Indian Creek Farm

DEAR FARMKETEERS, an old book blamed everything on a naked lady, an apple, and a serpent.

But everybody knows it was a hippo and a raspberry.  This is the Raspberry of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  You might scream, “Get thee behind me, hippo!”  Or perhaps you will come pick raspberries.  They are awfully red and juicy.  Come hither, they seem to say.  Come yeeee hither.

The naked lady had nothing to do with it.  Eve was busy making some of the best orchard booze in America.  Next time you travel outside the Finger Lakes foodshed, take some pride with you – such as Albee Hill dry cider by Eve’s Cidery (buy it online for home shipping) – and you’ll make friends fast.  Pictured at sunset in the ‘Dacks.

Yes, the troubles began with a hippo and a raspberry – then generations of grownups did what they do.  Made more messes.  So we are ceding control to the youngsters.  Starting with pie for breakfast.  Fresh raspberry pie before you are half awake and still in your PJs.  Mandatory second servings.

Pick raspberries while they’re fresh!  Strawberry season is OVERRRR.  Don’t let raspberry season pass you by.  Look beneath the leaves for treasures that your neighbors missed.  New berries ripen with each sunny day.  Thanks to farm fan Larissa for the sweet pic of Dad and Penelope.

Raspberries make great ring pops.  Ask any kid.  Or a grownup local yogi who’s feeling kidlike.  Thanks to a ‘Creeknik named Nancy for the fresh picked pop :-)

New!  Come pick garlic!  Kids, too!  It’s pretty easy.  The sum total of evil in the world is NOT decreasing.  Stock up now to beat back vampires and colds.  And SAVE THE DATE (Saturday, July 28) for the 2nd U-Pick Garlic Harvest Party.  See the Facebook event here and invite friends.

New!  Donuts!  The new Mark II Donut Robot is running smoothly now.  Bigger donuts than last year (cherry for scale).  Saturday and Sunday 10:00 to 6:00.  Get a FREE DONUT or FREE SLUSHEE when you stick a farm sticker on your car.

U-Pic Photo of the Week & Farmketeer of the Week.  Paulina explains, “Annual strawberry picking tradition on our son’s birthday.  This year we are happy to be back at Indian Creek Farm where all those years ago I went into labor with him.  Here we are re-creating that day when I was lugging my daughter (who was 1 year old at the time) and two trays of strawberries up and down the hill.  I went into labor with my son right there on the farm, but we had time to go home, eat lunch, drop my daughter off with friends, and then head to the hospital!”  Thank you, Paulina, great story.

And now for the piéce de resistance.  The ultimate kid takeover.  Leila, age 11, one of the spirited orchard sprites at Eve’s Cidery, shines in her new role as Chief Messaging Officer of Indian Creek.  She texted us this anagram through her mama’s phone with a disclaimer:  “Don’t blame me if you lose police customers!”  But no disclaimer needed.  We think it just says this is a safe place for everyone, f-rts and all.  Plus, if everyone is eating tons of fresh garlic…  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

BELOVED ‘CREEKNIKS:  Yesterday was Independence Day, and we were quickly admonished by at least one Farm Fan that we should call it INTERDEPENDENCE Day.

Fair enough.  Nothing says interdependence like the pageant of rampant nationalist fervor called the World Cup.  We hope you are taking a break at 10 AM and 2 PM each day to watch the “contests” on the “pitch” televised from the People’s Oligarchic Kingdom of Putinlandia.  Viva glasnost.

Sadly our neighbor Mexico is out of the tourney.  Our other neighbor Canada never had a prayer with all the tariffs dragging them down.  Meanwhile the Trudeau tit-for-tat is targeting USA strawberry jam (we sh*t you not), but this should not affect picking conditions here at The ‘Creek.  We are onto raspberry season now.  You can pick the LAST 2 ROWS of strawberries and that will be adios for the season.

Yes, razz is the name of the game.  The Strawberry Moon was followed posthaste by the Raspberry Rainbow, captured here over the razz patch by our own Farmer Ly (“Lee”).  You can pick raspberries in the main patch — see the map on the new 2018 brochure – or along the fenceline which is not shown on the map for national security reasons.

