Indian Creek Farm

NOBODY IN THE WORLD knows the answer to this question:  “Hkjs kguyt ouyt ugaa skjgt 42 asfafdsak?”

That’s what farming feels like some days.  We don’t know the answers and we can’t pronounce the questions.  And we don’t know who put this chair in the orchard or why.  You can sit on it while cogitating the mysteries.

But we do have sweet corn.  That’s something for your life toolkit.  Corn is for coping.  Use corn to chisel away at what’s eating you.  This is Dusky’s second year of corn-ing and everyone is glad to see his slobberworthy ears back in the bag.

You can pick your own peaches.  These, too, call for slobberance.  Don’t be shy.  We’re not judgy.  Use your shirt for a napkin.  An old farmer trick.  Peach season will go FAST.  Get out here and pick yours or wait til next summer.

Serving suggestion:  Peaches ‘n’ cream.  Ice cream, that is.  Thanks to Farm Fan @acoustic_blue who posted about fresh peach ice cream therapy.

Pick the first tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers!  Easy now, this is the soft launch.  You can forage in the nightshade field (family: Solanaceae) for the first round of heirloom and cherry tomatoes (genus: solanum), purple bell peppers (capsicum), and classic, fairytale, and Japanese eggplant (solanum).  Be smart and be kind.  Only pick eggplants that are full size.  IT IS THE OPPOSITE OF PUPPIES.  You pick out puppies when they are young to get all the wriggly squiggly feels and train them proper.  Eggplant babies are not ready to go home with you.  Taking a baby eggplant home just robs the world of a real eggplant.  The babies will be ready in a week or two.  Give them a fighting chance to size up in the field.  Plus we make more money when you buy them full size.  Somebody has to pay for all the improvements around here.  Let the eggplants do their part.  They’ve had it easy far too long.

Here’s an improvement that appeared out of thin air!  Farmer Steve’s red airplane finally succumbed to the forces of entropy, also known as children, rugrats, squirts, ankle-biters, yougerns, tumble tots.  Then Jamie from down the street, a loyal ‘Creeknik if there ever was one, showed up the other day with a BRAND NEW HOMEMADE BIPLANE.  Just like that.  BOOYAH.  Jamie is not in the photo, he was too modest.  But his team of assistants are pointing at him off camera.  He has thrown down the gauntlet for Farmketeer of the Year, and it’s only August.  Good luck to the rest of you.  You’re going to need it!  Thank you Jamie and family.  Super cool.  Vroooom.

This more modest contraption was cobbled together farm-style from old “plow” parts.  More properly called a disc harrow, but plow is fine for you city types.  It’s a fire pit.  Up at the ‘Henge.  You can see photos of the DIY job here.

Last chance to pick your own garlic.  Farmer Greg (without glasses) is going to leave the field open one more weekend, then strip the crop Monday for curing and storage.  Hundreds of you went half-nuts at the Garlic Harvest Party last weekend; come pick the remaining bulbs by Sunday night.

Something nuevo!  Pumpkin’s sweeter cousin.  Emily brings us a new treat from her veggie field:  Japanese kabocha squash.  It’s a great summer treat, roasted with maple syrup and ginger or lots of creative ways.  Emily has posted recipes at the farm stand, or just hunt around the web:  “kabocha.”

Sugar plum sale – almost gone!  We had 17 boxes on Monday, down to 5 today.  Get a whole box (a peck or 8 quarts) for $24 which works out to $3/quart – just in time for making jams, pies, and puddings.  Plums are very special.  This is the Ousi Wase (“wishy washy”) Asian sugar plum.

Plum coffee cake with pecans!  This delight showed up on Instagram courtesy of @dolcedelightithaca who has emerged as a front runner for Purveyor of Most Delicious-Looking ‘Creek Creations.  (Note:  These are not for sale at the farm.  You have to go to Dolce Delight cafe and bakery up past Ithaca College.)

Fresh apricot almond scones!  Another delight by @dolcedelightithaca.  Apricot season is adios.  Crops really do come and go.  Come experience the August collection.

Fresh raspberry galette with lemon thyme!  You can scrounge for the last summer raspberries now.  Could be a fall crop in September, but last chance for the current batch.  Photo by @dolcedelightithaca.  Thank you, Dolce!

Wash it all down with peach raspberry sangria.  Thank you to @4lettersfood for the photo featuring local flavorites @damianiwinecellars and @myerfarmdistillers and peaches and raspberries from The ‘Creek.  Go Finger Lakes!

Last and probably least:  Pristine apples.  Almost nobody cared about the Yellow Transparent apples of last week.  Now we are into August apples, a little better than July.  Please come pick these.  PLEEEASE?  It’s a real apple.  Real tart.  One of us here at the farm stand says, “They get better the more you eat them… just keep chewing.”  Got to love a gal who can put a positive spin on anything.  But Pristines are good keepers and, for some of you, the first apples of the year.  And that blush!

Entropy.  It wins.  We lose.  But can we lose together?  Love to you all.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

LOYAL ‘CREEKNIKS:  Feeling kind of sheepish today.  Baaaah, baaaaaaaaaah.  Sheepish.  Yes, it feels pretty jump-the-gunny to do this. But let’s do it anyway.

We sound the Horn, er, Hen of Plenty!  Listen as Archie plays the official Indian Creek theme song to herald the start of farm season proper.  We probably could have waited another 2 weeks, but things are popping.  Look at whatall’s ready…

Pick your own peaches & raspberries.  There will be something of a bumrush when word reaches peach-crazed locavores, but you are first to know.  I mean, there are THOUSANDS of you.  But you are all first to know.  Not including Facebook fans who knew first-first.  We cannot take reservations for peaches.  You have to come pick them before somebody else.  Raspberry season still plugging along.

