Heirloom Pumpkins

  This is a Jarrahdale pumpkin.

The flesh is sweet, string-less, yellow in color.

This one is a good baking type.

 Here we have a Long Island Cheese.

The flesh is deep orange, moderately sweet.

They are known for their long storage life.

 Don't you love this Galeux d'Eysines!

The warts are the result of sugar in the skin.

They are sweet with smooth orange flesh.

Use them in soups and sauces.

And here is a beautiful Cinderella pumpkin.

They have a deep orange experior with a lighter flesh.

They are a favorite for baking.

And we also have Lumina, the white pumpkin in the background of many of these photos.

They are known for their delicious flavor and excellent for pies.

 

I hope you have the time to visit and pick out a few flavorful pumpkins.

Oh!... Pumpkin Time! And everything to decorate for Fall

We have opened our pumpkin field...

And look what we found.

This wagon is full of gourds, miniature pumpkins and a few jack-o-lanterns.

Our field is full of colorful Heirloom pumpkins; red, peach, blue/green and white are a few of the colors. And warty ones too!

And... of course, we have standard jack-o-lanterns from miniature to huge.

We also have beautiful, 8" pot mums in a variety of colors for $6.00, corn stalks and bales of straw.

And the u-cut flowers are beautiful!

We have zinnias, sunflowers, snapdragons, cosmos and a few other types.

And all for 30¢ a stem.

Bring your own bucket and we can fill it with water to keep your blooms fresh on the car ride home.

We still have a limited supply of tomatoes for u-pick; $1.00#.

But how can you tell a marionberry from a blackberry?

left to right: blackberries, marionberries, boysenberries

Sometime, even I confuse these berries.

But, with a little observation, the differences will stand out.

blackberries

Our blackberries look very much like a marionberry.

The flavor is very close to a marionberry.

They lack the 'ZING' flavor of a marionberry. 

And a blackberry is not as fragrant as a marionberry.

boysenberry

Notice the purple/ red under tones on the boysenberry?

And the flavor is a more tart/ less sweet taste.

marionberry

This is a marionberry.

Darker, smaller seed cell, sweet smelling and sweet tasting.

And they only grow in Willamette Valley!

Some farm stands pass off their blackberries as marionberries.

(Easy to fool the customer.)

 Our marionberries are certified by the state of Oregon to be authentic marionberries.

And all of these berries are ready to be picked.

The price is $1.95 a pound for you pick

or $3.00 for ready picked fruit.

This weekend is a good time to come out to Sauvie Island, pick a few berries and head on over to the Blue Heron Herbary for the Lavender Festival.

Need some ideas for all those berries you are going to pick?

How about this BBQ sauce.

Or how about a simple dessert recipe for berries and cream.

Or how about these mufffins. Simply substitute marionberries for the blueberries.

I hope your week is wonderful!

Diane

Yes, we are open on July 4th

Regular hours, 9 to 5. 

But there is a marathon that takes place and traffic is restricted. 

The roads are open by noon, so it is best to wait until the afternoon to visit the Island.

We are currently picking raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, red and black currants, black caps and there are a few strawberries too.

These are red currants.

I understand they make wonderful jelly.

After a quick Google search, I found they can be included in muffins, pies and cakes too. 

Looks like I will be doing some baking!

At last... the blueberries are ready!

Finally, blue blueberries!

They have taken their sweet time to ripen. 

And are they ever so sweet.

The price is $1.95 a pound for u-pick, $3.00 a pound for ready picked.

And I want to share a recipe.

This is a family favorite and I recently made this for our

 youngest daughter, who was home for one night last week.

This can be topped with any fresh fruit and since we grow berries,

I like to serve this with a bowl of mixed berries.

 

Puff pancake

 

1/4 cup butter

3 large eggs

1- 3 oz package cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup milk

2 cups mixed berries

1 T. powdered sugar

maple syrup

Place butter in a glass 9"x13" pan. Set in 425° oven until the butter is melted.

Meanwhile, put the eggs, flour, milk and cream cheese into a blender or food processor and mix until smooth. 

Remove the pan from the oven. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake until the batter puffs and is golden, 25-30 minutes.

While the pancake bakes, mix the berries in a bowl. When the pancake is done, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Offer the syrup along with the berries to top the pancake.

The raspberries are ready!

Look what we picked last night!

Today we opened our raspberry fields for picking. 

The price for u-pick is $1.95 a pound.

The price for ready picked fruit is $3.00 a pound.

We will be picking raspberries through the end of July.

We are still picking strawberries too, although it is getting to the end of strawberry season. I am thinking that this weekend, June 23-24, will be the last for strawberries.

Blueberries are not to far behind... maybe by June 26th. They need more sunshine to sweeten up.

A special way to transport berries

Place the flat on your trunk lid and drive...

Look at this flat!

FULL of strawberries; about 12 pounds .

The fields are busy today and the customers are happy to fill their boxes with red, ripe strawberries.

We should have strawberries through Father's Day.

Strawberry Shortcake anyone?

Strawberry Time! Just in time for Rose Festival

Yes!

Just what we have all been waiting for!

We will open our strawberry field for picking on Thursday, June 7th.

We have Hood, Puget Reliance and Honeoye  strawberries for your pleasure.

I like Puget Reliance for jam; but the Hoods are my favorite for fresh eating.

The cost is $1.40 a pound for u-pick and $2.15 a pound for ready picked berries.

We will be open Tuesdays through Sundays, 9 to 5.

Closed on Mondays.

As of today, with buckets of rain, the field is quite muddy.

Bring your boots.

Almost strawberry time!

I walked to our strawberry field this afternoon, you know... doing a little work, checking on the crops. I also brought a bowl with me because I thought maybe, just maybe, there would be enough ripe berries to fill my bowl. 

Yes!

I am now eating a bowl full of strawberries.

Life is good!

A Little Closer to Summer

I took a walk on the farm today and I thought I would share some photos. We have a new field of Marionberries. They won't be ready to harvest until next summer, but the plants are starting to poke through the ground.


And in the same area, is our new field of strawberries. I also spied some turning RED.

We hope to open the first full week of June, around the 7th or 8th of June. Check back to make sure before driving out to the farm.

And I walked through our blueberries too. They are in full bloom and the honey bees were very busy. Our hoop house is planted with over 200 tomato plants; most are heirloom but we also have Romas, Beef Steak and Early Girl. Today was a beautiful day on the farm, despite the rain and wind.

We are looking forward to seeing both familiar and new faces in the coming months.