Indian Creek Farm

SUMMARY

Farm is open 7 days a week 8:00 to 8:00 rain or shine • Pick peaches • Pick Ginger Gold apples • Pick Bartlett pears • Pick tomatoes • Pick peppers • Pick flowers • Get your fresh donuts Friday, Saturday, Sunday 11:00 to 6:00 • No eggplant to pick for a while • Goodies at stand = peaches, tomatoes, peppers, apples (maybe), pears (maybe), garlic, potatoes, honey, syrup, flowers, slushees • COVID rules include (1) Keep SAFE distance, (2) wear MASK when in closer quarters, (3) monitor your KIDS, (4) this year we provide CONTAINERS • Drive slowwwwly on the farm • Thank you for being gentle on our minds

FULL STORY

DEAR FARMKETEERS & LOYAL ‘CREEKNIKS:  May we share a few cogent notions?  Bite-sized inklings that will rouse your spirit as the summer wind tickles your petticoats?

This is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel posing (suspiciously) as a Bergamasco Sheepdog, adapted from the work of the artist Sam Schonzeit.  To the left is a peach.  You can pick peaches now, and you ought to pick them now if that is on your pandemic bucket list.  The next 7 days will see the passing of peach season

Verily, in the fullness of time, sweater vests will again be seen on Main Street and Wall Street.  Til then, shower compassion on your fellow citizen, for the waiting is the hardest part.  Meanwhile, this public service announcement starring Farmer Steve of Yor and Sister Sarah of Yesteryear.  #badsweater #whatevenisit #1970s #crochet

Not everyone loves peach fuzz.  And that’s okay.  You don’t have to coax, badger, cajole – or legislate – people into liking peach fuzz.  Indeed the solution might be even closer at hand:  yourself.  You can let those people be.  You can witness that story and set it free.  Amen.  There are peaches at the stand.  If you don’t find any to pick, because you didn’t keep up with the Joneses (again, not the Joneses fault!), you will probably find peaches at the farm stand for another few days.

Ginger Gold is a vigorous, hardy apple tree with wide crotch angles.  Yes, in the orchard business, we talk about crotch angles unabashedly like mechanics talk about grease nipples.  The sooner you make peace with that, the faster you’ll advance your farming career.  You can pick Ginger Gold apples now.  These are greenish-yellow apples that bear a lovely, delicate blush on their sun-side. Crisp and sweet-tart, Ginger Gold is an irresistible herald of the coming harvest season.  It does not store well and is best eaten fresh – being an ideal salad apple, as the flesh does not oxidize after cutting.  How to avoid heartbreaking waste in apple season:  Pick an apple with 2 hands, steadying the branch or nearby apples with your non-dominant hand, then twist off your target apple with your best paw.  Don’t let an apple fall, then knock another apple below, causing a chain reaction.  Multiply that effect by thousands… and you’ve got a disconsolate apple farmer.  Please read our Farm School tutorial, How to Pick an Apple.

The Bartlett pear is the yardstick pear.  This heirloom was discovered as a wildling by English schoolmaster John Stair, who cultivated it in Berkshire, England.  By 1799 it had reached America, where it was grown in Roxbury, Massachussetts, under the name Williams’ bon Crétien, but in 1817 Enoch Bartlett of Dorchester was producing the pear under his own name, “Bartlett.”  In England and France, however, the pear is still known as the Williams Pear.  Under any name, the Bartlett has become the most popular pear in Europe and America, and it accounts for about 50% of all US pear production today.  You can pick Bartletts on the trees along the road at the first crest of the driveway just past the old peach orchard where the sign says “Tomatoes / Eggplant / Peppers.”  Just don’t look for a sign that says “Pears.”

Not all red octagonal traffic signs mean stop.  Some apparently mean yield.  A good yield of apple crop.

In a further perversion of national signaling standards, still other red octagonal signs don’t mean stop OR yield.  They mean, “Main road… GO here.”

Probably best to simply drive slowwwwly on the farm.  Red painted apples mean stop.  Green painted apples mean go.  A sign with 2 reds and 2 greens would mean stop, but there’s a just a little more green than red (see the leaves), so in the end it really means “Slow.”

Tomatoes have a last name, Nightshade.  Pretty great last name.  They are in the Nightshade family with peppers and eggplants.  You can pick your own tomatoes and peppers now.  Many varieties, some ready, some ripening.  Hard to tell you which types you will find in abundance when you arrive.  But Farmer Steve is bullish on the paste tomatoes right now.  Please enjoy exploring around.

More news from the Nightshade family:  no eggplants for u-picking right now, could be a couple weeks, or maybe next year.  A few obsessed folks picked hundreds of baby eggplants despite our pleas to let the babes fatten up.  But we’re not bitter at all.  No sirree, everything’s cool in the eggplant department.  Nothing to worry about on this TINY BABY EGGPLANT SPECIALTY FARM.  Breatheeee.

A word of encouragement from Farmketeer @flxbubbles who posted this on Instagram:  “If you’re looking to pick flowers in the local area, @indiancreekfarmithaca is the place to go!”  Yes, you can cut your own bouquets in the field by the stand and other spots around the farm.  The flower list has included zinnia, snapdragon, celosia, ageratum, gomphrena, scabiosa/pincushion, cornflower/bachelor buttons, dianthus/carnations, strawflower, aster, marigold, verbena, and statice.  You can also get them at the stand in bouquets (nice jars included) assembled by fruit farmers giving self-care as they heal from the eggplant pillage.

Donuts were once called olykoeks.  From the Online Etymology Dictionary:  “Small, spongy cake made of dough and fried in lard, 1809, American English, from dough + nut (n.), probably on the notion of being a small round lump (the holes came later; they are first mentioned c. 1861).  First recorded by Washington Irving, who described them as ‘balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog’s fat, and called doughnuts, or olykoeks.’  Earlier name for it was dough-boy (1680s).  Bartlett (1848) meanwhile lists doughnuts and crullers among the types of olycokes, a word he derives from Dutch olikoek, literally ‘oil-cake,’ to indicate a cake fried in lard.”  Every weekend is donut time.  Donuts are rolling off the Mark 2 Donut Robot every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11:00 to 6:00.  Nick the Donut Kid is churning out these freshly fried toroids of fructotic splendor – optionally sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.  “A sprinkle of SIN, SUGAR.”  No hog’s fat here.

And now a special recipe submitted by our ‘Creeknik of the Weeknik, Carine R. Feist, MPH Nutritional Educator, @carinerfeist.  Anyone who cooks this dish and sends us a photo will get automatic ‘Creeknik of the Weeknik next week.  As long as the photo isn’t shot with a potato, as they say.

Barley Risotto with Grilled Fairytale Eggplant, Cherry Tomatoes, and Fresh Corn

Produce from Indian Creek Farm, Ithaca NY

This dish is a wonderful celebration of the August bounty in New York.  After visiting Indian Creek Farm, we were thrilled to prepare a dinner using the spectacular harvest available at this time of year with quarts of fragrant juicy tomatoes of several varieties, colors and sizes, and we even picked super sweet peaches that will be used in a peach, blueberry galette dessert later this week.  This is our favorite time of year as nothing beats fresh tomatoes, corn and other summer vegetables.  I’m sure that you’ll agree!

