Indian Creek Farm

A Big Eggplant Sale, a Rare Plum Batch, and a Morning Hasselhoff.

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Indian Creek Farm

JUST LAST NIGHT around the campfire, one of us farmers was asked, “If you could have your brain implanted into someone else’s body, whose would it be?” That farmer said without missing a beat, “David Hasselhoff.”

Incredibly, the Hoff Himself appeared in the Japanese eggplant field this morning. Farmers abroad have seen the Virgin Mother in mountainsides and riverbanks, but we take our blessings where we can get them. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you; you don’t mess around with Jim; and, you don’t hassel the Hoff.

To celebrate this most unexpected fortune, we are having a big sale. Get 50% off Japanese eggplant when you pick a peck. Today through Sunday (July 28), pay only $6 instead of $12. It is a delicious variety with many cooking options. Comment on the blog to share your favorite uses—not everyone knows this variety well.

The little Fairytale eggplants are picking, too, but they aren’t part of the sale. That’s because we really need your help with the Japanese eggplants, to clear the stems and allow the babies to grow. Meanwhile, the classic eggplants, the familiar type, aren’t ready to pick yet. We’ll let you know on Facebook and the crop alerts.

The eggplant fields are in the back. Just walk up Stumphenge Boulevard past the row markers of the Dwarf Orchard. At 16, you’re almost there.

Pass by this sign. Can’t miss it.

On the hilltop, across from the strawberry field, you will see the slingshot. That is the official marker of the eggplant field. Don’t fire the weapon yet. Not until the 2nd Annual Pigs-n-Apples Party at harvest time!

The eggplant rows look kind of plain at first sight. Might look like there is no produce, just a few purple flowers. But have faith. Trust the Hoff.

Tucked underneath the foliage are pendulous specimens of Japanese eggplant. They are sweet, succulent, and awesome for grilling and roasting. Whom do you see?

COME PICK PLUMS.

Same urgency with the plums! They need picking now. We have only a half dozen trees and they are beautifully appointed this year! They’ll be gone by weekend’s end.

The trail begins at the raspberry patch, where you will see a dangling orange ribbon.

Another ribbon dangles over a pile of stuff.

And another flies over the irrigation valve.

Eventually you’ll wind around to the greenhouse.

And that’s where you’ll see beauties like these in small trees. We need your help picking them, but if that is too much work, get a box at the stand.

THE RASPBERRY RACER.

Our modest raspberry patch made the cover of the Ithaca Journal this week. The “Little Berry Patch That Could” still can… and still is. Clever hunters can find plenty despite heavy picking this year. Michelle, Missy, and Morgan cruised down from Cornell in their dune buggy—and left with weekend brunch toppings…

…while the summer interns labored through a massive downpour. Which looks more fun, college or farming? Ahh, they both have their ups and downs. Nothing like the wind in your hair as you tractor a freshly fitted field.

THE FARM STAND IS SINGING.

Well, that’s the picking report. Down at the farm stand, it really feels like summer.

You can check the chalkboard for seasonal status.

We have Pennsylvania peaches as an appetizer—our peaches will be ready REALLY soon. Stay tuned, and please don’t pick the peaches til the green light.

Gobs of goodies are flowing into the stand now.

Culinary staples like onions and garlic, plus blueberries, apricots, sweet cherries, sour cherries, and sweet yellow plums.

THE FRUIT PHONE IS RINGING.

You don’t have to leave a message on the piano anymore. We got a new phone at the farm stand! Here is the number: 607-227-8248. Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

Posted in Crop Alerts & Farm Buzz | Tagged apples, crop, eggplant, fresh, peaches, Photos, plums, raspberries, small farm | 1 Comment

Crazy Early Apples to Pick, and a Review of the Babies’ Progress.

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Indian Creek Farm

NEVER THOUGHT WE’D SAY THIS, but Zorro had the right idea. Dug himself a hole to expose the cool soil, and hunkered beneath the orchard office.

Poor guy is built for cooler climes, high up in Basque country, bred to guard sheep on steep mountain slopes. We don’t have sheep, but we do have apples.

In fact, we already have apples for you to pick! They are our earliest variety, called Yellow Transparent. There are a few such trees in the Vintage Orchard.

According to our fellow apple fanatics in England, Yellow Transparents are crisp, light, and juicy—and ideal for drying, freezing, saucing, and juicing.

Raspberry picking continues apace. We give our Farmer’s Commendation to all you brave pickers who worked the raspberry patch despite the withering heat.

That includes Emily of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, who writes, “The best ones are down underneath, so all the squats I do in the winter come in handy. You have to be brave and stick your hand through the stickers to get the fattest and juiciest.”