Margo and Peter had the right idea, and they earned “Farmketeers of the Week” in the bargain.  The sweetest people you’ll ever meet, loving up on The ‘Creek and volunteering for local causes.  They picked berries before the midday heat.  We encourage all of you to pick in the cool morning hours then report to work just in time for lunch break and scintillating afternoon meetings about… What are we meeting about again?

Pick garlic scapes!  You can save the date for the Big Garlic Harvest Party (Saturday July 28) but meanwhile you can pick your own scapes for stirfry and pesto and snacks.

Meanwhile down at the farm stand you will find sweet cherries, fresh lettuce, scapes, and more goodies as each passing week takes us deeper into harvest season.

New!  Chanterelles!  Locally foraged for you specialty fungus eaters.  Get your treat while supplies last.

After shrooms comes psychedelic desert.  All-star Farm Fan @seganmilverstein combined a pound of chèvre from award-winning hometown cheese artisans @livelyrundairy with raspberries she picked on the farm to create this eye-popping gutbuster of a cheesecake.  Drooool.

Not to be outdone by cheesecake flash and sparkle, Kendall of @kendalls.kitchen created this stirring homage to 1980s convenience culture – fruit “leather” A.K.A. fruit rollup.  Strawberries from The ‘Creek, pitted dates, craisins, Chianti Classico, rhubarb, and a plum!   Yum.

Which brings us to donuts.  Our new Mark 2 Donut RoBoT has been the focus of intense experimentation.  Testing testing 1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7…  We are going to stick out our necks and forecast 100% chance of donuts on Saturday and Sunday 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.  What they will LOOK like is anyone’s guess.  Come be part of the clinical trials.

We will experiment on you for FREE.  That’s right, you can get a FREE donut if you put a new orange sticker on your car while we watch.  It’s not that we don’t trust you… But seriously stick it on, get a donut.

Or a FREE tart cherry slushee!  Same deal, sticker for slushee.  Delicious and refreshing and they will give you brain freeze if you go too fast.  Slurp.  Rest.  Slurp.  Rest.

What are we cooking up here?  Well, steel, yes.  Cold-rolled Russian steel is getting cooked.  But please stay tuned to find out what will happen to this old harrow.  Don’t hold your breath, it could be done in a week or a year.  But stay tuned.  Hint:  Stumphenge.

A meteorological marvel shot by Joanna Upton, Ph.D., here on the hilltop.  Eerily Cold War, but hot and peaceful.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

LOYAL ‘CREEKNIKS: There once was a strawberry named Raspberry.

This was very confusing.  For everyone.  Snickering among classmates.  Jeering from the ‘real’ raspberries.  Awkward on the dating scene.  ID problems at the DMV.

And there once was a raspberry named Strawberry.  Same deal, quite the tag to be saddled with.  What were the folks thinking?  Years of needless suffering.

One day they met on 44th Street.  That midtown diner near the Cornell Club.  And it was instant.  And it was good.  And they became ONE.  It resolved a bunch of confusion and tension.  And they lived more or less happily thereafter for a pretty long time.  The End.

Yes, farm fans, it is a rare thing when strawberries and raspberries come together.  As rare as the strawberry moon.  Did you see it last night?  This might be the only weekend of the year when you can pick both berries.

But you will have to come early.  And get lucky.  There will be lots of pickers on Friday before the heat, and raspberries are ONLY JUST STARTING.  Scattered ripe ones to be found.  Should be strawberries to pick, at least on Saturday morning.

90% chance of donuts.  Just got a new (used) machine.  Trying to fire it up for the scorchiest weekend of the year.  Lemonade and tart cherry slushees to wash ’em down and cool you off.  A great (local and farm fresh) yogi once said (this morning), “It’s gonna be hot out there.  Drink more water than you’ve ever drinken, then drink more.”  Roger that, yogi.  And namaste on the grammar.  Down dog donuts = 90% ≠ 100%.

Farmer Emily is back with her greens and reds.  Find out what she’s stocking at the stand, first batch of the year.  Save the lettuce from the heat.  Take it home to eat.

