Indian Creek Farm

Strawberries, Raspberries, and How the Horn of Plenty Works.

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Indian Creek Farm

A FARM IS A STUDY in timing. Sometimes we have nothing but dirt—messy dirt, dusty dirt, and dirty old dirt. A bumper crop of dirt.

Nobody ever asks, How much for a pint of dirt? Do you have good dirt for making pies? Can we come pick your dirt?

Then, all of sudden, we have a whole mess of strawberries. Handsome berries as big as train cars with Botox perma-smiles.

And that’s when we sound the Horn of Plenty. We send out a Fresh Crop Alert. Within a few hours, there is a crop mob in the berry patch.

Gentle and kind Ithacans play bumper cars. They tussle over the ripest specimens. They covet their neighbors’ berry boxes.

Some late arrivals, alas, leave empty-handed. The field can get picked pretty clean—but new berries ripen through the day and the field recharges.

Same deal with raspberries. We got berries as big as turtles. We sound the horn. Pickers come out of the woodwork.

Some families pick a snack. Others stock up for jams, jellies, pies, and smoothies. Some pick in the morning, some in the evening.

It’s a tricky timing game, life on a small farm. Patience and persistence are your most valuable virtues. One sneaky tip is to come out on the rainy days. We’ll keep you notified with this weekly newsletter and our daily Facebook updates.

Soon the farm stand will be open with a bounty of new crops. Nobody will leave empty-handed. We’ll even have—gasp!—a phone. Til then, strawberries and raspberries are on the scene. Thanks for picking at The ‘Creek.

Posted in Crop Alerts & Farm Buzz | Tagged raspberries, small farm, strawberries | Leave a comment

9 Rows of Strawberries, 28 Spinning Toasters, and 1 Italian Wedding.

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Indian Creek Farm

YOU BERRY MONSTERS are a wonderful site each morning, vacuuming up the ripest specimens, vanishing by the sleepy afternoon, and reappearing for a final sunset sweep. Bravo and thank you, friends.

Strawberry season continues this week. Successive waves of berries ripen with each sunny spell. All 9 rows, about 10,000 plants, are producing.

Lots of berries, but hordes of pickers, too. Your best bet is the morning after a sunny day. Weekends are a scramble—to the early birds go the spoils!

You can score totally legal insider tips at our Facebook page. We update it daily with strawberry status.

Well that is the picking news. Stay tuned for a raspberry alert. The early varieties are fast-tracking and the bees are working double shifts.

ABOUT THOSE SPINNING TOASTERS

There once was a log named The Log. An old oak tree, fallen but not forgotten. It was bigger than Zorro and worked almost as hard.

We picked up The Log one day with our picker-upper. Just to have a look-see. Just to dream a little and wonder aloud.

Hauled it down to a petite country sawmill. A mom-and-pop joint down in Alpine Junction. Down in the valley between old glacial hillocks.

They have a quicker picker-upper than we have. A handsome buggy with Dutch doors and a grabber claw. A household item in Logville.

While The Log was down in Logville, we strung up this doodad. The tape measure is just for looks. You can tell we were “eyeballing.”

Mom-and-pop gave us a jingle and we retrieved the planks. Sanded them down, stained them up, and screwed them into our dubious T-frame.

Some of you may remember this table from the Pigs-n-Apples Party last fall. The big table with no chairs, where everybody painted pumpkins.

Winter came and went. Our brains thawed and we realized that a table without chairs is a wagon without wheels. So we set the factory a-rolling.

Decided that round was a good shape. Basically, you got round or square. Flipped a coin and when it came out square we decided round anyway.

Started looking like a pizza shop. Maybe we were just hungry.

When the wood part was done, we called in the metalheads. They started doing what they do. Noise and sparks and testosterone galore.

Hey, little brother, hold this plate while I torch it at 6,000 degrees.

OK, now hold this one, the glowing orange part.

Some assembly was required, then we dumped the seats into the Subaru.

Tried one on for size before the final approach.

And bingo! A picnic spot for the whole family—all 28 of you. A place to be Chairman of the Board of your life, with your 27 imaginary assistants.

