Indian Creek Farm

YOU MIGHT SAY THE FARM is the Other Hamptons:  a weekend escape for so many of our friends from New York City.  On a typical summer day, and late into the fall, you can find lawyers and bankers — alongside misfits and freakniks — pitching tents here for the country air and fireside chat.

This weekend our friends are not escaping New York — they are in deep waters downstate. So we are lighting a Good-Luck-O-Lantern in their honor, and pouring a round of Orchard Ambrosia. Godspeed to them all.

Meanwhile, down at the farm stand, we still have tons of apples. Beautiful Cortlands that look like cherries on steroids. All picked and ready for you.

Apples with special features get packed into “utility” bags — they are designed for your baking projects and marked down for quick sale.

This sack of blemished Rome Beauties speaks clearly to bakers and Dylan fans. “Bake me now,” it says, “for Tomorrow Is A Long Time.”

Our guy in England says that “the women” over there refer to Mutsu apples as “oven busters” — take a big one home and bake it, and you have a feast for two.

We still have gobs of pumpkins. Last week’s All-You-Can-Carry sale went pretty well. Lucy and Rob here got a good pile for pennies on the dollar.

Not to be outdone, this dad got help from the kids — and the vines — to maximize his haul. They hacked the system fair and square.

The sale intensifies this week — 50 cents a pound for winter squash and small pumpkins! Any pumpkins left Monday will feed The Piggery pigs!

So get your soup and pie ingredients now! Pumpkin pie… butternut squash soup… they warm the heart. Add a dollop of local sour cream and crumbles of feta.

The pepper sale is still hot. We have big bags that can flavor your whole winter — chop them now and freeze them. Thaw out a baggie a week.

Sprout season continues. The price is somewhere between 2 and 3 dollars. This piece of tape isn’t sure and neither are we. But it will all work out in the end.

Farm-fresh broccoli is 2 dollars a head. Or is it called a crown? Anyway, definitely 2 dollars, and definitely in the cooler. That much is clear.

This time of year can be a lovely kind of ugly. Leafless trees, slate gray skies, cold rains. All have their places. Same with yams — warts and all.

Ah, garlic, the “stinking rose.” It is a potent antiviral — and antivampiral — that is tough on colds and political allergies. Carry some on Election Day.

Garlic’s country cousin, the onion: it is the jack-of-all herbs. We know a guy who doesn’t like onions. We would ostracize him but he does eat onion rings.

The Dead Flower Sale was an epic fail. Apparently FREE wasn’t good enough. But we’re not going to PAY you to take them. We’re not complete chowderheads.

This weekend’s forecast is partly crappy with a 70% chance of crud. Best we can do is offer you donuts and hot cider — sugar and spice.

We’ll be here. The woodstove will be going. You’ve been so good to us this year — help us finish strong by using up the remaining crops.

Starting Monday, the stand will be self-serve on weekdays. We plan to be here on the weekends through November, but it will depend on weather and stuff.

Finally, remember that the biggest sale of all happens on Tuesday: pay absolutely nothing and get all the presidents you can carry. As luck would have it, 99.9% of us can only carry one president. So choose wisely. We apple farmers are voting on the Spitzenburg Esopus ticket.

Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

FIVE DAYS TIL HALLOWEEN and here’s how the pumpkin thing is gonna go down — all the pumpkins you can carry for $12!

You must pick them in the pumpkin patch…

…and carry them by yourself — no tote bags, pack mules, or little red wagons.

This would not count as a $12 “carry,” although you can drive your haul down to the stand at checkout time. Then load up your arms with pumpkins and walk to the cashier. Whatever you carry costs only $12!

We also have prepicked pumpkins out front. They are priced according to our normal scheme — how they compare to the size of your head. It’s a fun old game. Want a hint? Let your kids buy their own.

Next to the pumpkin patch is a knee-high forest of Brussels sprouts. They are just waiting to be lopped. The loppers are supposedly hanging on this sign. It is magnetic poetry, farm-style: all the pieces are screwed in.

There are 5 s’s in “Brussels sprouts,” not 4. Just a reminder.

Apple season is dwindling down to the last couple days of picking. But there is fruit to be found in the Vintage Orchard. Saw a young couple — all flirty and apple-cheeked in the autumn air — picking a bushel of Rome Beauties yesterday.

