Indian Creek Farm

Warning, friends — This crop alert contains the f-word (“fall”) and other curses like “end-of-season.” But don’t panic, it is still summer here on the farm!

Let’s get down to business. Time for an end-of-season sale on peaches. Everybody cries when peach season is over, so “peach up” while the getting is good.

We can’t stop time, but we can help you drown your sorrows in peach juice.

To soften the blow, there is a new wave of raspberries! The berry field is showing a robust fall crop, producing about 30 pints a day for u-pick and pre-picked.

And now back to summer proper! Just look at the bounty! Great time to hit your neighborhood farm and partake of the cornucopia.

Nectarines! We’ve picked some for the stand, and there are a few trees still available for you to pick your own.

Pears! The trees got picked clean this week, but there are plenty of pears to purchase at the stand. Crisp and delicious, sweet and refreshing.

Ginger gold apples — get ’em at the farm stand only!

Still tons of eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, plums, corn, garlic, onions, and more!

Early Orchard Ambrosia, our third pressing of the season. Try some now, and note how the flavors change as apple season rolls on.

Our friend has ducks, her ducks lay eggs. Pretty simple.

Pick your own herbs for cooking, eating, drying, and… aromatherapy!

You can cut your own flowers and make a bouquet. Isn’t your love worth a fiver?

They look very wholesome and earthy hanging on the porch.

We are trying to balance all that earthmother stuff with manly matters. So, today we are melting steel chains. Torching big chains into little ones. Hear us roar.

They get welded onto the orchard mower, for safety and cutting efficiency.

As with any successful DIY project, we invited a couple friends over to the job site, to entertain us with gossip and bad jokes. “So a chickenhawk, a Cornish game hen, and a weedwacker walk into a bar…”

Meanwhile, Archie is calling for the toolbox. Says he is going to fix the backhoe. Roosters with powertools — run for your life!!!

Hello, farm fans. If you saw the Peachy Wheel of Plenty, you know that peach season at Indian Creek has been bustling for over a month.

But did you know that this year’s peaches are as big as a Bergamasco Sheepdog? Okay, technically this is a “Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Posing (Suspiciously) as a Bergamasco Sheepdog,” according to the artist, Sam Schonzeit.

Anyway… the peaches are easy picking. They are right at eye-level, or within reach on the stepstools. You can find the three-legged ladders scattered around.

And now it’s time to announce that the peaches have company! The first PEARS and NECTARINES are ready to pick! Remember, if you pick some that aren’t quite ready to eat, don’t panic or curse your local farmer; just give the fruit a couple days on the kitchen counter. Pears do well in a brown paper bag.

You don’t have to search far to find the pears. They are hanging right along the crossroad at the top of the driveway.

Wow are they lovely — many showing that classic bell or guitar shape — and ever so delicious: crisp, firm, sweet, and juicy.

The pear crop is brilliant this year, but there are only a half-dozen trees. THEY WILL BE PICKED CLEAN BY MONDAY, SO NOW IS YOUR CHANCE!

A few steps away, planted among the peaches, you’ll find the nectarines. Kind of like peaches, but fuzz-free. As the name implies, they’re packed with nectar!

Some nectarines have one-of-a-kind beauty marks. They look perfectly imperfect — like little works of art — and taste terrific.

Others have freckles. Cute, huh? Hey, who chowed down on that pear while the photographer was daydreaming?

You have to watch where you set down your booty around here. We caught these peckish perps red-beaked.

Shall we take one last moment to appreciate nature’s sense of style? Isn’t this spherical bud extraordinary?

And isn’t it amazing that this blossom is the result? Don’t forget to take home a bouquet of fresh cut flowers for your loved ones — or yourself!

Thanks for supporting the farm. The season is flying by, so come out to the ‘Creek!

Now through Sunday — Pick a peck of tomatoes and get a free quarter-pound of basil in the patch by the farm stand!

Celebrate summer with this classic pairing of red and green. Many a happy evening has begun with tomato and basil.

Basil is really something. In every plant, Nimrod’s ziggurat.

“Everything I think I see becomes a Tootsie Roll tomato to me.”

Our new lawn jockey.

This is your brain on tomatoes.

Once you’ve got your tomato-basil kit, browse the stand for everything you’ll need to make summer soups, salads, and salsas. To wit, garlic…

Onions…

And peppers a-plenty.

Meanwhile, back at the sign factory…

We’re gearing up for the tomato rush.

Holy crap-ple! Autumn is like totally just around the corner, and that means apples. Thanks to our magic tree called Esmeralda, we’ve got early cider at the stand now. Cold, crisp, and fresh-pressed. Nothing but fruit, no preservatives or artificial sweeteners. Yum. (Okay, technically it’s not cider; read here to find out why!)

Friends of the farm — a happy, healthy August to you all. August is the month when lots of crops are really kicking. And that means picking!

So this week’s crop alert is good chance to remind you of our Peck Box Special: pick a variety of goodies from around the farm, fill a peck box, and pay only $12!

Your box could include fresh tomatoes, peaches, cukes, zukes, eggplant, and a garnish of flowers. A little u-pick adventure, collecting things that strike your fancy.

Just be sure to mix it up — the idea is to try new things and help us move all the different crops. If instead you want a whole peck of peaches, for example, that has a different price. Ask at the stand, they’ll help you out.

And now a heads-up about raspberries! The bees have been busy pollinating the berry patch, so you might be lucky enough to pick an early pint from the autumn crop.

Another insider tip — the lone tree we call Esmeralda provided a small batch of summer apples! There are precious few, so ask at the farm stand.

This little guy was nice enough to pose with a peach and a penny so you could see the size of these zucchinis. Whoa.