Farmer Greg, who brought you the strawberry crop, also has garlic scapes.  Ripped fresh outta the garlic patch.  Get yours at the farm stand for monstrously good pesto and stirfry choppings.  Some people just eat ’em.

Undefeated!  This pint-sized strawberry hunter gets Farmketeer of the Week and the “U-Pic” photo prize.  Check your (dad’s) email inbox for the gift certificate.

Well that’s the dope for Friday, June 29, 2018.  Last chance at strawbz, first crack at raspbpsbps, high chance of donuts.  Guaranteed swelter.  Love you and hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

FARM FANS, there once was a strawberry named Raspberry.  Quite confusing.  For everyone.  Get the thrilling conclusion to that epic drama in next week’s Fresh Crop Alert.

Meanwhile, another confusing story:  You can come NOW (Thursday and Friday) to beat weekenders to the strawberry patch OR come Saturday and Sunday to munch the first donuts of the year.  Possible solution:  Try both.  Thanks to Farm Fan @heather.april for the fun photo.

It’s true, donuts are starting earlier than ever before.  Why wait?  The solstice is the longest day of the year, but that means the days are already getting shorter.  So let’s start living.  Nothing says “I’m taking charge of my NOW” like a baggie of fried dough.  Nuts.  Donuts.

Another good living tip:  take your strawberries into the wilderness.  Yes, camping turns to glamping with a homebaked strawberry pie.  Find the best spots for your next outdoor adventure at gofingerlakes.org, a web site by the Finger Lakes Land Trust, the conservation organization supported by individuals who love our region.  You can become a member to support their work.  We need everybody to put skin in the game.  Protecting land forever won’t happen by itself.

Prepare for a longer mountain outing with “rhuberry crisp” bars.  Thanks to @segan.milverstein who raided our berry patch in the FLX then hit the peaks of the ADK.

Or turn your berries into body-boosting smoothies.  Farmer yogi Nicole Stumpf shares her recipe on Instagram and her practice on her web site.  Fresh strawberries, frozen blueberries, Mylk (sunflower seeds and water), banana, honey, Maca root powder, and coconut cream.  Mmmmm.

Say hello to the Farmketeers of the Week!  This determined duo brought home the berries AND the bacon:  they are getting the U-PIC prize for best picking pics.  Thanks to Farm Fan Shira (mama) for sending this photo and the next one.  Gift certificate on the way.

“I will NOM NOM all the berries unless you get out here nowwww!”  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek

DEAR ‘CREEKNIKS:  Have you ever heard of a strawberry pushover?  What what?  It’s a turnover, you say?  Well, sorry, but we have to correct your correction.  There are a bunch of strawberry pushovers right here on the farm.  It’s us.

See, we hatched that little “U-Pic” offer last week, first time ever.  “Send us your pics,” said we, “and the winner will get a prize.”  But this week, right now in fact, we are announcing that EVERYBODY who sent photos to the U-Pic inbox is getting a gift certificate.  Check your email, winners.  Just don’t expect us to be pushovers all summer.  Fresh fruit certificates do not grow on trees.

Before we reveal the winning photos, please say hello to the Farmketeers of the Week.  First ones of 2018.  Meet Theresa and Jo, who picked 20 pounds of berries on opening day.  They tore into the patch and took boxes of booty back to their farmstead in Dryden.  It’s called Underhill Farm and you can look them up later this summer because they have a little blueberry patch.  Meanwhile, COME PICK STRAWBERRIES NOW BEFORE WEEKEND CROWDS.  Open 9 AM to 7 PM every day.

How about this dandy U-Pic from Christy J?  Also known as @scout.ithaca.  She clearly has an eye for high fruitshion.  But she, and all the other winners, will have to work harder for the $11 prize.  Only “tenners” were sent out in this first round.

Another fruit-forward submission from Scout.  Is this a magazine or real life?  Real sweet, anyway.

Here we are back on the farm.  Shauna D shared this U-Pic of Team Tiger.  “It’s the eye of the tiger, it’s the thrill of the fight, rising up to the challenge of our rivals…” finding strawberries before they’re all gone.  “And he’s watching us all with eyeeeee of the tigerrrrrr…”

Her strawberry accoutrement game is STRONG.  Chris P made our inbox smile with this U-Pic of his daughter.