A cozy country wedding spot, where nobody will be seated at the “wrong” table. No family schisms here, just one blue-green blob of humanity. A toast!

Note to parents: THE SEATS ACTUALLY SPIN. It helps with comfort and usability. But if you have trained your kids to jump on chairs and tables, they will need to know.

IT’S A WORKING FARM

In fact we’ll remind everyone generally to take care while visiting the farm. It is a working farm. Not that anything actually WORKS right now.

But seriously, it is a working farm with tractors and machines going round. There could be rusty screws on the ground and holes to twist your ankle.

There are pets and bees and bugs and chickens. Falling apples could plunk you on the head. We try to secure everything with duct tape, but be smart.

SPEAKING OF COUNTRY WEDDINGS

All of us at Indian Creek send our love and felicitations to Simon and Gaia, dear friends of the farm who have volunteered so many hours here. They are married as of today in rural Spoletto, Italy. Hip hip hooray. Thanks for reading. Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

Posted in Crop Alerts & Farm Buzz | Tagged country life, farm, Photos, picnics, raspberries, small farm, strawberries, weddings, welding, woodwork | 1 Comment

Find Your Thrill on Strawberry Hill, and on Face-bock-bock.

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Indian Creek Farm

TO A STRAWBERRY, you are Godzilla. You stomp and chomp with great smashing and gnashing. But the berries like it. They love it. They live for it.

They celebrate strawberry season as the time to embrace the ultimate fate of a strawberry. It is peak season for betrothals and berr mitzvahs.

These two loveberrds got jittery when the photographer came round. They wanted everything to be just perfect, but Berryanne dropped the bouquet.

No problem, Shortcake. Let’s try again. Places, everyone! Find Your Thrill on Strawberry Hill … Take 2!

And on that sunny June day, sweet Berryanne and big Smoothie found their bliss. We farmers were only too glad to help them on their way.

Won’t you help the others? We have a big crop this year, despite the heavy rains. Perspicacious pickers have been out here every day.

We have the stand ready for self-serve shopping. Come under the portico to find picking boxes, pre-picked quarts, and the slot for your bills.

You don’t want to come in the side door. It is the door closest to the phone jack, and we have barricaded it against federal wiretappers.

Don’t be scared if you see Sheila in the parking lot. Remember, God loves ugly. Anyway, her bark is worse than her bite. Not much, mind you!

Here is the shopping zone. We will open up the full farm stand later in the season, when fresh crops are coming in left and right.

Here are the berries. Grab and go for $6 a quart, or pick your own to save a bundle. Only $4 a quart and $12 for a 4-quart box!

The strawberry field is out back this year, on the hilltop with glorious views. Follow the signs for tomatoes, even though there are no tomatoes yet.

The first sign is the most challenging of all. The post is empty, and the welcome sign is 50 feet up the road. Beat this stage and you are on your way.

After a few more brain teasers, you will see this one. The yellow arrow is your man. Follow that up to Strawberry Hill.

It’s a nice hike, not too steep, and your cardios will be gently roused. If you are driving, you can park on the grassy strip, on the left side of the photo.

If you arrive at this rock, you are lost. Fire your iPhone’s flare gun—the Feds can eavesdrop on THAT—and we will escort you to the berry patch.

Speaking of berry patches, the raspberries are coming along beautifully. Stay tuned for a raspberry alert in a few weeks.

The best way to keep up with farm buzz is to follow our Facebook page. While these emails come out weekly, Facebook is updated daily as crops ebb and flow.

It has been a joy to see so many of you picking berries despite the rain and mud. With a little sun we will have an absolute explosion of strawberries. In honor of Father’s Day, we leave you this bouquet of weeds wrapped in duct tape.

Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

Posted in Crop Alerts & Farm Buzz | Tagged farm, food, fresh crop, nature, Photos, plants, Small Farms, strawberries, u-pick | 1 Comment

Strawberry Soft Launch Saturday!

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Indian Creek Farm

JUST A QUICK NOTE to announce the opening of u-pick season. You can pick strawberries starting at 8 AM on Saturday. We’ll be open every day til sunset for self-serve u-pick action. First come first serve!