Whereas this big feller — some of you know him as Zorro — was a little in the doghouse, so we promised to put a photo of him in this week’s alert.

He was feeling a little jealous that Katrina was getting all the attention. She’s on the cover of this year’s brochure. Get your copy at the farm stand, there’s a field map on the back.

One more secret… Shhh… The first bottles of cold-pressed cider are only days away! Could be as soon as Sunday — ask at the stand.

Thanks, everybody, see you at the ‘Creek.

Helloooo, farmies! Here’s your crop update for August 12, 2011…

You can pick your own peaches, cukes, zukes, eggplant, peppers, herbs, and flowers. Plus there’s much more at the farm stand, including potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, onions, blueberries, and canteloupe.

Must be something in the air. We got a bazillion calls about hot peppers this week. Luckily we have about a bazillion hot peppers.

You can cook with them, sure, or just hang them on your door.

Zucchini and cucumbers are easy picking in the front field, a few steps up the gravel driveway. Can you tell the difference between cukes and zukes?

You can snip three kinds of basil right in front of the farm stand.

Chocolate sunflowers — kinda goth, sorta badass.

Our tomatoes are taking their sweet old time. You might find a few ripe ones this weekend, but what’s probably going to happen is they’ll all go nuts in about 5 days — so stay tuned for tomatoes to be the topic of our next big crop alert.

Meanwhile, down at the farm stand, you can get them picked, polished, and packed. Such as these marvelous orbs of tomatitude.

Peaches, too! You pick and we pick. The next wave is ripening as we speak. And remember, if you pick an unripe peach, give it 1-2 days on the kitchen counter and it’ll be dribble-down-your-chin juicy.

Eggplant season won’t last forever, but the Eggplantapalooza after party is still kicking. You all did an amazing job picking eggplant last weekend — you’re making eggplant cool again.

Blueberries. Just add mouth.

And a sneak preview of autumn apple harvest… a few earlies from the dwarf orchard.

And that’s a wrap. See you at the ‘Creek.

Remember — Crops come and go. Crops ebb and flow. We can’t guarantee exactly what you’ll find when you visit, but we try to provide WEEKLY crop alerts on our blog and DAILY updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Legend tells us that in the misty hills beyond time…

Where morning dew chills the eggplant blossoms…

And the fruits seem to quietly slumber…

( …drumroll, please… )

Eggplantapalooza rages on!!!

Lady EggEgg, Robert Plant, and other dreamy aubergines get top billing.

They hire scabby old apples to work the door…

You know, to keep out roving gangs of hot peppers. Those troublemakers.

It can be standing room only, folks…

So consider this your backstage pass!

HEY, FOLKS, PLEASE DON’T FILL YOUR BOX WITH BABY EGGPLANT – it’s okay to toss a couple on top, but please pick mature eggplant so the babies will grow up in the coming weeks.

Come join the party, and don’t forget about those peaches – they are in season and ready for u-pick!

See you at the ‘Creek.

IT’S PRETTY PEACHY around here.  This fresh crop alert is urgent.

The farm is bursting with food.  We need your help.  Come get picking!

We’re talking about cukes, zukes, eggplant, garlic, onions, peppers, tomatoes, peaches, potatoes, blackberries, blueberries…

Wait, did someone say peaches?  Yah hah!  Many trees are packed with their first ripe fruit.  You’ve all waited more or less patiently.  Now it’s time to be a first responder and hit the orchard!

We are also swimming in eggplant—delicious fried, baked, and grilled.

Look at these little cuties.

And gobs of peppers.  Try savory poblanos where you would normally use sweet bells—they are flavorful, tender, and have just the slightest piquancy.

Of course some of you are thrill-seekers; the hotties are for you.

Any way you slice it, there is something for everyone.  Come out to Indian Creek for a u-pick adventure, or just shop the shelves of the farm stand.

Thanks for supporting local farms.  See you at the ‘Creek.

We’ve been in “wagon mode” for strawberry and raspberry seasons, but today the main farm stand is open! Sunrise to sunset, 7 days a week!

It stays nice and cool under the shade of the front porch.

That’s where you’ll find juicy tomatoes.

Peppers hot.

Peppers sweet.

…and pints of farm-fresh raspberries to eat!

Today we are also opening the stand with potatoes, peaches, blueberries, and garlic. There will be much more as the season rolls on, so drop by this weekend and stay tuned for the coming wave of Fresh Crop Alerts!

The raspberries are going wild!

Hot sunny days – and the stunning Women’s World Cup match between USA and Brazil – have the berries feeling jubilant and celebratory!

Gooooooooooooooooal! Golazoooooooooo!

Go USA! And good luck to all the remaining squads!

But seriously, the raspberries are ripening faster than we can pick them.

Look at these gorgeous Jumbo Purples.

Mix and match!

We really need your help to keep up with the action – today and the next few days. If the weather stays bright and toasty, berries will be ripening fast and furious this week. Help us give these berries the Ol’ Razzle Dazzle!

* * *

Remember — Crops come and go. Crops ebb and flow. We can’t guarantee exactly what you’ll find when you visit, but we try to provide WEEKLY crop alerts on our blog and DAILY updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend. The Strawberries have left town for the year; they’ll be back next June.

Meanwhile the Raspberries are kicking off their summer. This chap is relaxing by the irrigation pond.

These lovebirds are having a paddle.

And this husky fellow is going for a big-mouth bass.

Come out and pick! We have alluring and mysterious “blackcap” raspberries.

And sunny goldens!

And classic juicy reds! Our humble raspberry patch yields about 40 pints a day, so you’ll probably want to come out early, before the day is picked clean. Each day new berries ripen. See you at the farm!