t want to be THAT GUY, wearing your new fall outfit in early July.  It is raspberry season, there’s a huge crop, and we need you all PROPERLY HATTED ASAP.

U-PICK RASPBERRIES = Come pick now!  There are several raspberry patches on the farm.  They recharge with each day of heat and rain.  If you arrive just after a bumrush of pickers, do not despair.  Look under the leaves!  Check the next row!  We provide picking containers for berry season because we sell u-pick berries by quarts and pints (by volume, not weight).  Of course you can bring your own buckets or boxes for taking the berries home after you have checked out.  For other crops later in the season (most of which go by weight) you can bring your own totes and boxes for picking.

U-PICK HERBS = 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 middling home chef who would pick a bag of mixed herbs for seasoning and dressing – not big enough for hordes of ambitious pesto pickers!  U-pick herbs are $3 for a brown paper sandwich bag full, the kind the donuts used to go in.  Which might suggest we should experiment with herbed donut sandwiches…?

U-PICK FLOWERS = Still in the early part of our flower season, but picking is open.  Some are in full flower, more coming along each day.  Zinnia, snapdragon, scabiosa (pincushion), ageratum, ammi, dianthus, celosia, statice, gomphrena, marigold, strawflower, dahlia, aster.  U-pick flowers are $8 handful, vases available for $2 or bring your own.  The flower garden is right next to the farmstand.

FRESH DONUTS = Every day 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM except Monday.  We’ve said it before, and it still might be true:  This is a revolution in small farm fryer logistics.  The Mark 2 Donut Robot is churning out fresh fried rings of fructotic splendor – sprinkled, if you like, with cinnamon sugar.  “A sprinkle of sin, sugar,” will get you the sweets.  Again, no donuts on Mondays, when the Mark 2 Donut Robot observes its Cyborg Sabbath.

COLD SLUSHEES = Lemon and tart-cherry.  Find them swishing round and round and round in the Donut Hole.

GARLIC SCAPES = Greg’s perennial annual attraction.  Delicious in stirfry.  Stupendous for pickling.  And a harbinger of the garlic harvest to come.

SWEET CHERRIES = Find them at the farm stand, they are really good and the season is short.

FLOWER BOUQUETS = Arranged by farmers and looking for a home.  Find them at the farm stand.  So pretty.

Love to y’all.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

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– SUMMARY –

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Now open every day 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM rain or shine • Donuts now served EVERY DAY (except Monday) 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM • Picking on weekdays avoids barbaric weekend crowds and usually finds abundant & peaceful picking • Time to pick first raspberries • Pick last few lucky strawberries • Fresh garlic scapes • Sweet cherries • Lemon & tart cherry slushees • Local honey • Local syrup • Local pottery • Berries are sold by volume, not weight, so we provide containers for picking • COVID: Farm stand staff are vaccinated, and current protocols include: (1) The farm is an outdoor experience and we are not requiring masks, (2) We recommend that non-vaccinated people wear masks, (3) Practice social distancing inside the covered farm stand area (4) These protocols could change throughout the season • Drive slowwwwwly on the farm • Thank you for visiting… on WEEKDAYS if possible! 

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DEAR FARMKETEERS:  If there ever was a sign of a return to normalcy, it is the June emergence of the Raspberry Rhino.

But this is a hippo.  So things are not quite normal yet.  But we’re doing our best.  You can come pick the very first raspberries of the season.  These are the “prelude” variety, and as the name makes clear, they are but a hint of a bumper crop to come.  Find them in the northernmost row of the main raspberry patch near the anomalous shack on stilts, and in the fenceline patch west of the southern strawberry field.  You will have no trouble finding these on our farm map.  Everyone knows exactly where everything is at a single glance of our map – and our signage will resolve any lingering doubts.  There is something else we can clear up for you now:  You know how donkeys are half-mule and half-horse or something like that?  Rhinos are half-hippo, half-unicorn.  Whaaaaat!  Totally.  You heard it here first.  Farmers have so many great thoughts it’s hard to keep them inside.

Come pick the last few strawberries that popped out in the sun this week.  You might be thinking, “I thought you said strawberries were picked out last weekend!”  True.  In last Thursday’s newsletter we said come pick strawberries nowww!  Then, only two days later on Saturday, we posted on Facebook that the strawbs were picked and the donuts kicked.  Then, on Monday we said, come pick strawbs again, we need about 20 pickers a day this week to wrap strawberry season.  And today we’re sticking with that story.  But more important than picking the last few strawberries is the moral of the story:  On a small farm, with a bustling base of Fanatical Farmketeers, crops can change fast – so when we say come pick now, we mean RIGHT NOW!  Weekdays, especially, are the time to beat crowds and often get the best picking.  We invite you to consider visiting on the weekdays instead of weekends if you can.  Here are 3 reasons in favor of weekday picking.