And our Facebook friend, Katie, whose brother Mike snapped this cool photo of baby robins nested in the raspberry patch.

Zucchini, cucumbers, and summer squash are all picking, too! There is a small field next to the farm stand—time to pick summer veggies.

Down at the stand we have peppers, eggplant, blueberries, and squash. And Pennsylvania peaches to hold you over til ours are ready—real soon!

NOW ABOUT THE BABIES.

It is that quiet time in July, just before everything comes bursting forth. So we are checking on all the babies’ progress. The little pears are looking great.

Donut peaches are showing just a touch of color.

Nectarines have that sunkissed patina.

And peaches proper are coming into their own.

Now let’s see how the Dwarf Orchard babies are growing.

According to our new map and brochure—coming any day now—these are the “Mixed Pears” in Row 16. Looking good, looking fine.

And the Honeycrisps are right on schedule. We’ll have these available for you at the stand as soon as they are ready to pick.

This tree shoots up like a rocket. We call it the Tower of Bapple.

Next to the Dwarf Orchard, the Mutsu Orchard is looking brilliant. Healthy, robust apples—and no marmorated stink bug! Evil scourge of Mutsu!

Finally let’s see how the baby vegetables are doing. Tomatoes are green and firm and soaking up the sunshine.

Some of our green peppers are expressing their purpleness.

And tiny eggplants are biding their time in the shade.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

We know that our signs sometimes throw you for a loop. But we guarantee that everything on this signpost is true… or was true… or will be true.

And better yet, we have some pretty new signs on the farm—row markers in the Dwarf Orchard. Thanks to Alice, Allie, and Tino.

Incredibly, the numbers on these markers match the numbers on our new map. It isn’t printed yet, so you’ll have to use your “imapination.”

Please note that there IS a row 13. But not in this crop alert—too creepy!

CHIRP.

So, nothing too fancy this week. Some delicious things to pick, and a preview of what’s to come. These little birds are chirping in the rafters of the farm stand, “Gonna be a great year. Gonna be a great year. Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.”

Posted in Crop Alerts & Farm Buzz | Tagged apples, peaches, pears, peppers, Photos, raspberries, small farm, squash, tomatoes, zucchini | 7 Comments

Happy Berrythday, America, and Au Revoir, Les Strawbs.

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Indian Creek Farm

FOR PAGANS AND ASTRONOMERS, summer begins on the solstice. For us fruit farmers, it starts on the Fourth of July.

That’s when the strawberries pull up stakes and head for the ferry, trumpeting the end of spring’s labor and the dawn of lazier days.

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

When the Pepper Fitzgerald shoves off, you hear an exuberant rendition of “Anchors Aweigh.” There are 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.

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.

Independence Day means freedom from the incidental tyranny of the “in” crowd. Once Dad hooks his 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 Crop Alert educational, and there’s your fact of the week.

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.

You can see their evolutionary cousins, the Jamfish and Jellyfish, in their luminous, effortless pulsations.

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 FOR THE ACTUAL CROP ALERT.

If you’ve read this far, you deserve a Crop Alert in plain English. Strawberries—done. Raspberries—picking. Cherries and blueberries—at the stand.

Aside from raspberries, the picking scene will be quiet for a few weeks. These sweet cherries are prepicked and prepacked for you at the farmstand.

Same deal with the yellow sweet cherries. Juicy little sunbursts.

Blueberries are prepicked and prepacked for you, too. They are full of anti-oxidants. No, not anti-occidents! They do not oppose the West.

HAPPY BERRYTHDAY, AMERICA.

Finally, let’s take a look at how people around here celebrated America’s 236th. Our neighbors picked a last haul of strawberries and got chopping.

What could be more American than a melting pot? A kettle of strawberries just bubbling away.

More American than that, of course, is the sugar! But we’re not supersizing, just a dollop to help the jelly gel.

“Put up or shut up,” as Grandma always said. So we’re putting up jars and jars of strawberry jam!

Most American of all, perhaps, is that one person stirs the jam while the other orders pizza for dinner!

These fit lads, Robert and Peter, got the customer-of-the-week award. They biked miles from Cornell to pick strawberries—and then biked back.

And our summer interns celebrated like most Americans: With their heads under the hood of a hotrod in the yard.

What could be more American than roadtripping from Tennessee to California in a baby blue vintage Benz, with a stop at Uncle’s farm to earn gas money for the next leg on the open road?

Holiday greetings to you all from The ‘Creek.

Posted in Crop Alerts & Farm Buzz | Tagged blueberries, cherries, fruit, Photos, raspberries, small farm, strawberries, u-pick | 2 Comments

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.