You can find some big ones out there. Here’s a Greek coin for comparison, about the size of a silver dollar. Alexander the Great supports this message.

There is enough crop to get some of you started, but the full bounty will kick in over the next few weeks. So we’re calling this the Soft Launch.

Soft and sloggy is more like it. Rain and mist will continue for a few days, so only the intrepid picker will venture out. Your chance to beat the crowds.

The field is at the back of the farm, up the hill near Stumphenge. Our sign guys are up to their usual tricks—look for this corner to find the strawberries.

Good news: Strawberry prices will be the same as last year. $4 a quart when you pick your own, and only $12 when you pick a 4-quart box!

So come out this weekend to pick the early bloomers, and stay tuned for the next crop alert about the thrill of peak strawberry season.

Meantime, we’ll be planting new orchards that you can pick in 4 or 5 years…

…and saying “Bon voyage!” to one of our long-time nursery hands. Greg is taking his greggy show on the road in a big way.

A big GREEN way. He is converting this bus into a Mobile Street Medicine Unit—for first aid and training at protests nationwide.

Alright, then, that’s it for now. Please note that we are setting up a new phone system at the farm stand and there is no phone number yet. Anyway the stand won’t be open for weeks to come—it’s just strawberry self-serve season for now.

Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

Posted in Crop Alerts & Farm Buzz | Tagged Photos, pick, pick your own, Small Farms, strawberries, u-pick | 1 Comment

Farm Kid Frolic, and Four Words About Strawberries.

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Indian Creek Farm

YOU NEVER THINK, “Mother Theresa wasn’t all that,” when you are in the bathtub. You don’t say, “Grrrr,” in anyone’s general direction. And you don’t pray that your neighbor’s emerald lawn turns the color of old apple butter.

That’s because everything is pretty good when you are in the tub. Good and happy. Well, farm kids have something like that, too. It’s called a puddle.

Or a “puggle” or “guhgull” or “da-da,” depending on whom you ask. But anyway, puddles and shadows all in one day! It’s like Christmas on Memorial Day.

Today we splash in honor of the Greatest Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and—yes—even the Millenials (they are trying hard, in their own way).

Here we offer proof that the newest crop of humans is grasping the nettle of life, the mud of truth, the squish of integrity.

They are being trained in mission critical skills. An outing to Stumphenge focused on advanced weed identification and dandelion dispersion.

Great job, little one. Except you bent the stem, crushed the puff, and blew on the wrong part. So, epic fail, but every kid gets a trophy these days.

Apparently trophies aren’t enough—youngsters want total freedom in the bargain. Listen, Sprout, freedom doesn’t grow on trees.

Maybe a change of scenery will soften the blow of reality. Down at the Not Okay Corral, Papa tries to fix three busted trucks at once.

Obviously there are too many spinny things in this engine. Any toddler worth his weight in motor oil could figure that out.

Better let us kids help. Is there anything more life-affirming than the blissful concentration of working in the shadow of dad?

Only the Buddha-like contentment of a 244-piece socket set. “I’ve got the one piece they need and I’m going to HIDE IT!”

Or the euphoria of a meal that’s longer than your leg. Like those six-foot party subs that swept suburbia back in the 70s.

Or the thrill of the hunt, when your prey doesn’t move a muscle. Because it is a TIRE. Natasha, get a clue, you are on the internet now!

Well, Farm Fans, we promised you a few words about strawberries. Four words, to be exact. Here goes…

They. Are. Almost. “Reddy.”

OK, gotta go, just found a very important pebble! See you at The ‘Creek.

Posted in Crop Alerts & Farm Buzz | Tagged Farm Life, Photos, Small Farms, strawberries, weeds | 2 Comments

Fresh Nothing Alert — Shakespeare and Sherlock Predict Strawberries.

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Indian Creek Farm

“IT IS NOT an airy nothing,” said Sherlock Holmes to Doctor Watson. “On the contrary, it is solid enough for a man to break his hand over.”

This week’s crop alert is about nothing—no crops ready to pick—but something all the same. Something solid enough to break one’s hands over.

