Our season is about to begin!

We are busy getting the market ready for our opening day,

 Saturday, June 1st.

Today, I had time to make a batch of freezer jam. Yummy!

The fields will be muddy with all that rain in the last week,

 so wear your boots.

Our Hood berries will be ready for picking and maybe

 the Puget Reliance too.

The price is $1.50 a pound for u-pick 

and $2.25 a pound for ready picked strawberries.

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!

Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri Mix

I found this easy recipe in the Oregonian years ago and we love to make these long after the strawberries are gone.

2 cups sugar
1/3 cup lime juice (2 limes)
1/4 cup water
1 quart fresh strawberries, washed and hulled

Combine the sugar, lime juice and water in a bowl. Stir to mix and let set until the sugar is dissolved. In an blender or food processor, combine the sugar mixture with the strawberries. Blend until smooth. Pack into a freezer container and freeze. (use an ice cream scoop for mixing drinks)

For each daiquiri: In a blender, combine 3 Tab. rum, 1/4 cup frozen daiquiri mix and about 7-8 ice cubes. Blend until smooth. (most blenders hold up to four servings)

For a virgin daiquiri: substitute lemon-lime soda for rum

Spinach and strawberry salad

Today is the first day of summer 2011. To celebrate, just imagine these ingredients combined together for a refreshing summer salad. Spinach, basil and strawberries.


For the dressing:
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tea. sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 tea. black pepper

In a small food processor or blender, combine the garlic, basil, vinegar and sugar. With the blade running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until emulsified. Season with pepper. Store in the refrigerator in a glass jar.


For candied nuts:
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
3 Tab. butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tea. black pepper
1/4 tea. salt

In a skillet, cook and stir nuts in butter until toasted; about 5 minutes. Remove from heat , stir in sugar, pepper and salt. Pour onto a plate and allow to cool. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator.


For one serving,
about 2 cups of washed spinach
1/4 cup chopped strawberries
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 Tab. candied nuts
a drizzle of basil dressing










Enjoy today!

Berries and Cream

This is a quick and easy dessert recipe. We spoon this onto any type of berry...strawberries, blueberries, mixed berries, even fresh peaches. I will be serving this at our Fathers Day get together.

Berries and Cream
1 cup cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 tea. vanilla
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3 to 4 cups berries

Mix the first four ingredients in a bowl. Place berries into individual serving bowls and top with the cream mixture. Serves 6-8.

Here is a little secret... my oldest daughter likes to fill the hollow core of a raspberry with the cream mixture and pop it into her mouth. That is just too much work for me. I like mine in a bowl.

Raspberries and blueberries will be late this year. We are looking at early July before the fields are ready for picking. And of course the marionberries and boysenberries will be late too. Our tomatoes in the hoop house are setting fruit so... red, ripe tomatoes are not too far off.

Diane

The strawberries are ready!

We will open our strawberry field for picking on June 10th. We have honeoye strawberries available this week. Our hood and puget reliance varieties will be ready for picking around the 15th of June. U-pick is $1.35 a pound and ready picked is $2.10 a pound.

The weather has been nice the last couple of days and we have planted a new field of strawberries for 2012, and we have all of our pumpkins planted too. Our tomatoes in the hoop house are blooming and setting fruit. We also planted basil, cucumbers, peppers and flowers in the hoop house. A bountiful harvest is fast approaching!

High water and it is almost time for strawberries

We went for a drive on the island yesterday to look at the high water. The Columbia River is running at 17 feet. Meaning 17 feet above sea level. Which is not very high... unless you live on Sauvie Island... where some parts of the Island are below sea level. This first photo was taken at the entrance path to the clothing optional beach. As you can see, the water is covering the base of the sign and lapping at the gravel road. Another foot or so in the river levels and the road will be covered.


We traveled to a friends farm where the cows are enjoying water front property. They look so relaxed even though the water has covered the top of the fence.(Today, the water has gone over this road we were standing on and has flooded the wheat field on the other side.)
This last photo shows some cows standing on an island surrounded by flood water. The farmer has been feverishly trying to move all of his cows to high ground. The water in this field is only about a foot deep but the cows don't want to stand around in water.


And... strawberries! We will open on June 9 or 10 with Honeoye Strawberries. The Hoods and Puget Reliance berries will start around June 15.

Jam recipe taste test

Last week our family and friends had a blind jam tasting. I made three batches of strawberry jam, using three different recipes calling for three very different amounts of sugar. I made all the jam using Puget Reliance strawberries. I was very surprised by the results.

Recipe 1) typical freezer jam recipe; 4 cups of fruit, 6 cups of sugar and 1 cup corn syrup.

Recipe 2) lower sugar recipe; 4 cups of fruit and 3 cups of sugar.

Recipe 3) lowest sugar recipe; 4 cups of fruit and 1 1/2 cups sugar.

I set out the bowls marked A, B and C. I served the jam with fresh, homemade bread. I also served salty crackers and pickles to counteract the sweetness of the jam. We all were very surprised at the overwhelming favorite.

We all thought Recipe 3 had the best 'fresh' strawberry flavor. Recipe 2 was good too. Recipe 1 was by far the least liked by all. I am changing the way I make freezer jam from now on... no more 'loaded with sugar' for our family.

And if you are curious, the pectin I used for recipe 3 is 'Instant Pectin' made by Ball. I liked the ease of the recipe and the taste so much, I am selling it in our market.

I challenge you to do your own taste test and let me know what your family and friends prefer.

Diane

The strawberries are blooming!

This is what our strawberry field looks like today. The plants are blooming with an abundance of flowers. We will open for the 2010 summer season on Friday, June 4th. This is a new field of berries that we planted last summer. The first year harvest is usually heavy with fruit. The varieties we planted are Hood, Puget Reliance, Honeye and Tillamook.

We are looking forward to June 4th and strawberry season.

Diane