Weekday Bonus #1:  Get first crack at crops, before weekenders lay seige to the citadel.  For big crops like October apples, you might be fine showing up at 4:00 PM on Saturday after 699 other people have already hit the orchards.  But for smaller crops like berries, and specialty delights like this kind of pepper or that kind of tomato – your fetish favorites – you really want to arrive soon after the Fresh Crop Alerts are sent during the week.  Or sneak over here on Tuesday and Wednesday before the newsletter hits thousands of inboxes.

Weekday Bonus #2:  We are now open EVERY DAY 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM.  Come before work, come after work, come at lunchtime, come at siesta time.  Stays light til late, cools down in the evening. Please note that “Monday ~ Sunday” is our way of saying, “Every Day.”

Weekday Bonus #3:  Now serving donuts EVERY DAY EXCEPT MONDAY.  This is a revolution in small farm fryer logistics.  You can get yours Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11:00 to 5:00.  The Mark 2 Donut Robot is churning out fresh fried rings of fructotic splendor – sprinkled with cinnamon sugar if you must.  “A sprinkle of sin, sugar,” is all you have to say.  On Mondays the farm is open but the Donut Hole is closed like a barber shop. 

Please note!  We provide containers for strawberry & raspberry season.  Berries are sold by volume, not weight, so we will ask you to pick into our pint, quart, and peck containers.  Of course you can bring your own buckets or boxes for taking the berries home after you have checked out.  For other crops later in the season (most of which go by weight) you can bring your own bags and boxes for picking, or buy our reusable farm totes. 

Greg’s fresh garlic scapes.  A local delicacy, to be sure, and an accurate depiction of a small farmer’s neurons during harvest season.

Stopped the Spread!  A lovely message from Creative ‘Creeknik Kerry C.:  “Just made the first round of strawberry jam with yesterday’s Indian Creek u-picked bounty – last year’s batch was named Panjamic – look how far we have come, Ithaca!  Thanks for all the yummy harvests.”  Thank you!

Love to y’all.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

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– SUMMARY –

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Everyone welcome • Open every day now through October • Current hours are 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM rain or shine • Pick your own strawberries or get prepicked quarts at the stand • Fresh garlic scapes • Lemon slushees • Fresh donuts Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM • Local honey • Local syrup • Local pottery • Strawberries are sold by volume, not weight, so we provide containers for picking • COVID:  Farm stand staff are fully vaccinated, and current protocols include: (1) The farm is an outdoor experience and we are not requiring masks, (2) We recommend that non-vaccinated people wear masks, (3) Practice social distancing inside the covered farm stand area (4) Note that these protocols could change throughout the season • Drive slowly on the farm • Thank you for supporting small farms and local artisans 

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DEAR FARMKETEERS:  Early bird gets the worm!  But second mouse gets the cheese!  But third place is last winner!  Yes, folks, this is the third weekend of strawberry picking – and possibly your last chance to pick a big haul that will put you on the podium of ‘Creeknik Champions.

Come pick your last big haul.  What?!  But strawberry season just started?!  True.  We are only a couple weeks in, and only one week after announcing a huge crop.  But you all went berry bananas last weekend and did a exuberant job on the weekdays, too.  Just yesterday we saw a family of four – each person had picked a whole peck!  Hooray!  All this action has brought Farmer Steve, Strawberry Whisperer, to predict that the next 4 days are your best chance at the best picking.  Thursday and Friday to beat the crowds.  After the weekend, who knows?

Serving suggestion: See what Farm Fan @whiskandscone made! “Did some strawberry gathering at @indiancreekfarmithaca and figured before my eldest ate them all (believe me she would), that I better put them into some strawberry cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting. No food coloring used here. These sweet, delectable summer berries provide all the coloring needed to make these that wonderful pink color…”

Market report:  Doing home improvement?Pandemic lumber prices are out of sight.  Haggling over a washing machine?  Forget about it!  Shopping for a barrel of light sweet crude?  Dump out your piggybank!  But our u-pick strawberry prices are charting a line as flat as Putin on a polygraph.  Exact same as last year:  $4/pint, $7/quart.  And we’re down a dollar off the peck price, now at $35.  A level peck is 8 level quarts.  (Though you won’t fit quite that many in a peck of berries unless you smash them to smithereens.)  Peck picking is one of the highest forms of u-pickery.