One’s farmhands, that is. Oh, they usually don’t break. We hope they don’t break. They bend and they sway, but we hope they don’t break.

They swing and they sway, and they sing through the day. They are synchronized swimmers in a sea of small trees.

But really they are hands. More than legs, backs, and boots, they are hands with opposable thumbs… and the dexterity thereby conferred.

They are hands that graft and bud and tape and tie.

Hands that hold and crimp and fold and snip. Hands that trust each other—that trust little brother—with the mashing mandibular crimpers.

Okay, they are faces, too. Like our newest import from the Cumberland Gap—way down where they grow premium rednecks, er, red beards.

And another pair of hands, working a different kind of wire. Not a deer fence, but a vineyard trellis. Training grapevines to grow down the line.

That’d be Alex, our neighbor to the north, just a shalestone skippety-skip across Indian Creek. Which makes his vineyard our Canada, and him our Canuck.

His tea-drinking pinkie, a nod to the Crown?

And Tommy’s tiny seedlings, not yet in the ground.

It is all hands on deck when a clod jams the gear.

And pruning by hand the first trees of the year.

But what is this something? This something that is not a crop… yet not an airy nothing? This rock-solid thing to break your hands over?

It is an idea, a promise. That if you keep plugging away, and steering your tractor toward the flag, you will pull good people in.

Folks will gather when strawberries pop. Bushels of apples will have pickers to pick them. Familiar faces will come to the farmstand.

A great big family of intrepid picker-poets whose imagination, as Shakespeare taught us, “gives to airy nothing  a local habitation and a name.”

Yes, that’s the thing—the nothing that is actually something. “Aye,” cried Holmes, “that’s the genius and the wonder of the thing!”

Well, Farm Fans, that is our Midspring Night’s Dream—you coming out to pick strawberries in “6”… The sixth month. June will be here soon.

Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

Posted in Crop Alerts & Farm Buzz | Tagged crops, cumberland gap, deer fence, farm, Photos, red beards, strawberries, tiny seedlings | 9 Comments

Kildeer Drama Queen Feigns a Broken Wing.

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Indian Creek Farm

A kildeer puts on a bit of theatre for the field crew.

Her eggs are laid in perfect camouflage between the nursery rows.

As we approach the nesting spot, Mother Kildeer feigns a broken wing to draw us—the “predators”—toward herself and away from her young.

The ultimate sacrifice!

Happy Mother’s Day.

Posted in Crop Alerts & Farm Buzz | Leave a comment

Please Come Smell the Farm at Your Earliest Convenience.

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Indian Creek Farm

PEOPLE OF THE CREEK, hello and happy spring. Our Chief Croperating Officer says it is time to talk about buds and blossoms. For the next few days, you will find thousands of fruit trees here bursting with flower power.

A pretty time for a picnic. Come out with the family. Feast your nose on these babies. Won’t be long before the petals fall, and out pops a peach.

The pear trees have salt-n-pepper flowers. Select one (but don’t pick it!) and jam your schnozz right in. Sneeze if you must, it’s part of the game.

Feels like an apple blossom cafe out here. Say, remember the Apple Blossom Cafe? ABC? Great old place with tasty home fries. Fed a lot of folks in town.

Wind and rain will try to knock off the petals before you get here. Now is your chance to show Mother Nature who’s boss. Sneak over soon!

You might find us working as you wander. If you see the lads in this rig, tell them it is beautiful. They built it from scratch this winter.

It’s called a planter. But, really, people do the planting. Dudes ride along and stick trees in the ground. Another dude stamps them in.

Meantime, up in the strawberries, we got a guy tending every plant. Works all 10,000 plants on bended knee. Weeding and clearing for a healthy crop.

Here’s the first strawberry of the year. If you eat it now you will deprive Future You of eating it later. Be kind to your elders, including Future You.

Nothing to see here. Please continue past the science experiment without any snickering. We are professionals and everything is under control.

If you go too far past the berry patch, watch out for the neighbors. They are super mean country people. They will shoo you off with a woofety-woof.

But you’ll get a garlicky grin if you praise their huge garden. They grow garlic galore, hops for beer, and all kinds of stuff next to the farm.