You can always turn to your local farmer for expert tasting notes. We worked particularly hard on the McIntosh description. You’ll find prepicked Macs at the stand, as well as Mutsu, Cortland, Rome Beauty, and Red Spy.

Big sale on “utility” apples. They have a few birth marks or life scars. People are like, “Eww, a birth mark or life scar,” so these apples get downgraded to the utility bin. These are not airbrushed Hollywood apples, they are real apples for baking, saucing, and eating. Only $4 for a 5-pound bag and $6 a peck!

If you wish to make apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. Carl Sagan said that billions and billions of times.

And if you wish to create a tree-hugging dirt worshipper, you must first train him to be a blossom-kissing flower-whisperer.

Do it right and he’ll turn out like this — brawny, capable, and suggestible.

PHOTOS FROM Y’ALL

And now a quick break for beautiful pictures from a customer, Charles E. He sent this mouth-watering shot of last night’s dinner — Brussels sprouts from Indian Creek Farm and goodies from other farms around town. Inspiring!

Here is his little Mutsu Monster. Didn’t have the heart to tell the kid that it’s not an ear of corn. Nom nom nom…

WHAT ELSE IS COOKING?

Last week’s pepper sale gets even crazier this week — buy 5 pounds and pay $1 a pound (sweet) or $1.50 (hot). Time to score a winter’s worth of flavor.

Make up a bag of sweets and a bag of hots. Chop and freeze.

Hot spiced cider makes a gray day brighter. Stuff is so good — especially when you knock back alternating shots of hot cider and cold Orchard Ambrosia.

It wouldn’t be fall at the farm without a world-class assortment of dead flowers. The Goth crowd will be here selecting specimens for their Halloween costumes.

Dare you to wear this on your derriere.

The whiteboard in our workshop is like the internet — everything written there is true. Today it says, “Mox nox in rem,” which is Latin for, “Let’s get on with things, night is coming.” And by night we mean winter. So get out here and pick.

Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

ONCE UPON A TIME, there was a boy called Brussels Sprout — Brussel for short. He was a farmer’s nephew, and had a shaky start in life: tubes in his ears, a patch on one eye, and allergies to every food in the fridge. He couldn’t put on pounds.

Brussel came to the farm one day and helped us with planting. Since then his star has been rising. Just had a seventh birthday and ate his whole birthday dinner — hot dogs (burnt on the grill, please), cream corn, mango slices, pasta, rolls, and one black olive for each finger. Seems like things are looking up.

So, in honor of everyone named Brussel, come cut your own sprouts.

There once was a girl named Apple. A young woman, really. She worked here on the farm, doing orchard jobs and this and that. Last we heard, she sped off to Texas with a gentleman of the anarchist persuasion. Motorcycles and banjos and happy trails. But we still have apples in the orchard — Mutsu, Cortland, Northern Spy, and Rome Beauty. Season is dwindling, this is your chance.

So, in honor of everyone named Apple, come pick apples.

Last year, little Henry Quinn was being a grumpkin. We tried everything til we found out he is really a pumpkin! This year, we added more ‘kins — not Henry Quinn, but Kollman Henry Cummins. He is waiting for you at the bottom of this message.

So, in honor of kids named Henry, come claim your pumpkin.

Everyone knows about the great George Squashington. (For a dollar and a quarter you can see him twice.) But without his powdered wig and wooden teeth, he looks a little less presidential. Here he spends his days among the younger generation, telling tales about crushing the Redcoats and chopping down cherry trees.

So, in honor of everyone named Squashington, come claim your squash.

A long time ago, in a land far, far away — but not far from the original Ithaca — there were invisible beings in the sky. Or atop Mount Olympus, depending on which movie you watch. Anyway, these self-styled deities claimed exclusive rights to the good stuff: ambrosia. Well, we get our information from Wikipedia (like most farmers), and we haven’t found any prohibition therein about selling cider to mere mortals. So we are bringing Orchard Ambrosia to normal people for a small fee.

In honor of those who tell the gods to stop being snooty, come claim your cider.

PHOTOS FROM Y’ALL

How about this apple crisp? One of three lovely photos sent in by a customer, Genna Knight, after an outing to the farm.

Apple sauce by Genna and family. There is still time to be “putting up” food for winter. It’s an old country phrase that means canning and jarring.