Risotto:

• 2 cups of vegetable broth, bring to a boil
• 1 cup water, bring to a boil
• 11⁄2 cups barley, einkorn wheat or farro (your choice)
• 1 to 2 cups of oat milk (or half and half if you prefer dairy)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1⁄2 cup parmesan cheese (optional)

Simmer barley or other grain of your choice in the broth/water mixture in a covered pot over medium heat for approximately 1⁄2 hour. Add the oat milk in 1⁄2 cup increments until creamy as desired. Remove from heat; it will thicken slightly off the heat. Add parmesan cheese, if desired.

Fresh seasonal summer vegetable topping:

• 1 pint of mini fairytale eggplants. Trim off the stem and slice in half. (Our container had 16 small eggplants.)
• Vinaigrette dressing – 2 T. reduced balsamic vinegar or fig vinegar, if available.
• 2 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pint Supersweet cherry tomatoes, washed and sliced in half. (The orange variety is our favorite!) 2 ears of corn, grilled with kernels sliced off the cobs
• 10 basil leaves, washed, dried and sliced just before serving (chiffonade style)

Marinate the sliced fairytale eggplants for 1 minute in the vinaigrette, stirring periodically.

Remove the eggplants from the marinade (reserving the remaining marinade).  Grill the eggplant halves on both sides (about 20-30 minutes) until softened and grill marks develop.  Use a grill pan for this or use a grilling mat on your outdoor grill.  (They will lose most of their lovely purple color, but they will be so delicious and the other colors of the completed dish will make for a gorgeous dish!).

Meanwhile, grill two ears of corn and then slice the kernels off the cob.  Set aside.  Slice the tomatoes in half and set aside also.

After the eggplant is cooked thoroughly (but not so mushy that its falling apart!), add it back to the bowl with the remaining marinade.  Add in the tomato halves and fold gently with a spatula or large spoon, so as not to break up the eggplant.  Just before serving, add in the corn kernels with one stir of the spoon.  (Add the corn at this point to keep its lovely yellow-white color.)  Gently pour the vegetable mixture over the top of the risotto.  Place the shredded basil on top of the mixture and bit of salt and a grind of fresh pepper.

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

SUMMARY

Farm is open 7 days a week 8:00 to 8:00 rain or shine • Pick corn • Pick Zestar apples • Pick pears (maybe?) • Pick tomatoes • Pick peppers • Pick flowers • Fresh donuts Friday, Saturday, Sunday 11:00 to 6:00 • No eggplant to pick for a while • No peaches to pick this weekend • Goodies at stand = peaches, apples, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, potatoes, honey, syrup, pottery, flowers, slushees • COVID protocols include (1) Keep SAFE distance, (2) wear MASK in closer quarters, (3) monitor your KIDS, (4) we provide CONTAINERS • Drive slowwwwly on the farm • Thank you for being kind and gentle locavores

FULL STORY

DEAR FARMKETEERS:  Everyone is looking for new tools right now, improvising in this extraordinary crisis.  Scratching and scrabbling, trial-and-erroring, ad lib-ing and ad hoc-ing.  Farmers are pretty good at that.  Professional contrivers and devisers and MacGyvers.

New this year:  pick your own corn-on-the-cob.  Everyone needs a few cobs in their pandemic toolkit.  Serve it at homeschool to sweeten up algebra “class” on the back porch.  Slather if you must, but even better without butter.  No salt required.  Fresh off the stalk.  50¢ an ear.

Pick Zestar apples! Most of you won’t feel the apple-picking spirit til September, but these are worthy early apples.  Very pretty, round, rosy red apples.  The flesh is juicy and crisp, with a sprightly zest (hence the name) that sweetens with caramel sugars.  They store well for six to eight weeks, and are firm enough to please most bakers.  Advanced apple data:  Zestar comes from the breeding program at the University of Minnesota.  It is a cross of State Fair and MN 1691 (Conell Red x Goodland), and it was released in 1999.  “Zestar!” is the trademark name; the cultivar itself is called Minnewashta.  How to avoid heartbreaking waste in apple season:  Pick with 2 hands, steadying the branch and/or nearby apples with your non-dominant hand, then twist off your target apple with your best paw.  Don’t let an apple fall, then knock another apple below, causing a chain reaction.  Multiply that effect by thousands of pickers… and you got a defeated apple farmer.  Please read our Farm School tutorial, How to Pick an Apple.

Pick your own pears – maybe.  There were some Flemish Beauty and others around when we looked.  They all could be picked by the time you get here!  Just ask at the stand and we will try to direct you to what’s ripe and ready.

Peaches are NOT picking!  You all performed an exemplary orchard bumrush last week – totally wiping out the first wave.  Stay tuned for possible future waves.  We will announce if we spy another round of ripening.

But just to get schooled up for a possible next round… a public service announcement starring Farmer Steve (way back when) and Sister Sarah.  #badsweater #whatevenisit #1970s #crochet

There are peaches at the stand :-)  You’ve been tearing through them and we will try to stay stocked for another week.

Pick your own tomatoes and peppers.  Many varieties, some ready, some ripening.  Hard to tell you which types you will find in abundance when you arrive.  Please enjoy exploring around.  Generally the hot peppers won’t be red yet.

No eggplants for u-picking right now, could be a few weeks!  They are tied up in traffic with all the students flowing into town.  (Actually, a few folks picked hundreds of baby eggplants despite our pleas.  Let’s hope mask-wearing pleas are met with better compliance as town fills up again!)  You should be able to find eggplant at the farm stand.

Look what our roving customer-columnist posted this week.  Thank you @samanthanfountain for sourcing from so many local growers.

Something to do with tomatoes:  Stuff them.  Not nearly as Instagrammatic as Samantha’s creations.  But tasty.

Flowers:  Cut your own bouquets in the field by the stand, and other spots around the farm.  Flowers include zinnia, snapdragon, celosia, ageratum, gomphrena, scabiosa/pincushion, cornflower/bachelor buttons, dianthus/carnations, strawflower, aster, marigold, verbena, and statice.  You can also get them at the stand in bouquets (nice jars included) assembled by fruit farmers.

Every weekend is donut time.  Donuts are rolling off the Mark 2 Donut Robot every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11:00 to 6:00 – expanded from 5:00!  Nick the Donut Kid is churning out these freshly fried toroids of fructotic splendor – optionally sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.  “A sprinkle of SIN, SUGAR.”

Thank you to whoever left us a full box of apple juice in the orchard grass.  Just what we needed!  Good news is Steve thinks we will have the first jugs of Orchard Ambrosia – naturally sweet, cold-pressed, and unpasteurized – on Labor Day weekend.  Fingers crossed

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

SUMMARY

Farm is open 7 days a week 8:00 to 8:00 rain or shine • Pick peaches • Pick flowers • Pick sweet peppers • Pick hot peppers • Pick cherry tomatoes • Pick first other tomatoes • Pick Williams Pride apples • Fresh donuts Friday, Saturday, Sunday 11:00 to 5:00 • Stuff at stand = tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, garlic, cucumbers, potatoes, PA peaches, honey, syrup, pottery, flowers, slushees • COVID protocols include (1) Keep SAFE distance, (2) wear MASK in closer quarters, (3) monitor your KIDS, (4) we provide CONTAINERS • Drive slowwwly on the farm • Thank you for not picking baby eggplants and not climbing on peach trees • Thank you for being kind

FULL STORY

DEAR FARMKETEERS:  If your back-to-school spirit is shaky, don’t worry.  Farm School will be held remotely this year.  Hooray!  You can lie back in your hammock and tune into lessons each week in these Fresh Crop Alerts.  First lesson:  Latin.  Here we go.  Uni means “one,” and corn means “horn.”  Thus unicorn means:  “one horn.”