Suzanne B submitted this first U-Pic of all time within hours of the Fresh Crop Alert.  She received her gift certificate right away and has plans to spend it on a second trip to the strawberry patch.  Thanks for playing.

This was a pleasure to find in the inbox.  Eating strawberries by nose.  Stefanie C says, “Carter is obsessed with gardening and had the best time picking strawberries.”

But to all of you who think you are showing adequate Strawberry Spirit… Bow down to the BERRY QUEEN.  Aquillah at the Finger Lakes Land Trust says, “Ho hum, just another day at the office, saving Finger Lakes farmland forever.”  Did you know?  Indian Creek is a conserved farm, protected permanently by an agricultural easement.  We appreciate conservation organizations like the Land Trust that dedicate their work to preserving open space in our region.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

LOYAL FARMKETEERS:  We searched high and low for a strawberry-ginger kid to kick off strawberry Fresh Crop Alerts.  As usual nepotism “trumped” talent and we handed the job to Maximilian, scion of the orchard here at The ‘Creek.  After all, everyone knows that meritocracy isn’t fair to family members who have no skills and poor judgement.  At any rate Max’s prospects are limited even with this boost from above; he is second in line – an ersatz Prince Harry – after his big brother Koll who has the advantage of using almost full sentences.

What would Max tell you if he was a useful age?  Strawberry season has begun; please come pick now.  The crop will wane and wax daily; it is first come, first get.  We are open 9 AM to 7 PM every day.  There is not much in stock at the farm stand yet – you have to pick your own berries in the field.  Berries are $6 a quart with bulk discounts for determined pickers – only $32 for an 8-quart box (33% savings).  Pick rain or shine.  Ideally before Saturday’s rain.

Veteran Farm Fans know that The ‘Creek will only be partially combobulated this early in the year.  We don’t reach full Disney production values til well into October, just in time to shut down for the season.  So pardon our dust and spotty signage.  You should wander basically leftward – southward for you serious hikers – from the main driveway and you will find the strawberry field.  It is uphill of last year’s pumpkin field.  Just west of last year’s Brussels sprouts.  East of the tomatoes which aren’t visible yet.  Far north of Elmira.

A few other goodies will trickle into the farm stand.  For starters you will find the first garlic greens if Greg picks enough to keep up with demand.  You can treat them like any other stirfry treasure.  Next in the garlic collection we’ll have garlic scapes, then garlic proper.  Probably a blowout garlic picking party like last year.  Save the date in July.  We don’t have a date yet so best to keep your July clear.

Pears are doing their upside-down dance this time of year.  Really, that’s how they start life.  Lots of other crops are coming along, too.  Should be a great year for peaches, pears, plums, apples, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, pumpkins, squashes, garlics, sprouts, flowers, herbs, cider and donuts.  Yes, we are saying it SHOULD be a great year for crops.  But if you want to make the goddess laugh, tell her your plans.

New this year!  Our “U-Pic” special.  Made it up yesterday.  The only such deal in America maybe.  Send us pics of you and your people picking stuff at the farm, and we will feature your photos in our Fresh Crop Alerts and social media posts and all that – AND we’ll send Indian Creek gift certificates to the winners with the best photos!  Who knows how often we will award the prizes; really it’s just another thing on our to-do list which seems to get longer every day.  (Oh crap, that thing on the tractor thing just broke again.)  But we would love to share your funnest/neatest/prettiest photos, and we will send out some $10 certificates.  Maybe even $11.  As you can see there is not much financial incentive for you to do this and it’s not much of a deal.  But the offer stands.  Send your best shots to upic@indiancreekithaca.com.  Thank you, cheers to you all, and hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

LOYAL ‘CREEKNIKS:  All signs say we are on the downward slope to offseason oblivion.  Heck, one sign even harkens back to the days of subprime rates, instructing you to “pay what you think it’s worth.”  We can’t slide much further down the slope of ignominious business models than that.  Nonetheless you can assume the farm is still a going concern and open until further notice.  We’ll say otherwise at some point.

