Indian Creek Farm

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!

Smoothies for brunch, daiquiris at dinner…

It is strawberry season in New York and it won’t last forever. So if you want to live in the “now,” swing out to your local farm and get picking!

There’s a beautiful crop at Indian Creek this year.

And beautiful people, too! Bring your friends and bring the kids. Thanks to everyone who visited during opening week! See you at the ‘Creek.

Come on down to the farm! It is time to pick strawberries! You can hand-pick in the Berry Patch, or buy quarts that we’ve picked for you.

Remember those green strawberries we looked at last week? Now they are red, and ready to meet the ultimate fate of a strawberry.

Nom nom nom!

NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM!

These strapping blokes have installed a sign on Route 96 to remind you that Strawberry Hour has arrived.

You’ll see this rickety little wagon. In 2 minutes flat you can pull off the road, grab a couple quarts of farm-fresh berries, and leave your bills in the slot.

Pick up a quart to drop off at a friend’s house!

Bursting with juice. Make great smoothies!

Want to hand-pick them yourself? Get your quart boxes at the wagon, then follow the signs to the Berry Patch. Hope to see you soon! Weather has cooled, weekend is here, and berries are waiting.

Hey, y’all. Happy holidays! It’s almost time for a bowl of fresh-picked strawberries! I just went crawling around the strawberry field and found something pretty great…

First strawberries of 2011!

Thousands of these! Bam!

Strawberry blossoms.

Of course some of the berries are still at the blossom stage.

Strawbabies!

And some are in between.

Walk this way.

By mid-June, there should be plump, sweet, juicy strawberries to pick. We’ll straighten out our signs by the time you get here! See you at the farm!

Tomato sign in the mower.

Oops, this one got caught in the mower!

Take 6 divine little apple buds, tenderly formed and full of promise…

6 apple buds.

Add 1 chomp by a woodland hoodlum…

Chomped by woodland hoodlum.

And you get zero apples. See, 6 + 1 = 0. Strange but true.

You might remember from Miss Crabapple’s biology class that buds turn into blossoms, and blossoms bring forth fruit. If a branch gets “nipped in the bud,” bye bye fruit pie. Luckily the neighborhood ne’er-do-wells have left plenty of buds, so it won’t be long til we’re sending out fresh crop alerts!

Extra Credit

Each of the apple trees below was damaged by a different critter — mouse, rabbit, or deer. Which was which?

1. An impressive clean cut, perfect and planar like a saw blade…

Who did this?

2. Jagged and stringy, as if stripped like honeysuckle…

And who did this?

3. Just plain dead, no nutrients getting through…

And who killed this tree?

(Remember xylem and phloem — more on those another day.)

Which was by mouse? rabbit? deer?