Meanwhile copia means “plenty,” as in copious.  So cornucopia means “horn of plenty,” from the Classical Latin.  But words slip and slide over the eons.  Nowadays, in Modern Latin – the language of the agricultural classes – the meaning of corn has shifted ever so slightly from “horn” to “hen.”

And what’s THAT we hear?!  Is it the Hen of Plenty?!  Why yes it is!  Sounding in the hills above Ithaca!  Archie is smashing the keys in a bombastic rendition of the official theme song of Indian Creek Farm, trumpeting the dawn of picking season proper and a pretty decent local harvest.  (Psychedelic daydream:  Imagine a jazz band braying on their horns of plenty.  Fruit flying higgledy-piggledy and ‘Creekniks dancing like donut peaches kaschnockered on apple wine.)

Yes, Farm Fans, it’s THAT time.  The one day every year when we let the barnyard beasts host an open mic on the family heirloom instruments.  This year it coincides with the announcement that William’s Pride apples are ready to pick.  On your walk to Row 10 in the Dwarf Orchard you can debate whether it is properly Williams’, William’s, or Williams.  The internet has not decided.  When you get to Row 10, you can pick your first apples of the year.  These are RED apples, which seems to be what everyone has been holding out for.  The Yellow Transparent and Yellow Pristine apples that kicked off the season were received with precisely the indifference that those poor varieties have come to expect perennially.  Sigh.  Meanwhile there are only a few trees of Williams Pride, so they might get stripped fast, but they are the tip of the spear for apple season.  Despite big losses in the peach crop, we should be headed for an abundant apple season over the coming 10 weeks.  Note:  In Row 10, sandwiched between William’s Pride and Pristine, are Sansa apples.  Sansa are not ready yet.

How to avoid heartbreaking waste in apple season:  Pick with 2 hands, steadying the branch and/or nearby apples with your non-dominant hand, then twist off your target apple with your best paw.  Don’t let an apple fall, then knock another apple below, causing a chain reaction.  Multiply that effect by thousands of pickers… and you got a defeated apple farmer.  Please read our Farm School tutorial, How to Pick an Apple.

Peaches are picking.  We enter week 2.5 of peach season with a half-decent crop to be picked – after losing half the crop to spring frost.  However, fans of “donut” peaches will be shocked and dismayed:  The donut peaches were almost froze out totally.  We had a 10% donut crop so you probably won’t find any of those sweet fat little frisbee fruits.

How to avoid heartbreaking waste in peach season:  Don’t squeeze peaches on the tree.  Exhibit A is a cold, hard thumbprint.  Straight up peach abuse.  Somebody was testing ripeness.  They found out it was ripe.  They left it on the tree.  It takes an experienced eye to judge ripeness in a peach by looking.  Best thing to do is:  Ask us which rows are ready.  Pick those peaches.  Take them home even if they feel a little firm.  In 2 days you’ll have a perfect peach.  Stick them in a brown bag to expedite.  Up to you whether you squeeze a peach after it’s yours.  None of our business.  In the peach orchard, please do not climb, shake, or pull on peach trees.  We already hauled out a broken tree.  Peach trees are more delicate than apple trees.  By hanging off a trunk and toppling it over, you could deprive future you (and future you’s frenemies) of 10 years of juicy, succulent, locally grown peaches.  Per tree.

Sweet and hot peppers for u-pick and boxed at the stand.  Many varieties, all ready or ripening.  Hard to tell you which types you will find in abundance when you arrive.  Please enjoy exploring around.  Generally the hots won’t be red yet.

Are tomatoes picking?  “Yes.  That’s a soft yes,” says Farmer Steve.  People have been finding tons of cherry tomatoes, while the bigger varieties are just filling in.  So make a pass through the tomato patch on your visit, and stay tuned for what Steve says will be a huge crop over the coming weeks.

Summer sweet corn is an OMGawdsend.  Eat it right outta the pot or right offa the stalk cavekid style.  Zero butter and even less salt than that.  (But try Old Bay Seasoning!)

Another idea for “putting up” peppers from a recent  ‘Creeknik of the Weeknik.  Enterprising locavore @samanthanfountain posted this DIY hot sauce using jalapeños and Serranos from Indian Creek, and garlic from Here We Are Farm, our neighbors round the corner in Perry City.  Love to see a young person sourcing from so many local farms.

And this one with beets!  Samantha mentions habaneros which will be heating up soon – along with so many other varieties that ripen and redden through August and September.

Flowers:  Cut your own bouquets in the field by the farm stand.  Current flowers include zinnia, snapdragon, celosia, ageratum, gomphrena, scabiosa/pincushion, cornflower/bachelor buttons, dianthus/carnations, strawflower, aster, marigold, verbena, and statice.  You can also get them at the stand in bouquets (nice jars included) assembled by fruit farmers between Latin lessons.

Every weekend is donut time.  Donuts are rolling off the Mark 2 Donut Robot every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11:00 to 5:00.  Nick the Donut Kid is churning out these freshly fried toroids of fructotic splendor – optionally sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.  “A sprinkle of SIN, SUGAR.”

It’s hot for a ball of somnolent fluff.  Genetically, Zorro has the hardware for long days of mountain work in the Pyrenees.  Culturally, his software has been hacked by the hippy ethos of Ithaca.  A dogologist might describe this hybrid creation as an alpine canine bong hit, Canus alpinus bongus.  He has an infinitude of engrossing if dubious ideologies to ponder in daytime dreamland.  Try not to wake him when you go wandering in the orchards.

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

– SUMMARY –

Farm is open 7 days a week 8:00 to 8:00 rain or shine • Pick first few peaches (just a few – see below, maniacs!) • Pick flowers • Pick sweet peppers • Pick first hot peppers • Pick first few cherry tomatoes • Pick Pristine apples • Pick the one beefsteak tomato • Fresh donuts Friday, Saturday, Sunday 11:00 to 5:00 • Stuff at stand = cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, garlic, cukes, PA peaches, honey, syrup, pottery, flowers, slushees • COVID protocols include (1) Keep SAFE distance, (2) wear MASK in closer quarters, (3) monitor your KIDS, (4) we provide CONTAINERS • Drive slowwwly on the farm • Thank you for NOT picking baby eggplants and NOT climbing on peach trees • Thank you for supporting small farms

– FULL STORY –

DEAR FARMKETEERS, Bob Dylan said:  “Tomorrow is a long time.”  But these days, yesterday seems like forever ago.  The past year has been chock full of time dilators – things that make foggy memories out of other things that weren’t so long ago.  Impeachment was only a few months back; seems like a year.  Peach harvest was only a year ago; seems like a dream.  So you could be forgiven for thinking that peaches are just an idea – not fuzzy droolworthy fruits of the material world.