Yes, iCreek is still open every day.  You can get fresh cider jugs in the cooler, Brussels sprouts in the field or at the stand, and Empire apples for 95¢ a pound.  You can visit between 8 AM and 5 PM (or so) and use the honor system.  It’s cash only now.  You just jam your bills into the gray metal box.

That’s the news for this week.  Now it’s time for the real propaganda:  THANK YOU TO ALL FARMKETEERS for our best season ever.  By far!  Thousands of you have posted your farm visits on Instagram.  Look at all these great times…

And that ain’t even the half of it.  We have the best, sweetest, most laid-back customers on the Pale Blue Dot – where “every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives” (Carl Sagan).  Thank you all for being weird and easygoing.  And for spending your ducats locally at a small farm.

Well, everyone, this is the last weekly newsletter of the year, but we won’t say sayonara just yet.  Within two weeks you’ll get the annual spiel about Apple Gift Boxes.  You’ll be able to order online and send a beautiful box of heritage apples to your friends and families.  Meanwhile, hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

EVERYBODY KNOWS that donut birds fly south in November.  We ought to be able to steel ourselves.  But it hurts.  It hurts and it just happened.  THE END.

Well that was a bit DRAMA QUEENYYY.  It’s true that the donuts flew the coop – they were seen yesterday soaring over Taughannock which is north of here but remember that donuts fly in large circles (duh) eventually ending up south – but it is not THE END.  The farm stand is still open.
Every day, you can get the following farm-fresh items:  Cider, apples, pears, garlic, onions, taters, sprouts, honey, and syrup.  The cider is pressed fresh every week.  Taters got plucked from the ground the other day.  Sprouts are still in the ground if you want to lop them yourself.  Remember Empire apples are still ON SALE for 95¢ per pound.  You obliterated the Cortlands and Galas.  Good on yas!

And now for the Farmketeer of the Week.  A most extraordinary one.  Credentials nonpareil.  Possibly even overachieving.  Check it out.  So we’re having a wee dram at the Finger Lakes Cider House up the road and the host says, “I’ve been reading Fresh Crop Alerts for SIX YEARS SINCE THE VERY BEGINNING, and me and my friends, we used to have planning parties where we’d read the alerts together and scheme our weekly farm visits THEN I moved to Chicago for 5 years and read them the whole time I was gone AND now I’m back and I read them every week AND I send your apple gift boxes to my family in Texas and Chicago every year AND I’m making a miniature apple-themed quilt.  Do I win?  Do I win Farmketeer?”  Well, geez, Karin P.  Does an apple farmer bleed sweet cider?  Yeah, you win.

This week we find encouragement in a touching note from farm fan Amanda L., who would have won Farmketeer of the Week if not for Karin P. who obviously had it on lock down since 2012.  Amanda’s post on Facebook reminded us of why we have opened this farm to the community, why we invite the public to bumrush the place every weekend and throw tantrums when we run out of donuts, indeed why we keep farming at all (it ain’t for the 401k):  “I truly love this place, everyone is so kind, my husband and I came here today to go for a walk because it’s just so wonderful here, and as we were coming back and it was closing you offered us free donuts, it was so kind.  I have never been to a business that is so kind to customers or just visitors, I was surprised and so thankful.  As I very much enjoy coming here, I also brought my preschool classroom here a few weeks ago, it was such a wonderful time.  I love this farm and it’s bittersweet that the winter months are coming.”  Thank you, Amanda, for making us cry in our cereal!  Thank you, Farmketeers!

Go ahead.  Laugh in derision at our hillbilly cobjob Mad Max digging rig.  Yes it is homemade and yes those apple crates are filled with concrete doped with steel scraps.  Yes some parts of the machine are ACTUALLY held together by duct tape and bailing wire.  We’re not putting on airs.

But the “Tall Boy” is humming like never before.  A recent DIY session in the barn, powered by arctic blast anxiety and @gimmecoffee cappuccinos, gave us a sense of small-time, everyday, unsung heroics.  So we’re singing about it here.

You lock six human brains in a barn with a vintage, asthmatic, temperamental mechanical beast… something good might happen.  Thus 40,000 baby fruit trees will be saved from winter’s bite as we trundle through the nursery rows this week.  You dig the digger?