Please note!  We provide containers for strawberry season.  Strawberries are sold by volume, not weight, so we will ask you to pick into our pint, quart, and peck containers.    Of course you can bring your own buckets or boxes for taking the berries home after you have checked out.  For other crops later in the season (most of which go by weight) you can bring your own bags and boxes for picking, or buy our farm totes.

Fresh donuts are in season.  You can get yours Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11:00 to 5:00.  The Mark 2 Donut Robot will be churning out fresh fried rings of fructotic splendor – sprinkled with cinnamon sugar if you must.  Simply say, “A sprinkle of sin, sugar.”

COVID status.  Farm stand staff are fully vaccinated.  Current protocols include: (1) The farm is an outdoor experience and we are not requiring masks, (2) We recommend that non-vaccinated people wear masks, (3) Practice social distancing inside the covered farm stand area (4) Note that these protocols could change throughout the season.  Thank you.

What else is picking?  Strawberries are the game this week.  But look at everything else that’s coming.  Should be a great season, most of the crops are the biggest ever, and we’ll need you here throughout the season – especially weekdays between Fresh Crop Alerts – to help us harvest the local bounty.  Please stay tuned and check our FACEBOOK PAGE for crop updates between newsletters.  Please understand that we often cannot pick up the phone during the season to answer questions about exactly how many strawberries you will find when you arrive in 2 days, nor can we keep up with the HUNDREDS of social media messages and emails that come in during the season.  There’s only a few of us, and many of you.  We’re really grateful for you.  It’s just that, for better or worse, Indian Creek is the kind of place you just have to pop in now and then to see what’s picking in real-time.  Our regulars are tuned into that reality and they make weekday scouting runs to score the best booty.

Love to y’all.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

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– SUMMARY –

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Everyone welcome • Open every day now through October • Current hours are 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM rain or shine • Pick your own strawberries or get prepicked quarts at the stand • Lemon slushees • Basil Pots • Fresh donuts Saturday and Sunday 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM • Strawberries are sold by volume, not weight, so we provide containers for picking • COVID:  Farm stand staff are fully vaccinated, and current protocols include: (1) The farm is an outdoor experience and we are not requiring masks, (2) We recommend that non-vaccinated people wear masks, (3) Practice social distancing inside the covered farm stand area (4) Note that these protocols could change throughout the season • Drive slowly on the farm • Thank you for supporting small farms  

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BELOVED FARMKETEERS:  Aloha from the Fabled Queendom of Strawberristan!  Where daiquiris flow like bitcoins through loopholes in the tax code.

The farm is open.  This is the first Fresh Crop Alert of the year.  Come pick your own strawberries.  There are LOTS of berries to pick right now!  The usual spiel applies to strawberries and all crops that will follow in succession:  first come, first get.  The newsletter reaches some 10,000 local food lovers every week, and enterprising fruit fanatics have already started picking – even before this first edition of the 2021 season, which itself could incite a bumrush on the berry patch.  Therefore you simply have to come and hunt for berries yourself.  We can’t guarantee you a cornucopia.  And we might not be able to pick up the phone if you call for a berry report.  Please just come out and hunt around.  Look under the leaves.  People have been leaving with beautiful hauls each day, and the berry patch recharges with hot weather and sunshine. 

A word on good strawberry sense:  Please don’t taste-and-toss.  If you happen to smuggle a few berries into your yum-tum-tummy while you are picking, please don’t toss the remnants in the field.  If you take a bite, please stick the stems in your pocket, or if that’s too ewww for you, put them in a baggie or something.  Pack in, pack out.  We are asking everyone to remember that there are pickers and farmers coming through after you.

We provide containers for strawberry season.  U-pick strawberry prices are same as last year:  $4/pint, $7/quart, $35/peck.  Strawberries are sold by volume, not weight, so we will ask you to pick into our pint, quart, and peck containers.    Of course you can bring your own buckets or boxes for taking the berries home after you have checked out.  For other crops later in the season (most of which go by weight) you can bring your own bags and boxes for picking, or buy our farm totes.

COVID update.  Farm stand staff are fully vaccinated.  Current protocols include: (1) The farm is an outdoor experience and we are not requiring masks, (2) We recommend that non-vaccinated people wear masks, (3) Practice social distancing inside the covered farm stand area (4) Note that these protocols could change throughout the season.  Thank you for being the best customers anywhere.  It will be good and happy to see you here again.