But here they are in the flesh, primping for showtime, with help from fashionista eggplants.  Peaches will debut this weekend.  There will be a FEW peaches ready for u-pick in the upper block.  It was not clear how to share this news with you, since the mere mention of the p-word could incite a bumrush on an orchard that is still plum with unripe peaches – not prudent in any year, let alone in a pandemic with pent-up u-pick appetites and nerves frayed by uncertainty.  Given the thousands of readers, there is a high chance that by the time you read this email, early birds will have picked the ripe peaches clean.  We saw 40% crop loss to spring frost, 90% loss of the donut peaches.  Yet we do see peaches on the trees.

So please come out and enjoy the farm – it is the beginning of the August harvest bonanza – and see if you find peaches.  If not, do not worry.  We have planted the peaches in more or less orderly rows that ripen in succession, and we will alert you each week to new waves.  (Pro tip:  Come on weekdays BEFORE the newsletter hits inboxes.)  Also you will find PA peaches at the farm stand which might salve the crestfallen picker who finds none on the tree.  Finally, look around:  There is a nice big vegetable field this year, first apples to pick, abundant flowers, and of course donuts.  All good, and more to come, so please be of good cheer even if you don’t find peaches this week.

Instead of rummaging through random peach rows, ask at the stand and we’ll Sharpie a map.  Also remember that we cannot keep up with the HUNDREDS of messages that flow in through Facebook and email.  We will not respond in time to your well-meaning messages like, “Will there be peaches to pick in an hour?  Will there be peaches to pick at noon tomorrow when I bring my kids?  Will we find enough peaches to pick for a party of 7 on August 23 and what varieties are they and what do they cost and are they freestone?”  You just have to come out here.  The ‘Creek is not on Instacart and there is no way to preview the real-time inventory remotely.  When you come, please do not climb, shake, or pull on peach trees.  We already hauled out one broken tree, before picking has even really started.  Peach trees are more delicate than apple trees.  By hanging off a trunk and toppling it over, you could deprive future you (and future you’s frenemies) of 10 years of juicy, succulent, locally grown peaches.  Per tree.

Pick peppers and tomatoes and (mature) eggplants.  You will find sweet bell peppers, Italian fryers, nassaus, and the like, plus the first wave of jalapeños and Serranos and other hots.  The hots are still green, of course, but you can pick now.  You can pick the first cherry tomatoes.  Farmer Steve says there is “one beefsteak” that’s ready.  So really it’s just the cherry tomatoes right now, with a whole field of other varieties coming.  You can pick eggplants, but – and this comes right from the top, meaning Farmer Steve – please do NOT pick baby eggplants.  Let them size up.  Pick them a week or two later.  Pictured here is a lovely haul from @samanthanfountain who was ‘Creeknik of the Weeknik two weeks ago, and she kinda just won again.  Come on, Farmketeers, up your game before she wins a trio.  Look at what she made and Instagrammed below… and that ain’t the half of it…

Lactofermented salsa verde.  Includes roasted jalapeños from The ‘Creek, fermented tomatillos (West Haven Farm), fermented onions and garlic (Here We Are Farm), fermented garlic scapes and other ingredients from Ithaca Farmer’s Market.  We slapped the #LOCAVORE tag on there.

Lactofermented hot sauce.  Includes habaneros, Fresno chilis, other peppers from The ‘Creek, and onions and garlic from Here We Are Farm and Ithaca Farmer’ Market.  #DIY!

Salsa and hot sauce in squeezy bottles – with LABELS! That is some next-level foodistry, Samantha!  Thank you.

Flowers:  Cut your own bouquets in the field by the farm stand.  Current flowers include zinnia, snapdragon, celosia, ageratum, gomphrena, scabiosa/pincushion, cornflower/bachelor buttons, dianthus/carnations, strawflower, aster, marigold, verbena, and statice.  You can also get them at the stand in bouquets (jars included), designed by fruit farmers in the increasingly rare dull moment.

Git Ya Gar Gar!  You can get Garlic Greg’s garlic at the stand, as bulbs or beautiful braids.  Braids include about a dozen big bulbs and are doped with herby botanicky things.

The new meaning of Donut time.  In news from outside the farm bubble, the former King of Spain – who previously ‘retired’ amid personal scandals – has now fled his country under investigations into financial scandals, with the New York Times reporting that Juan Carlos said that his “decision to leave amid multiple inquiries was taken ‘with the same eagerness to serve Spain that inspired my reign.’”  Umm, say again?  Absconding with the same zeal that you cheated the public before?!  Good one!  Sounds like DONUT TIME!  Yes, Farmketeers, we dedicate this week’s donut plug to Former King Juan Carlos of España.  Donuts are rolling off the Mark 2 Donut Robot every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11:00 to 5:00.  Nick the Donut Kid is churning out these freshly fried toroids of fructotic splendor – optionally sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.  “A sprinkle of SIN, SUGAR,” is all you need to say.  Tune in next week to find out which honorable public servant will take home the DONUT TIME AWARD.  Nominations can include any bad-faith bozo worldwide.

25 years ago Sunday, this hard-working artist drifted into the hereafter.  What a long strange trip it’s been.  Some people have since seen The Madonna in the Northern Lights.  Others have seen their ancestors’ faces in raviolis.  We have seen Jerry in Zorro.  A pretty good impression, don’t you think?

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

– SUMMARY –

Farm is open 7 days a week 8:00 to 8:00 rain or shine • Pick last few raspberries now • Pick flowers • Pick sweet peppers • Pick first jalapenõ and Serrano peppers • Pick Pristine apples • Pick Yellow Transparent apples • Fresh donuts Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11:00 to 5:00 • Stuff at the stand = garlic, shallots, cukes, peppers, eggplant, PA peaches, honey, syrup, pottery, flowers, slushees • COVID protocols include (1) Keep SAFE distance, (2) wear MASK in closer quarters, (3) monitor your KIDS, (4) we provide CONTAINERS for picking • Drive slowwwly on the farm • Thank you for supporting small farms

– FULL STORY –

DEAR FARMKETEERS:  If you could have it your way, how would you make a buck in this life?  Or make your mark?  Or make the grade?

Would you open a for-profit theology practice on Capitol Hill – advising your clients on abstruse matters of the spirit?  Would you sell handmade greeting cards to old ladies at analog craft fairs in a digital world?  Would you become valedictorian of your massage school class?  These are all good options!  But for us farmers, our lot is to be sellers of fruit.  Purveyors of produce.  Hustling green peppers and hawking Red Delicious.  A struggle at times, to be sure; but, also a kind of Goldilocks existence – neither the noblest profession, nor the meanest.

Speaking of meanest, thank you for being the nicest.  It is really nice when all our nice customers are so nice.  It is hard enough trying to wrangle a peach crop without a bunch of meany-heads exercising their innocent narcism on our farm crew.  U-pick is a kind of therapy, indeed, but please do consult a specialist if you feel really out of balance.