Winter is a time for reflection.  But don’t get too reflecty!  You’ll freak yourself out.  Step outdoors even when it’s not strictly necessary.  Explore your Finger Lakes.  Come to the farm anytime.  Hike around.  Use the playground.  Cut Brussels sprouts in the snow…

…even curse the gods at the top of your lungs.  Let it rip.  Nobody will hear you in the orchards.  We won’t report you to the thought police.  Of course your thoughts become our intellectual property, but that is a minor concern.  You can trust us.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

SOME SAY HOORAY; some say, No way!  When that single hour of light moves to the morning from the night, you get winners and losers.  Should we split it down the middle with the hatchet of compromise?  Give 30 minutes to the morning larks and half an hour to the nightbirds?  60-40?  It won’t matter.  However you chop it, there is less sunlight to go around.  So we have to look for lights where we can find them.

How about these burning beacons in the orchard?  The kickass kindergarteners of Enfield Elementary School left us the biggest, brightest thank you note you’ll ever see!  Makes us soooo proud!  It was our privilege to host ye little scapegraces!  Obviously our Farmketeers of the Week.  Livelier than a troupe of two-tailed puppies.  Nobody else stood a chance.

Here’s the “Brownie Picker” they’re talking about.  Brownies don’t grow on trees, but apples do and Brownie helps us reach them.  Also allows Farmer Dusky to make rousing speeches to the apples – they are great listeners and never interrupt.  He will take questions at the end.

Another bright light:  You can still get appley donuts and heirloom treats such as Ashmead’s Kernel.  These live at opposite ends of the apple spectrum.  Highly processed fried wheat flour doped with white sugar, on the one hand, and exotic heritage fruit handpicked off the tree, on the other.  They each have a place and a purpose.  Donuts served on Saturday and Sunday 10 to 4.  Apples available every day.

Still shining in the darkness is our BIG 95¢ APPLE CLEARANCE SALE on Gala, Empire, and Cortland.  People have been loading up for making pies, crisps, snacks, rings, and lunchbox stuffers.  At 95¢ per pound, even Paul Manafort can afford a bag after posting his $12.5 million bail including Trump Tower apartment.

Orchard Ambrosia still flows.  Get your gallons and half-gallons in the fridge at the stand.  Get extra and freeze it.  It freezes great.  Apples will be gone soon.  Homebrewers, drop off your carboys now or wait 322 days to get the finest unpasteurized booze-making nectar in the land.  Leave your bottles inside the doors that say “Do Not Enter.”  Write your name and phone on the bottle.  We will call you when filled.  We are pressing at least once a week.  Price is $8/gal which drops to $7/gal when you order 6+ gallons.

Brussels sprouts are hitting peak season.  They like it chilly and even snowy.  Come lop your own.  Find the piano in the field and the loppers should be leaning nearby if your fellow Farmketeers had the shred of decency to put them back.

A light from distant lands.  Welcome to Kazakhstan, NY.  We are recreating the ancestral homeland of the apple right here at Indian Creek.  Exotic and heirloom apples in a jumbled miniature orchard.  From Sieversii Malus to Wickson Crab to Redfield to Storm Apple No. 13… Oh the picking will be done in a forest of fun.  Coming soonish.

Perhaps the brightest light of all.  This deal will really bring ‘Creekniks clamoring out of their caves.  Our ANNUAL DEAD FLOWER SALE starts now.  Take them all.  Free.  Arrive early.  It’s gonna be like Black Friday around here.

We are still open every day 8 to 5.  Farm Kitty is in charge of the stand on weekdays.  Thus it is self-serve.  There is a gray metal box for cash.  You can use credit cards on the weekends.  You will find us here Saturday and Sunday by the woodstove with donuts (served til 4 pm) and a half-decent attitude if you catch us at the right moment.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

DEAR LOVER OF LOCAL FOODS:  Are you a Farmketeer or ‘Creeknik?  Have you ever pondered this existential dilemma?  Have you mulled it with cloves and cardamom?

A Farmketeer is all business.  Always on the move.  Flapping her wings.  Scoring first crack at fresh crops.  Picking apples with two hands.  Never squeezing the peaches.  Keeping the farm buzzing.  Singing to the sprouts.  Our Farmketeers of the Week:  These two l’il dumplins who popped up on our Instagram feed.  You are an inspiration.