Pick your own garlic.  You can pick any day, but we would love to see you Saturday (RAIN DATE WILL BE SUNDAY) at the 2nd Annual Garlic Harvest Party.  See the Facebook event here and invite friends.  We need tons of people out here clearing out the patch.  Free games and fun and classes.

Dusky’s sweet corn is bacccckkkk!  Many people will be happy.  You can get your ears at the stand anytime.  Dusky might do a corn boil this weekend at the Garlic Party which means butters and cheeses and toppings to delight.

Sugar plum sale!  Get a whole peck for $24 which works out to $3/quart – just in time for making jams, pies, and puddings.  Plum season is short, plums are very special, and they were plucked off our trees just yesterday.  Several varieties including Ousi Wase, the sweet Asian sugar plum.  Yum.

If you don’t love fresh apricots, we can’t be friends.  Okay, we can try.  But thing is, they’re objectively good.  You just have to know how to eat them.  Okay, you just eat them.  There’s no tricks.  Try them on a picnic with your love(s).  The person(s) who make you feel safe and lucky and bold but humble.  The friend(s) who would split their last apricot with you.  Toss the pit to a squirrel.  Love of all sentient beings.

Emily’s cukes.  She is bringing beautiful fresh cucumbers down from the field each day.  Refreshing and ideally paired with a block of feta and raw onions and drizzled EVOO.

Emily’s squash.  Taste of summer.  Last night we sliced yellow zucchini into coins, browned them in cast iron, tossed with peppers, dumped into stewing tomato sauce full of garlic, onions, eggplant, and sweet Italian fryers (not friars!).

Eggplant, peppers, tomatoes.  At the farm stand you will find the first eggplant, sweet peppers, and maybe the first few tomatoes.  The ripening of these first Nightshades pushed us to sound the Horn of Plenty, a.k.a., the cornucopia.

Do you ever feel like nobody thinks you are hot or cute or awesome?  (Even hot cute awesome people can suffer from this psychopathology.  It is called, Why Doesn’t Everybody Love Me Itis.)  That’s how these apples feel.  Because basically nobody thinks the Yellow Transparent apple is hot or awesome.  Except Siberians.  They LOVE these apples.  The Yellow Transparent apple is a cold-hardy variety imported in the 1800s from Putinlandia before it was officially called that.  Ripens in July for the short northern season.  To cut the acidity, people in the olden days added salt and called them salt apples.  We call them Old Yellers.  They make a CREAMY apple sauce, first chance of the year.  Good stuff to be thankful for.  We are tired of people not loving these July apples.  You Farmketeers are really starting to bore us with your Honeycrisp addiction.  Okay, fine, we’ll plant another 1,000 honeycrisp trees and hope you still like that fad of an apple in 10 years.  Meanwhile, please come pick these apples.  Pleaseeee.

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

IS THERE SOMEONE you care for with all your being? And they care for you? And you are good for them and they are good for you? But you can’t be together right now?

It hurts.  And that’s how it will feel if you bite into one of these peaches.  It is hard as a rock.  It just isn’t ready yet.  It might look ready – more beautiful than you remember and all put together on the outside, even flashing a winning smile.  But the inside is what counts.  It will come around.  And love is patient.  DO NOT PICK THE PEACHES YET! 

Same deal with apples.  Pointless pain if you bite them.  This Egremont Russet might look like a snack.  But it’s not ready.  The drumstick (provided for scale) is ready.  You can go to town on that.  DO NOT PICK THE APPLES YET!

Pick your own raspberries.  It is go time.  There are 2 raspberry patches.  Look beneath the leaves.

Get PeAches at the stand.  We have early PA peaches.  Soon we’ll have peaches to pick.  And it won’t be too long til New York has the climate of South Carolina and we can have peaches in January.  Meanwhile, for mid-July peaches, support PA farmers.  They’re people, too, and not so far away.

A slushee for your pain?  Tart cherry and iceeee cold.  The machine is going every day.  They really are refreshing.  We eat them.  Exhibit A:  Amanda on slushee break.

Pick your own garlic.   You can start picking now, but also SAVE THE DATE (Saturday, July 28) for the 2nd Annual Garlic Harvest Party.  See the Facebook event here and invite friends. We need tons of people out here clearing out the patch.

Nosh on blubes.  These are in stock at the stand.  Something to blue-ify your haul of reds and greens.

Sweet cherries.  Cherry season is short.  These are from our buddy Mike up in Sodus.

Greens.  Farmer Emily is bringing beautiful lettuces down from the fields each day.  Support a young farmer.

First squashes!  Emily is stoking the fires of summer with the first squashes of the year.

First cukes!  Again from Farmer Emily.  So fresh and hydrating and cukey smelling.  Put slices on your eyes.  Impossible love means tears.  Your eyes deserve spa day.

Scapes.  Greg’s garlic scapes make exceptional pesto as well as stir fry accoutrements.

Honeys.  Local honey from Gil’s and Five Pads Farm just up the road.  It’s not like that stuff in the squeezy bear.

Donuts every Saturday & Sunday.  Machine running 10:00 to 6:00.  The new machine makes em bigger.   Put a farm sticker on your car and get a free donut or slushee.

What’s behind door number 107?  That’s the Produce Portal.  Your gateway to raspberry patch #2.  And later the Brussels sprouts.  But Lord let’s not think about October crops.  Let’s be HERE NOW.  Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

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.