Or speak truth to flower.  This is as fine a time as any in history to ask, “What am I meant to be doing?  What is my gift?  How can I do right and feel right?”  While Crown Princess Ivanka has counseled Americans to “find something new,” we say speak truth to flower.  Tell a zinnia or snapdragon your deepest truth – they are good listeners – and listen for their quiet counsel.  It worked for Adrianna.  One of our favorite former Farkmeteers left us for nursing school and graduated this spring… just in time to be a front-line responder in the covid crisis.  Good luck and be well!

Yes, you can cut your own bouquets in the field by the farm stand.  Current flowers include zinnia, snapdragon, celosia, ageratum, gomphrena, scabiosa/pincushion, cornflower/bachelor buttons, dianthus/carnations, strawflower, aster, marigold, verbena, and statice.  You can also get them at the stand in bouquets, designed by fruit farmers in the rare dull moment.  Thank you to @chlorothrill for picking and sharing.

You can scrounge for the last raspberry stragglers.  Don’t make a special trip just for the berries.  The summer crop is pretty well picked over.  Look what @the_vet_epicure made with her haul:  “Raspberries from @indiancreekfarmithaca went into this delicious raspberry frangipane tart by @1wanderer.  The layer of raspberry jam under the almond filling really made the dish (a trick we learned from #greatbritishbakingshow).”  Thanks, Vet!

Not to be outdone in the raspberry department, behold these beauties by @dolcedelightithaca: “Local fruit makes the best pastries 😋 peach raspberry galettes for dessert any one?”  Whoa.

Get your garlic.  You can find Indian Creek garlic and shallots at the stand.  Also Garlic Greg is making these beautiful braids, each includes about a dozen big bulbs plus flowers and herby botanicky things.

Pick sweet peppers and first hot peppers.  You will find sweet bell peppers, Italian fryers, nassaus, and the like, plus the first wave of jalapeños and Serranos.  The hots are still green, of course, but you can pick now.  (Note, please refrain from picking eggplant for a week or so.  You did a very throrough job picking the first wave – so thorough that we need to let the patch recover, and let the baby eggplants size up nice.)

Come pick Pristine apples.  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 apple experts – and aspiring foodies – will also pick the Yellow Transparents, a.k.a. “salt apples” that we introduced last week.  Find those in the Vintage Orchard near the shack near the raspberries just off the road where it turns at the pear trees after the old peaches just past the stone wall that’s buried in the weeds… Oh just ask at the stand when you get here.  We have maps and sharpies.)

The moment you’ve all been waiting for is not here yet.   And, no, we don’t mean a coordinated national response to the greatest calamity in generations.  (Though that has not arrived yet, either.)  We mean peach picking:  It is not time yet.  We do have PA peaches at the stand for the same price as U-pick.  So that’s something.  But we can’t turn you loose in the peach orchards yet because they aren’t quite ready.  Truth be told, some lucky visitors have picked the odd tree here and there in the old peach orchard because the peaches were dropping.  And we had a 40% loss to frost overall.  Plus a 90% loss of the donut peaches.  But we do promise to announce peach picking in a Fresh Crop Alert when it’s time.  And while you probably won’t pick a donut peach this year, you can pick a donut.

What time is donut time?  Donuts are rolling off the Mark 2 Donut Robot 3 days a week this year.  You can get them Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11:00 to 5:00.  Nick the Donut Kid is churning out these freshly fried toroids of fructotic splendor – optionally sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.  “A sprinkle of SIN, SUGAR,” is all you need to say.  You can also get lemon slushees every day at the donut-slushee window.  It’s a real hole in the wall.  Like, we cut a hole in the wall and stuck Nick the Donut Kid in it with his robot friend.

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

– SUMMARY –

Farm is open 7 days a week 8:00 to 8:00 rain or shine • Pick garlic now • Pick shallots now • Pick raspberries now • Pick flowers now • Pick first sweet peppers & eggplant now • Pick “salt apples” a.k.a. Yellow Transparent apples now • Fresh donuts Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11:00 to 5:00 • Stuff at the stand = cucumbers, peppers, eggplant, honey, syrup, pottery, flowers, slushees • COVID protocols include (1) Keep SAFE distance, (2) wear MASK in closer quarters, (3) monitor your KIDS, (4) we provide CONTAINERS for picking til further notice • Drive slowwwly on the farm • Thank you for supporting small farms (and being kind)

– FULL STORY –

DEAR FARMKETEERS:  Do not be troubled, for when the world has gone mad, sad, bad, or even plaid – still there is garlic.  Garlic to have and garlic to hold.  Garlic for your loves, garlic for your loaves.  Yes, this week, we recognize two worthy ‘Creekniks of the ‘Weeknik, who by their gentle example have counseled us that when the world has gone barmy – GARLIC.  Garlic for your mind.  Garlic just in time.

Pick your own garlic now.  This is the final week.  Early next week, Garlic Greg will harvest any remaining bulbs to store in his secret apocalypse root cellar.  Meanwhile this photo, and the cover photo above, and the next three below, come from our first ‘Creeknik of the ‘Weeknik @samanthanfountain, who not only picked and put up, but also Instagrammed her haul with the effortless panache of a champion locavore digital native.

Lo, behold, cloves.  Cloves of garlic.  Plumply bulbed together.  Samantha’s story said, “Massive clove of garlic from the harvest today.  Only four of these make up one big fist.”  The fist of justice!  The fist of power!  The fist of kindness!  Please note the nomenclature:  cloves make a bulb, bulbs make a fist, and they are all priced by the head.  Cloves, bulbs, fists, heads.  But no dustups or donnybrooks on the farm!  Please and thank you!  Nonviolent agriculture!  Amen!  U-pick pricing = $2/head (1 to 9 heads), $1.50/head (10-49), $1.25/head (50-100), and $1/head (100+).  Pull yours ASAP.

And now a jar of avant-garlic foodism by Samantha:  “Excited to ferment some garlic honey giant cloves from @indiancreekfarmithaca in a dark molasses-like raw buckwheat honey from Waid’s Honey @ithacafarmersmarket.”  Booyah.

Don’t stop at garlic – you need shallots to sweeten and balance.  Garlic Greg says you harvest shallots just like garlic, but pay like flowers:  shallots are $6/handful.  Big hands, big savings.  Studious foodies will study the anatomy of shallots.

On the fruit side of the The ‘Creek, you can still pick raspberries.  Best crop ever and people have been finding lots.  It is starting to feel like last chance for the summer berry crop, especially if the weekend is busy.  Please come get yours, the autumn crop is smaller.  Lovely photos, Samantha.  Thank you.

Our Co-‘Creeknik of the ‘Weeknik models exemplary form seen among the most perspicacious and perseverant pickers:  Look under the raspberry leaves to find booty missed by the masses.  No tantrums if you don’t see any berries on first inspection.  A teachable moment for your youngsters.  And after all that learning, catnaps are permitted.

How did she earn ‘Creeknik status?  By harvesting 107 heads of fresh garlic!  Bravo and thank you for sharing.