Another point of business, a simple word about inclusivity – everyone is welcome.  That has always been the case at The ‘Creek.  We’re not normal and you don’t have to be either.  Come one, come all.  Just be kind.  Photo by long-time Farmketeer Hannah.

And now back to agriculture.  Top crop for many of you is donuts.  You can get them Saturday and Sunday 11:00 to 5:00.  The Mark 2 Donut Robot will be churning out fresh fried rings of fructotic splendor – sprinkled with cinnamon sugar if you must.  Simply say, “A sprinkle of sin, sugar.”

New this year.  Basil pots!  Get them at the stand.

What else is ready to pick?  For now just strawberries.  But soon there will be a cavalcade of crops – lord willing the creek don’t rise and she don’t bust out the Dust Bowl.  It begins with strawberries then garlic then raspberries and peaches and plums and tomatoes and peppers and pears and apples and eggplant and pumpkins and sprouts and all that.  So, now starts the harvest.  Please come say hello to the new season.

Love to y’all.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

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– SUMMARY – 

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Farm is now open self-serve 7 days a week 9:00 to 5:00 • Pick the last Mutsu APPLES and cut your own SPROUTS • GOODIES at the stand = apples & cider jugs every day; cider slushees & hot spiced cider on weekend • COVID rules include (1) Keep SAFE distance, (2) wear MASK in closer quarters, (3) monitor your KIDS, (4) BYOBags for picking produce • Drive slowwwwly on the farm • Thank you for being the kindest ‘Creekniks

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DEAR FARMKETEERS:  Leave it to you – our brilliant and dedicated corps of locavores – to turn the WORST. YEAR. EVER. into the BEST. SEASON. EVER.  This weekend we invite you to come pick the last mutsus and sprouts, and say farewell to the farm til next year.  If there are a few remaining straggler apples to pick after the weekend, we might announce it on Facebook and Instagram instead of sending a Fresh Crop Alert.  Thank you all for supporting local farms.  Be well.

Pick your own Mutsu apples.  Mutsu is the annual orchard finale – and a delicious, versatile, delightful apple.  It is an excellent dessert apple, and makes first-rate juice, pie, and sauce.  Mutsus will not shrivel when stored, and they hold flavor through winter.  Come pick the last pomes of the year.

Cut your own Brussels sprouts.  These massively nutritious spheroids of cruciferous crunchings are your best food-friend in late autumn.  Cut a fresh stalk yourself, pop off the sprouts, chop in half, stir fry with bacon or facon.  Please cut the whole stalk, not individual sprouts.

Get sweet cider jugs for winter.  This is the 11th – and possibly final – week of “Orchard Ambrosia,” our 100% unpasteurized, old-fashioned, nothing-added cider.  You can get gallon and half-gallon jugs.  It’s just apples and maybe a few pears, cold-pressed into juice.  Freezes great, just drain off a little to keep the bottle from going kaboom in the freezer.

Today we say farewell to a great farm year, and a great Farm Friend, Robert, who passed away of cancer.  From making delightful signs to wrangling spreadsheets of fruit tree data and all sorts of odd tasks in between, Robert was “the man” and a pleasure to have on the farm.  He landed at The ‘Creek in 2017 upon returning to the USA after a teaching appointment in Poland. 

Robert’s memorable signage – the famous “Produce Portal” and “Heirloom Clock” and other quirky guideposts around the farm – are now part of ‘Creek lore.  Maybe these remind us to think about portals to other universes, and the longevity of trees versus human machines, a farmy meditation on deep space and deep time.

Seeing Robert walk through the orchard with his daughter, Grace, even as the disease made a simple walk very difficult, inspired all of us at the farm.  Robert fought valiantly and with purpose. 

November 1 would have been Robert’s 56th birthday.  We all miss him.  We miss his bread baking, his story telling, and his ever-so-dapper attire, fitting for the “Old Spice” model that we always imagined him to be in another life. Thank you, Robert.

This season we also said farewell to the gentlest giant of a fluffball farm dog.  Zorro brought joy to THOUSANDS of u-pickers who encountered him in his usual posture – napping in the orchard – or ambling ever-so-leisurely to say hello to visitors with an “arfy woof.”

Zorro was a living poem.  He was the 4-pawed, 130-pound embodiment of Walt Whitman’s celebrated line, “I lean and loafe at my ease… observing a spear of summer grass.”  Now Zorro has flown to his mythical wintry mountain home atop the Pyrenees.  Thank you for being with us, Zorro.

Love to y’all.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.