As you walk back down the hill, there is a ‘Henge to rest your hiney. Eventually, we will be scattering picnic tables around the farm.

And soon the Pigs-n-Apples table will have custom-made swivel stools. Got to tick a few things off the to-do list before that happens.

Keep your eyes peeled for Yarlington. He is trundling around in the blue tractor fitting the fields, as they say. Plowing and whatnot.

Doesn’t get more springish than this—fresh dirt turned over by the moldboard plow. It will be a vegetable field this year.

Well, as you can see, things are pretty dandy down here. Walk the 1,600 trees of the dwarf orchard to saturate your neural olfactory networks.

Even the ‘lions are dandy this time of year.

As is Balto. He had a hard winter, but the Cornell vets put him back together.

But there is nothing more dandy than Owen Appleseed in his winter beard. Hurry up and shave, sir, company is coming!

Happy to be in touch again. Stay tuned for strawberry crop alerts. Until then, hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

Posted in Crop Alerts & Farm Buzz | Tagged apple blossom, buds and blossoms, pear trees, Photos | 8 Comments

This Apple Product Will Crush Your iPad So Bad.

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Indian Creek Farm

WELCOME, FRUIT FANS, to the year 2013. We live in confusing times: Linsanity and Honey Boo Boo, a fiscal cliff and a bogus apocalypse. How can we clear our heads? Perhaps a picture-puzzle will help, one that reveals a timeless truth.

Let us begin. If you are you reading this on your new iPad, great. It must be an awfully nice device. Perhaps you’ve named it The Precious or Bob or Sweetie.

As you tinker on your touch screen, take note of the Cummins clan, that weird family down the street. They are digging holes in the yard again.

What the heck are they looking for? Didn’t they get the memo that earthly pleasures are found on the web, not in the earth?

Stubborn old bumpkins, digging holes with a shovel! Any iPad could do that for you. Oh, wait, your new gadget can’t dig a hole? What a pity.

What’s that you say? It can’t be left in the rain, either? You can’t spill merlot on it? You can’t hang a hammock from your iPad, or even a kiddie swing?

And you have to pay for apps? You have to keep charging it to make it work? You can’t even eat it, or squeeze it for juice?

Okay, but surely your gadget gets better with time, right? In 20 years, will Precious be just another Orange Julius in the Food Court of history?

Aye, she will be. Gone and forgotten. But how about those Cumminses: Will their wacky idea be fruitless and forgotten?

No, ma’am, they are planting a tree. An apple tree, raised from a twig at Cummins Nursery, right here on the back acres of Indian Creek Farm.

It is one of 30,000 baby fruit trees that we raise every year, designed specifically for yards like yours. Over 400 varieties.

You can plant one, too. The apples range from Akane to Zestar. Or you can grow Honeycrisp, the trendy (if a little barren, culturally) favorite of soccer moms.

Our apple products beat Apple™ products in head-to-head tests. They don’t freeze like an iPad or butt-dial like an iPhone.

And the savings are amazing. For less than 20 bucks, you can have your dream tree. You can buy a whole orchard for the price of one iPad. But, best of all…

Voila! Bingo! Booyah! Your tree comes preinstalled with hundreds of free apps that update yearly. Each tree is a living gift that could keep on giving for 100 years.

So, gather some friends and dig a hole. Drop in a tree, cover the roots, and do a little dance. Invite the gang back for the harvest each fall.

HOW TO RESERVE YOUR TREES NOW

Now is the time to order. We still have a broad selection, and we’ll ship your tree in time for spring planting. Local friends can pick up trees here on the farm.

Visit the nursery web site at cumminsnursery.com for general info
See our database of available trees and jot down your wish list
Browse the apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, and apricots
Send your wish list to cumminsnursery@gmail.com
We’ll get back to you with a quote and answers to your questions
You can reach us by phone at 607-592-2801.

Tell us where you live so we can steer you towards disease-resistant varieties that are suited for your area. Happy Tree Shopping and Happy New Year.

Posted in Crop Alerts & Farm Buzz | 1 Comment

Ithaca is Georgics: The Year in Pictures.