Still time to pick flowers?  Yes, you can cut your own bouquets in the field by the farm stand.  Current flowers include zinnia, snapdragon, celosia, ageratum, gomphrena, scabiosa/pincushion, cornflower/bachelor buttons, dianthus/carnations, strawflower, aster, marigold, verbena, and statice.  You can also get them at the stand in bouquets (jars included), designed by fruit farmers in the rare dull moment.

What time is donut time?  Donuts are rolling off the Mark 2 Donut Robot 3 days a week this year.  You can get them Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11:00 to 5:00.  Nick the Donut Kid is churning out these freshly fried toroids of fructotic splendor – optionally sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.  “A sprinkle of SIN, SUGAR,” is all you need to say.  You can also get lemon slushees every day at the donut-slushee window.  It’s a square hole in the barn wall.  (Peaches not ready to pick yet.)

Are peaches ready to pick yet?  Not yet.  Hold your pants on.  A couple weeks.  Maybe even less.  Maybe a week.  It’s a long time to hold your pants on.  So we promise to announce in a Fresh Crop Alert as soon as we know.  Unless we have an emergency need to post it on Facebook for some reason of complex agricultural timing.  Heads up — only about 60% of the crop seems to have survived the spring frost.  Therefore competition will be vigorous.  We don’t want to have ration the peaches.  So be nice.  No brannigans or brouhahas!  No scraps or slobberknockers!  WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.  Meanwhile there are Pennsylvania peaches at the farm stand.  To hold you over.  They taste pretty much the same to be really honest.  And there are some nice people in PA.  It’s okay to start on those.

Pick your own eggplant.  The ripening of these first Nightshades ALMOST pushed us to jump the gun and sound the Horn of Plenty, a.k.a., the cornucopia.  But it wouldn’t be right til peaches and maybe tomatoes are on the scene.

Pick your own sweet green peppers.  If you find one in the field wearing a squash flower on its head, RUN!  Definitely not cool.  That would mean entropy is decreasing, a most unnatural state of affairs – far worse than a runaway climate.

Saved the best for last.  Nothing creates a community orchard bumrush like Yellow Transparent apples – time to pick now!  Your Siberian friends 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.  Good stuff to be thankful for.  Please come pick these apples.  They are dropping as we speak.  Drop.  Drop.  Hurry.

Happy 10th anniversary to this photo.  Yes, our Hangry Hippo made her debut on July 23, 2010.  A decade later, social media fans are still trying to figure out her true nature.  “Hairless munching guinea pig?” asked one user recently.  “I had to double take,” said another.

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

– SUMMARY –

Farm is open 7 days a week 9:00 to 6:00 rain or shine • Pick raspberries now • Pick garlic now • Pick shallots now • Pick flowers now  • Strawberries are kaput • Fresh donuts Friday, Saturday & Sunday 11:00 to 5:00 • Goodies at the stand = cukes, blueberries, honey, syrup, pottery, flowers, slushees • COVID protocols include (1) Keep SAFE social distance, (2) wear your MASK in closer quarters, (3) monitor your KIDS, (4) We provide CONTAINERS for picking til further notice • Drive slowwwly on the farm • Please see our updated dog policy below • Thank you for supporting small farms • Thank you for not being willfully irresponsible about reasonable advice from epidemiologists

– FULL STORY –

LOYAL FARMKETEERS:  Every question, no matter how puzzling, has an answer.  Are Congresspeople vertebrates?  Who was the first human to blork a squinkle?  Why did the chicken cross the chicken?  Yes, Gentle ‘Creekniks, even these abiding perplexities have answers.  But we must not reveal them til after the election.  TOO RISKY!  So we will take up a few easies from your inquiries.

Can I pick raspberries now?  Yes you can.  Thank you for asking.  Enterprising berryists, like @peanutbutterandjuliette, have been picking for a couple weeks, but the patches still seem plentiful.  Nights (and days) of warmth (and sun) have brought new waves of berries to a pickable state.  What you find when you get here depends.  Who got here before you?  How much did the birds eat?  As usual one question begets a whole family of questions.  (Linguistic parthenogenesis?!)

Can I make a mixed berry pastry with princess power?  Depends – are you a @pastry_power_princess?

Can I pick garlic now?  Each year, when you see this picture of Garlic Greg channeling the Garlic Goddess, it means time to pick your own.  There won’t be a 4th Annual Garlic Harvest Party this year – TOO RISKY! – but you can come pick now.  Greg says it’s the best crop ever.  Fourth time’s the charm.

What kinds of garlic can I pick?  Garlic Greg says there are the hard-neck varieties Continental and German Red, and a soft-necked variety.  U-pick pricing is by the head:  $2/head (1 to 9 heads), $1.50/head (10-49), $1.25/head (50-100), and $1/head (100+).  So you just do a headcount of vampires in your life, multiply by 3 heads per head, and stock up accordingly.

Can I also pick my own shallots for the first time ever at Indian Creek?  Yes!  Garlic Greg says you harvest them just like U-pick garlic, but pay like U-pick flowers:  to wit, shallots are $6/handful.  Yet another moment in life when Bigfoot-sized hands will save you a few ducats.  What is a shallot anyway?

Can I pick bouquets of flowers?  Yes, you can cut your own flowers in the field by the farm stand.  Current flowers include zinnia, snapdragon, celosia, ageratum, gomphrena, scabiosa/pincushion, cornflower/bachelor buttons, dianthus/carnations, strawflower, aster, marigold, verbena, and statice.  You can also get them at the stand in bouquets.

What time is donut time?  Donuts are rolling off the Mark 2 Donut Robot three days a week this year.  You can get them Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11:00 to 5:00.  Nick the Donut Kid is churning out these fresh fried rings of fructotic splendor – optionally sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.  “A sprinkle of SIN, SUGAR,” is all you need to say.  You can also get lemon slushees every day at the combination donut-slushee window. (Tomatoes not ready yet.)

Can I bring my dogs?  Only kinda sorta.  Please consider our new dog policy, honed over many years of experience and revised for 2020.  We love dogs, but we do not encourage visitors to bring dogs these days.  If you must bring your dog, please:

1. Keep your dog on a LEASH and attended at all times,
2. CLEAN up right away and take the waste with you,
3. Keep your dog out of the crop FIELDS; orchards only.

Remember, there are often lots of people and vehicles around.  Not everybody is comfortable with dogs – no matter how cute or friendly your dog is.  And, nobody (farmer or visitor) wants to step in waste as they wander.  Meanwhile, our dogs live here on the farm and mostly lounge around anymore.  If they ramble up to you or bark, don’t worry, they will not chase you away.  Just ignore them if you are unsure.  Thank you.

Can I drive as fast as I want on the farm?  Yes, if by “as fast as I want” you mean really slowww.  It’s the right thing to do.  Like masks and no giant indoor exercise parties.

May I wear my wask when in close quarters such as the checkout line and donut line?  Please.  Do.

Do you have a colorful, somewhat helpful, somewhat confusing, locally printed 8-page saddle-stitched brochure with maps and picking tips and rules and regulations that I can pick up at the farm stand and/or download in PDF form for viewing on my mobile as I wander the farm? Yes please!

Are peaches ready to pick now?  Nowt yet.  Hang tight.  A couple weeks.  We will announce in a Fresh Crop Alert.  About 60% of the crop seems to have survived the spring frost.  Competition will be vigorous.  Be nice.  Meanwhile there are Pennsylvania peaches at the farm stand.  To hold you over.