Her littlest apple picker in the Dwarf Orchard. People went nuts at the big party and picked the Dwarf Orchard clean. But there ARE apples in the Vintage Orchard — a handful of trees that will get picked out soon! Come now.

PEPPER SALE & OTHER NEWS

The day before the recent frost, we scrambled into the pepper field and picked everything we could find. A great haul that saved a lot of crop. Now we’re swimming in peppers. Fill a 10-pound bag with a mix of bell peppers, sweet Italian peppers, and poblanos — and pay only $10. This Saturday and Sunday!

A lot of you had never seen Brussels Sprouts on the stalk before. How about broccoli? We’ll be stocking the stand with broccoli til the modest supply is gone. It is most delicious and cruciferous!

Tundra, Queen of the Farm, had got a bit smelly. Her “rolling habit” — rolling in any carcass she comes across — has that effect. Well this week she went on a big trip to the groomer. Haircut, bubble bath, and pedicure. Now she is worthy of her name again: white as the driven snow, soft as the moss on the steppe. She smells just great, ambrosial even. Zorro got the treatment, too.

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS & FEEDBACK

Some of you guys sent such useful feedback about the Pigs-n-Apples Party. Without a doubt, your thoughts will make next year even better. But for the rest of you, should we have a party next year? Answer that question and a few others on this PARTY FEEDBACK FORM. You can also use the form to volunteer next year!

A WORD ABOUT PUMPKINS

“Pumpicking.” That’s the word. Get out here and try it. Or try “pumpkinicking.” Or “Pumpicnicking.” Doesn’t matter what you call it — do it soon. Only 12 days til Halloween, and there will be lots of pumpkin hunters this weekend. Weather says partly sunny, which means it will be partly “crowdy.” Snooze you lose!

Hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

AN ORPHANED ASSISTANT PIG-KEEPER became hero and champion of the realm. That was in The Chronicles of Prydain. No such luck for the pigherds of Ithaca — they were vanquished without mercy by dark-hearted apple farmers.

More on our top story in a moment. But first, the Picking Report for the weekend of Friday, October 12, 2012.

WHAT’S PICKING NOW?

APPLE IS OCTOBER’S middle name. Even people who don’t like apples are picking apples this time of year. There are numerous ripe varieties. You can top off your outing, and mollify the children, with fresh cider from the stand.

There are pumpkins galore. This old photo is just a warning — we might get frost on Friday night, so the weekend could be your last chance to pick summer produce such as eggplant, peppers, raspberries, and squash. Plants will shrivel and vegetables will be scarce as deviled eggs after a church picnic.

Brussels sprouts are ready for the lopping! Sautee them with Piggery bacon for a special treat that doubles as an act of charity. The Piggery gang is still smarting from their drubbing and they would welcome a visit.

PARTY PICTURES

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE CHILDREN took part in the Treasure Hunt. Fifty bobbed for apples and 34 painted pumpkins. Forty-four tossed the corn javelin and 57 fired the apple slingshot. Here’s a bobber with classic form.

Little brother got brain freeze and was like, “Daddy, I’ll just watch.” Big brother was like, “Dad, it’s GO time.” Deep breath. Plunge.

Time for “Extreme Makeover: Gourd Edition.” No specimen too homely.

A Pollock-inspired entry in the Abstract Expressapumpkin category.

Tag-team effort. Parents are kids, too.

Sprouted on the Fourth of July.

Seems like everyone started with an orange base coat.

But at least one carver was thinking outside the box.

Our new table, after 20 hours of sanding and staining — and just 2 hours of pumpkin painting. A tablecloth is such an elegant solution, when you remember it.

Watched this guy drink paint blobs for 6 minutes.

Slingshot champion with brilliant technique. Psychology hobbyists had a “field” day watching kids use their brains to adapt in real-time.

Another lad frozen in time, a millisecond after release.

You can see her apple in the clouds, easily passing the 100-foot marker. Longest shots of the day were flying over 400 feet!

Corn javelin! The longest shots were flying about 40 feet ;-)

Southpaw lets it fly!

“Z” marks the spot — treasure hunters had to get a ribbon off Zorro!

The “pig” part of Pigs-n-Apples.

Their local bratwursts really fire people up.

The madding crowd put our little donut machine through its paces…

The Donut Boys did a great job, serving 500 donuts an hour!

Wagon rides trundled around the farm…

And kids danced on the wagon deck between rides.