A ‘Creeknik is a creature of the porch.  The universal, cosmic, intergalactic Front Porch.  She watches the cavalcade of seasons, sipping on a mint julep.  Scoops up the last of each crop.  Never forgets that languor and indolence are the creators of improbable new worlds.  “Just because I’m daydreaming doesn’t mean I’m not working.”  A ‘Creeknik is never forceful, always purposeful.  She finds a way to harvest grape leaves even when she feels like a couch potato.

Which flavor are you?  Luckily, you don’t have to decide today.  But Lord knows the day will come.  We have seen the signs.  Saint Ichabod of Assisi appeared in the herb garden.  So you might take this moment to start thinking about your essence.  Farmketeer?  ‘Creeknik?  Either way, for the time being, we have something for each of you.

95¢ Apple Sale – Empire, Gala, Cortland.  Get these while supplies last for eating, saucing, baking.  Load up for 95¢ per pound.  Already picked and ready at the farm stand.  Priced to move.  Heck, when you get here, you can even tell us that you want the EXTRA SPECIAL 94¢ deal.  We’re cutting deals like Papadopoulous.  We don’t keep pennies in the drawer.  FYI.

Exotics and heirlooms.  Have you ever caught yourself voting for the pretty candidate?  The one with the gleaming teeth and superb coiffure?  Only to find out they’re a charlatan or worse – vapid?  How about the humble one with the scars and gnarls and crow’s feet and wizening?  Try Golden Russet and others now that Honeycrisp season is a distant memory.

Scabby, blemished apples make great cider.  Our sweet cider and slushees continue.  Fresh, cold-pressed Orchard Ambrosia.  Unpasteurized.  We squeeze the fruit.  You drink the nectar.  Important bulletin:  When we run out of apples, we can’t make cider.  This will happen soon.  Some of you really loveeeeee Ambrosia.  Stock up.  It freezes beautifully.

Donuts are still going 10 to 4 on Saturday and Sunday.  They were supposed to be a sideshow but they’ve taken on a life of their own.  That probably means that when you’re out here picking fruits and vegetables, you work up a hunger for a treat.  What should we add next year?  Local ice cream with farm fresh peach and raspberry sauces?  Handcut French fries with herbs from the garden?  Sweets or savories?  You can email the treat committee if you want:  news@indiancreekithaca.com.  Plant the seed now and give us 9 months to pull it together.

Brief commercial break for cat and kitten.  They are getting along pretty good now.  When they’re sleeping.  Got to build on the positives wherever you can find em.

Drop off your carboys now.  Do not wait.  When apples are gone, no more booze juice.  Leave your bottles at the farm stand inside the double doors that say “Do Not Enter, Employees Only.”  Write your name and phone on the bottle.  We will call you after next pressing.  Price is $8/gal which drops to $7/gal when you order more than 5 gallons.

You can pick more sprouts this week.  Come lop your own stalks in the field by piano #3.  Many of you have never seen a stalk of sprouts.  First strip off the leaves, then lop, then pop the sprouts off the stalk for cooking.  Fry them with bacon or roast and drizzle with balsamic reduction.  Singe the tips a little.

We still have honey from two local families:  Five Pads Farm (just up the street) and Gil’s Honeybees based in town.  Nice people.  Local bees.  Great way to support small, local food producers.  Find their jars at the stand.

There’s Sean from Five Pads Farm.  Get his garlic at the stand and roast it up.  Spreads like butter.  His maple syrup is on display, too.  Heat it up a little and pour over nuts.

Look at this cat-o-lantern in honor of Fe Fe and Mou Mou.  Since they’re getting along better.  Joanna overachieved on this one.  Anything for the furballs.

We are out in the nursery these days, digging 40,000 baby fruit trees and putting them into these pretty bins for winter storage.  That means we’ll let the farm stand go self-serve during the weekdays.  Open 8 to 5 every day.  You’ll see us here on the weekends.  We expect to stay open a few more weeks, perhaps til Thanksgiving.  Thus you might get another few newsletters, then things will taper off for the winter.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.