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

– SUMMARY –

Farm is open 7 days a week 9:00 to 6:00 rain or shine • Pick raspberries now • Pick flowers now • Pick strawberry stragglers now (if you can find any) • Fresh donuts Friday, Saturday & Sunday 11:00 to 5:00 • Goodies at the stand = scapes, cukes, blueberries, cherries, honey, syrup, pottery, flowers, slushees • COVID protocols include (1) Keep SAFE social distance, (2) wear your MASK in closer quarters, (3) monitor your CHILDREN, (4) Do not bring BAGS or containers for u-picking – we’ll provide til further notice • Drive slowwwly on the farm • Thank you for supporting small farms and being kind/rational beings

– FULL STORY –

FAITHFUL FARMKETEERS:  It is not your fault if the Farmers Almanac – venerable compendium of meteorological mumbo jumbo, astronomical hocus pocus, and home gardening gobbledyguck – no longer seems to advance your personal agricultural enterprise.  We feel it too.  So we are compiling a new guidebook, a nouveau farmopedia, a psychological toolkit for the analytical fruit grower in tumultuous times.

Chapter One – and this Fresh Crop Alert – will cover cognitive biases.  What are they?  Cognitive biases are ways in which human judgements often diverge from rational thinking.  Indeed, ways we are predictably irrational and act against our own interests!  First described by behavioral economists in the 1970s, cognitive biases have been explained in terms of heuristics, rules which are easy for the brain to process, but which introduce systematic errors of thinking.  There are dozens of such dubious mental shortcuts that impact our lives from shopping to dating to governing to… yes… even farming.  Here we offer a free sample of cognitive biases, paired with items from your normal weekly picking news.  Perhaps this modest public service will raise awareness of ways that we could understand each other better, and form a more rational, compassionate union.

The Semmelweis Reflex.  A classic.  The tendency to reject new evidence that contradicts an existing paradigm.  Are you guilty of this?  Yes!  If you’re not sure, consider its bedfellow, the Confirmation Bias – the tendency to seek out or interpret information in a way that confirms your preconceptions.  Guilty!  Pay your 1¢ fine at the farm stand.  Raspberry picking continues apace this week, with abundant berries as of Thursday morning.  There are several berry patches on the farm, ask at the stand for directions and containers.

The Last Illusion.  A deep and poetic cognitive bias, perhaps the queen of them all.  The Last Illusion is the belief that somebody must know what is going on.  Think about the stock market or the global response to climate change.  Sure, things seem kind of willy-nilly and topsy-turvy, but SOMEONE is steering the bus, right?  Some magical powerful puppeteer?  Meanwhile, the strawberries have left the building, though Farmer Steve said diligent pickers might “find a few to mop up.”  Treasure hunt!

The Outgroup Homogeneity Bias.  This is very subtle until you think about it.  It is the tendency for individuals to see members of their own group as being relatively more varied than members of another group.  Thus it is closely related to stereotyping, but with a shade of meaning worth pondering.  Meanwhile, you can now cut your own flower bouquets in the field by the farm stand or buy bouquets that we’ve created at the stand.  Current flowers include zinnia, snapdragon, celosia, ageratum, gomphrena, scabiosa/pincushion flower, cornflower/bachelor buttons, dianthus/carnations, strawflower, aster, marigold, verbena, and statice.

The Illusion of Asymmetric Insight.  That’s when people perceive their knowledge of their peers to surpass their peers’ knowledge of them.  Like, “I see right through that narcissist!  But I’m all buttoned up and nobody can see my secrets.”  You can try this one on for size.  You might find that it fits like a glove!  Anyway, donuts are rolling off the Mark 2 Donut Robot three days a week this year.  You can get them Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11:00 to 5:00.  Nick the Donut Kid is churning out fresh fried rings of fructotic splendor – optionally sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.  “A sprinkle of SIN, SUGAR,” is all you need to say.  You can also get lemon slushees every day.

The Outcome Bias.  This is the tendency to judge a decision by its eventual outcome, instead of based on the quality of the decision at the time it was made.  This one is soooo fun to do!  You knew it all along, right?  It wasn’t luck!  You MEANT to do that.  How did you get so awesome!  Meanwhile, Greg’s fresh garlic scapes are back.  Get a baggie for sauteeing and drizzling with balsamic.  These are real early season delicacies.

The Self-Serving Bias.  A real beauty.  Perceiving oneself responsible for desirable outcomes but not responsible for undesirable outcomes.  Fun!  Let’s all do that at the same time!  Meanwhile, you have to see these beautiful berry bowls and other treats by local potter Shirley Brown.  Best way to store and serve strawbs, rapsbs, blubes, and cherrs.

The Planning Fallacy.  If you are not guilty of this one, you might not be human.  You might not even be a computer.  It is the tendency to underestimate how long something will take.  Turns out this is a really easy one to be good at, perfect for beginners, so we’ll leave you with that.  Now is kind of the quiet time on the farm.  You can pick berries and flowers, but it will be a few weeks til we send a peach report and a call to pick the first vegetables.  Stay tuned.

Amidst all the global struggle and strife, we got the loveliest email from a Farmketeer.  Misbah wrote, “Whatever you’re on when you write these emails is exactly what I want to be on for the rest of my life.”  Iced raspberry herbal tea is the stuff.  Thank you very kindly, Misbah.  You are ‘Creeknik of the Weeknik.

Another piece of good news in the world.  The farm is still protected by a conservation easement – indeed it is “conserved forever” to be open space by law.  You can see two glimpses of the veggie fields and orchards in this short movie by the Finger Lakes Land Trust, our hometown conservation nonprofit.  We support them and invite you to support them if you can.  They have saved over 25,000 acres of forests, gorges, wetlands, lakeshores, and farmlands across the FLX.  They make their 35 nature preserves free and open to everyone.

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

DEAREST FARMKETEERS, this is the state of things:  Your elected officials have their heads in the sand; many fellow citizens have their heads in their hands; the meteorologists have their heads in the clouds; and, the astronomers have their heads in the stars.  Surprisingly, it is the last of these who have provided us with actionable info.  Yes, Beloved ‘Creekniks, the stargazers have found two – maybe even three! – planets orbiting a nearby star.  All aboard?

In times like these, does it not seem to be a shorter trip to a fresh start on the exoplanets of “GJ887” than the halting and dubious slog toward an equitable earthly society that cares for its most vulnerable?  The new worlds are only 64 trillion miles away – a jaunt of merely a thousand billion years in a ’79 Chevette with the pedal to the floor and an asthmatic rattle under the hood.  And only 220,000 years on NASA’s latest rig!  Just yesterday we saw the strawberries queueing up for their mysterious annual exodus.  Is that where they go?

Sweet cherries always give the strawberries a lift down to the boatdocks.  They bid “fair winds and following seas.”

When the Pepper Fitzgerald shoves off, you hear an exuberant rendition of “Anchors Aweigh.”  No dry eyes on land or sea.

The green peppers were never known for their boatbuilding; this vessel sits a little low in the water.  But the Pepper Fitz is stalwart and seaworthy.