It offered a great view of the pumpkin field and the lake valley.

Another favorite spot was Stumphenge.

People gathered round the fire and kids climbed all over the stumps.

Banjo tune in the afternoon.

Just before nightfall, the main event. By now it is known to villagers across the county — Apples thrashed Pigs. But we’re done bragging. Til this time next year.

One bright moment for the losers, a pig-o-lantern.

Campfire #2 went til the wee hours, with an old movie playing on the big screen and players taking turns on the stage. A couple dozen friends — old and new — stayed well past the giant orange moonrise.

FEEDBACK FOR THE FARM

Should there be a Second Annual Pigs-n-Apples Party? How can we make it better?

→  SEND US YOUR PARTY THOUGHTS  ←

We heard a few tidbits through Facebook…

“Greatest scavenger hunt ever! And that The Piggery chili verde was off the hook. Thanks for an awesome time today. :)”

“Had a lovely time with friends and family. Next time – helmets/face mask protectors for the sling shot contest!”

We also heard grumbling about the parking and lines and this and that. Let’s put all those ideas in one place so we can plan for next year. Please send us your thoughts through this special Party Form.

Thanks for coming to the party and supporting the farm through the seasons. As always, hope to see you at The ‘Creek.

TELL THE TRUTH and shame the devil. That’s what Mother always says. Let’s make Mom proud by telling the hard truth about pig farmers: they will meet their doom at 6 PM on Saturday. Tug of war versus apple farmers.

We laid out the reasons in last week’s Crop Alert: they have squishy muscles and dubious intellects. Still some are in denial even as the weekend approaches. So please be gentle when you are talking to a pigherd at the party — remember that his or her brain rolls around like a BB in a boxcar. (And can someone go check on the piggies Sunday morning? They’ll need tending.)

So, down to business: Tug of war at 6 o’clock. Before that, there will be music, food, and fun for all ages. Starts at noon, rain or shine. The party is free, while food and drink are sold separately. Logistical tidbits…

BRING YOUR OWN BEER (BYOB) — We will be serving fresh-pressed cider, but you can bring your own beverages. Please, no Coke Zero. That stuff is unholy.

BRING YOUR OWN FOOD (BYOF) — The Piggery will be serving their famous “brats” and potato salad. Pretty much a pork deal. After all, pig is their gig; but it’s not for everyone, so bring whatever you like. You can cook Not Dogs with Nayonnaise and Netchup on whole wheat Nuns for all we care. We’ll have several bonfires going. Mostly for looks but also for cooks. Picnics are encouraged; red gingham blankets are extra credit.

BRING YOUR OWN RAIN GEAR (BYORG) — Oh sure, we’ll share the one umbrella we have, but it could get crowded under there. This is your big chance to dress like a farmer, or at least like a farmer in a catalog. Could be a cool, wet day in the country. Grassroots started in the rain; Woodstock launched in the mud; Pigs-n-Apples might be a bit boggy, too. Don your mucks!

BRING YOUR OWN PUMPKIN TOOLS (BYOPT) — We are buying up all the kid-friendly carving kits in town. But if there is a huge turnout, and you don’t want to wait to start your masterpiece, bring your favorite implements.

BRING YOUR OWN APPLE PIE (BYOAP) — Pie contest! Submissions accepted 12-5, winners announced 5:30. Warning: we know the old trick about taking the sticker off a Wegman’s pie. We’ve tasted every store-bought pie in a 16-mile radius.

And now a little background on the Pig-Apple drama. Consider this recent exchange on Facebook…

The Piggery: “The pig is turning an apple — essentially garbage — into bacon! That’s magic.” – Jim Gaffigan

Indian Creek Farm: Never heard of no Jim McGaffigan. Sounds made up. Typical — you can shake a pig farmer’s hand but count your fingers when you’re done.

BLAMMO! Consider the fire stoked.

PIGS-N-APPLES 2012 should be livelier than a two-tailed puppy. Over 100 people have clicked “I’m Going” on the Facebook Event Page. Plus 43 “maybes” and 524 invited. Based on that data, our calculations predict there will be between 7 and 400 people, spread over 6 hours which means plenty of people-watching, fraternizing, and flirting — but not such a crowd that you can’t find a corner of the orchard for you and yours alone.

Either way, we’ll be here. We’ll try to make it fun for whoever shows up.

Hope to see you at The ‘Creek!