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Indian Creek Farm

THE ROMAN POET VIRGIL served Dante well, escorting him safely through Hell and Purgatory, only to be dumped for the hottie Beatrice at the gates of Paradise. In those days, pagans weren’t allowed in Heaven, so Virgil was sh-t out of luck through no fault of his own, having lived before Jesus arrived.

But poor old Virgil is welcome in our slice of Paradise any time. We farmers remember him not for his epic Aeneid, but for his books of classical verse about the appeal of agriculture: The Georgics, from the Greek words for “earth” and “work.” And today we thank you, Dear Ithacans, for helping us to derive a livelihood from this earthy work. Let’s take a spin through 2012—our best year ever despite crop failure across the nation—which got us thinking, “Ithaca is Georgics.”

2012 C.E.

Summer began with the crop alert, Strawberries Now! We are not an asparagus farm (yet), so strawberries are the first edibles of the year.

A few weeks later, Double Your Picking Pleasure and Berry Nuts Unite! announced the arrival of raspberries.

By the 4th of July, the farm stand was bursting with berries of every color. We sang Happy Berry-thday, America!

Then we asked you farm fans to Pray for Peaches, Play With Your Food. Extreme spring weather savaged the tree fruits, but we did okay in the end.

Before July departed, we sounded the alarm: All Veggie Fields Ready for Picking! We threw in a little ROY-G-BIV action for the schoolkid in each of us.

When the heat peaked in August, it was time for Pepperoo. Some said we had jumped the shark. But a farmwide produce party was in the planning.

We ducked the sweltering sun one day to dish out Seventeen Biscuits from the Farmer’s Cupboard of Knowledge.

And on the historic day of August 30, 2012, Veggiestock Hit Farm Country With “Pecks, Hugs, and Rock-n-Roll.” Where were you?

A strange week followed, in which we could only muster this message: The Women Have Left the Farm, and Other Curious Tidbits.

In September, the cider was flowing and the donuts got going. The big question was, Will the Donuts Hold You Over Until the Pig Farmers Arrive?

The First Annual Pigs-n-Apples Party was momentous. Had fun sending out the Picking Report, Party Pictures, and Feedback for the Farm.

In True Stories from the Farmily, and a Word About Pumpkins, we celebrated all kids with “Henry” in their names.

Five days before Halloween, we announced All the Pumpkins You Can Carry, a Big Pepper Sale, and Photos From Y’all.

Then, in All the Presidents You Can Carry, we complained of how you bought exactly zero items in our Dead Flower Sale. (Grrr.)

As the days got shorter and November settled in, we shared some kitchen tips: Jalapeño Ice Cubes, Flying Saucer Videos, and More Chickens.

The end of November brought the Last Weekend at the Farm Stand. We shifted to our winter work in the nursery.

2013 C.E.

Let’s hope this review of 2012 is a preview of 2013 — when we’ll see a busy farm, hearty foods, and lots of visitors. Meanwhile, enjoy your winter. Next time you are skiing Greek Peak in the town of VIRGIL, remember the patron poet of crops, trees, animals, and bees. Then take a little odyssey through nearby HOMER.

Stay tuned in January for a message from our nursery crew. We’ll tell you how to order a fruit tree to plant in your own yard, or how to send a baby tree as a gift that will keep on giving. Til then, thanks again and Happy New Year.

Posted in Crop Alerts & Farm Buzz | Tagged Photos | Leave a comment

Indian Creek Farm

Strawberries, Raspberries, and How the Horn of Plenty Works.

9 Rows of Strawberries, 28 Spinning Toasters, and 1 Italian Wedding.

Find Your Thrill on Strawberry Hill, and on Face-bock-bock.

Strawberry Soft Launch Saturday!

Farm Kid Frolic, and Four Words About Strawberries.

Fresh Nothing Alert — Shakespeare and Sherlock Predict Strawberries.

Kildeer Drama Queen Feigns a Broken Wing.

Please Come Smell the Farm at Your Earliest Convenience.

This Apple Product Will Crush Your iPad So Bad.

Ithaca is Georgics: The Year in Pictures.

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