No one knows where the strawberries go.  Some folks have guessed the verdant highlands of Strawbistan; others surmise snowy Strawbania.  But new speculation swirls about the red dwarf star – a color-coded beacon to the berries – and its purported super-Earths.

We are sad to see them leave — but the raspberries aren’t.  Before the Pepper is out of earshot, they blast “Raspberry Beret” and launch their own party barge.

It is their time to shine after a long spring of hearing, “When are the strawberries ready?”  “The strawberries are so good, Mommy!”  And a lot more besides.

Yes, the passing of Independence Day means freedom from the incidental tyranny of the “in” crowd.  Once Aunt Fred hooks the first trophy bass, everyone can giggle at ease.

The youngsters know not to swim past the buoy, but the chance to steal a first kiss draws these two teens into risky business.

It is worth knowing that raspberries are marvelous swimmers.  We try to make each Fresh Crop Alert educational, and there’s your fact of the week.  In our best David Attenborough voice, we offer the following…

“They can freedive for 22 minutes at a time. The Sunny Goldens, in particular, have an otherwordly quality, an aquatic insouciance as they gambol undersea.”

“In their luminous, effortless pulsations, you can see their evolutionary cousins, the Jellyfish and Jamfish.”

Meanwhile the blueberries sit on the shore.  They are a more serious lot.  Too much revelry undermines their equipoise.  A quiet dip at dusk will do.

AND NOW THE ACTUAL NEWS…

Donuts are rolling off the Mark 2 Donut Robot 3 days a week this year.  You can get them Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11:00 to 5:00.  Nick the Donut Kid is churning out fresh fried rings of fructotic splendor – sprinkled with cinnamon sugar if you must.  Simply say, “A sprinkle of sin, sugar.”  You can also get lemon slushees every day.  (Extra credit:  How many 1 inch thick donuts do you have to stack up to reach the GJ887 system 64 trillion miles away?  About 6 million trillion!  Or 6 trillion million!  Which is the same as 6 billion billion!  We can do this!  If we work together.)

Pick your own raspberries.  You will find multiple raspberry patches on the farm.  Well you might not FIND them, but they are here.  One in the “Central Plains” and one out past the Mutsu Orchard and one along the fenceline.  Try the map in our old 2019 brochure til we print a 2020 brochure.  It’s a great map that works like the 80-20 Rule, but tweaked to 20-60-20 and applied to small fruit farms.  Thus:  20% of customers need it bad but won’t use it, 20% know the farm inside out and don’t need it, and 59% swing with the prevailing winds.  That leaves 1%.  They own the Grand Cayman shell corp that owns the bank that owns the farm.  “Maps are for suckers,” you’d hear them chortle, snickering over stogies at the Risk board.  (“Kamchatka is mine!” barks one at the stroke of midnight.  Bing bonggg.)

Besides u-pick strawberries and raspberries, you can shop the farmstand.  As of Friday, seasonal goodies include Greg’s fresh garlic scapes, Alex’s noteworthy cucumbers, Gil’s honey, Sean’s honey, Sean’s syrup, our flowers, and local pottery by Shirley Brown including gorgeous berry bowls.  It is a pleasure to share these local products with you.  Shelves will be bursting with summer produce soon.

You can use your Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) coupons here.  We are set up to accept checks through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and the similar program for seniors.  The federal program, administered through state agencies, was created to provide fresh, unprepared, locally grown fruits and vegetables to participants and to expand the awareness of farmers’ markets.

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

BELOVED FARMKETEERS:  Aloha from the Fairy Kingdom of Strawberristan!  Where daiquiris flow like fake news in a baroque oligarchy.

Yes, the farm is open, this is the first Fresh Crop Alert of the year, and you can pick your own strawberries.  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 2020 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.  But you might find one.  People have been leaving with beautiful hauls each day, and the berry patch seems to recharge with sun and warmth.  (A little more water from the sky would be welcome, if anyone in the Department of Homeland Precipitation happens to be reading.)  Pickers have been keeping up with ripening waves, so strawberries are u-pick only; we don’t have any stocked at the stand for now.

New this year:  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, and we all need to think about germs.  So let’s talk about that now…

This week’s sermon dispenses with our usual nonsense in favor of talking some straight covid stuff.  Be smart.  Let’s not turn Indian Creek into a super-spreader.  (1) Always keep SAFE social distance, (2) Wear your MASK when in closer quarters such as checkout, (3) Monitor your CHILDREN to ensure that they follow these hygiene protocols.  Regarding (1), 6 feet does not equal 3 feet.  Six feet is a lot more like 6 feet.  Like a fishing pole.  Or a tall person on a luge.  Or 12 big iPhones glued end-to-end with old syrup.  Regarding (2), just do it.  Regarding (3), kids are like dogs and we mean that in the best possible way.  Everyone assumes that their dog is the cutest and friendliest and best behaved.  Same with their kids.  But remember that – while your working assumption is almost certainly true – a stranger might not want your shiny little cherub getting all up in their kitchen right now.  Kiss-of-death kind of stuff.  We know that herding kids can be like putting socks on a rooster, but that’s what you signed up for.  So, while we do not recommend leashes for the kids, we’re asking you for a good faith effort at monitoring and real-time constructive instruction about personal space.  A good principle in general, but this year in particular, remember that one tiny pathogen has caused TREMENDOUS suffering.  Even though Ithaca has been fortunate, covid is still with us, despite the prediction of one luminary that, “…it’s like a miracle, it will disappear,” and advice from the very same to, “Just stay calm.  It will go away.”  Oh, and one more:  (4) Finally, for now, do not bring your own BAGS or containers, to protect the health of our workers and other customers.  We will keep up with state recommendations for u-pick farms as the season unfolds.  Thank you for being the best customers anywhere.  It will be nice 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 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.”  Nick the Donut Kid is back.  Keep him in your thoughts if the line gets long.  If demand for strawberries outstrips supply, have no fear, donuts are here.

Scapes and slushees are here too.  Wash down your donuts with lemon slushees and then redeem yourself with fresh picked garlic scapes – these tender shoots will lift your spirits when sizzled in a pan and drizzled with balsamic.

What else is ready to pick?  For now just strawberries.  But henceforth we will be open 7 days a week til Novemberish.  That means a parade of crops – lord willing the creek don’t rise and she don’t bust out the Dust Bowl.  Starts 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.  Now starts the harvest.

A warm welcome to our newest ‘Creekniks!  Over 1,200 new people have subscribed to get Fresh Crop Alerts in the past few weeks.  Veteran Farmketeers, please show them how things work if you see a newbie lost in the orchards.  We’re all in this together.  But you can pick your fill before you show them the BEST picking spots.  You’ve earned it.

Another insider notion.  The Fresh Crop Alert system works pretty good:  If you get these weekly emails, you’ll stay abreast of the crops, more or less.  But there will be many moments throughout the season when we need to push out a message fast — like, “Whoa, peaches need picking TODAAYYYY!” – but we don’t want to bother you with 3 or 4 emails a week.  Social media is the channel for that kind of reportage, so it would be a good idea to follow our Facebook and Instagram feeds to surf the continual ebbing and flowing of croppage.  We’ll start posting now that the season is going.

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