April 2015 Favorites

We Are Loving these Flavors of Water

Another month has come and gone already! 2015 is so busy for us and it's only just begun! This month we were all about stress relief and getting out in the sunshine! Spring also means planting flowers and starting gardens. SVO even attended a couple of local events, not to mention planing for the up coming months. 

We hope you all have had a great month full of fun, and healthy living choices. Here are our favorites from this month! 

To never miss any of our posts be sure to follow us on all our social media! Facebook, Pinterest, & Twitter.

This month on April 18, the Albany-Corvallis Farmer's Markets opened and will be open every Wednesday & Saturday (Spring, Summer, and most of the Fall). We use to have a booth at them, but we are so busy around the farm and with the farm stand in the summer that we just couldn't do it all. Now we enjoy attending the markets, seeing our friends, and supporting our community. 

Stress Relief Tea Anyone?

For more information on the markets click here. 

And to see their Facebook click here.








We went to the Earth Day Vendor Fair hosted by First Alternative in Corvallis, OR. We also were a vendor at Tyee's Open House to kick off their season.  
For more images check out our Facebook album!

Yummy Kid Friendly Snacks made from Scratch

We found this great selection of "Kids Can Make" recipes from Food Network. There are all kinds of delicious treats your kids can enjoy. Our favorites are the Healthy Secrete Strawberry-Chocolate Chip Muffins. We think these snacks would also be great for anyone to make & enjoy. The recipe we want to try next are the Gluten Free Cheesy Crackers.




We were on our local TV station. Click here to see that clip! Here about how the weather is shaping up, and how Oregon is doing for water this coming summer.

April 2015 Event Photos

We went to First Alternatives Earth Day Vendor Fair on April 22, 2015. Here are some photos from that:

First Alternative South Store Location

For more Photos from this event please check out our Facebook album!

We Also Attended Tyee's Open House on 

April 25, 2015

Tyee's Open House, Step into My Parlor

Our little set up with our products and Jenna! 

To See more from this event check out our Facebook album!

Stress Release Recipe, Totally Tuna!

Asian Sesame Grilled Tuna Steak

 Inspired from Half Tomato, Half Potato

serves 2

INGREDIENTS
2 albacore tuna steaks
1 clove garlic, grated
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1-2 Tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 scallion, chopped

DIRECTIONS
-Mix all ingredients except the tuna steaks together in a medium bowl
-Rinse the tuna steak with water, pat dry and season with salt and pepper on both sides
-Add tuna steak to marinade, turning once or twice with tongs to coat all sides
-Marinate for about 30 minutes in the refrigerator, turning once (TIP: don't marinate too long or the acid in the lemon juice will start to "cook" the fish)
-Heat your grill to medium-high heat and oil the grates
-Grill tuna steak for 3 minutes on each side and serve

Happy Earth Day 2015

Happy Earth Day!

If your in the Corvallis, OR area there are some great ways to celebrate Earth Day! We recommend visiting the Corvallis Wednesday Farmer's Market, which opens for the season today! The market is open today from 9 am to 1 pm. Check out their blog here!

We also recommend coming out to the First Alternative Co-Op Earth Day Vendor Fair. This event is going on at both of First Alternatives locations (South & North). We will be at the South Store location (1007 SE 3rd St.) from 12pm to 1:30pm. Then we will move over to the North Store Location (2855 NW Grant Ave.) and will be there from 2pm to 3:30pm. 

We will have our products with us and have sample available! YUM!

Check out our Facebook event for the South Store & North Store

We hope everyone has a fantastic Earth Day and we hope to bump into some of you!

Mother's Day Special for 2015

This Mother's Day give a Healthy Living Choice with this great gift pack! This special is available for a limited time so get yours today! This special includes 1- Chocolate Blueberry Cluster and 1- 4oz Dried Blueberry. 

This product's price also includes shipping! 

Check it out now on our website!

Stress Release Recipe, Blueberry Antioxidants

Blueberry & Raspberry Baked Oatmeal inspired from So How's it Taste?

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Old- Fashioned Rolled Oats
• 1/4 Cup Chopped Walnuts, Divided
• 1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder
• 3/4 Tsp. Ground Cinnamon
• Pinch of Salt
• 1/4 Cup Maple Syrup (sugar free is a great option!)
• 1 Cup Milk (of your choice)
• 1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
• 2 Tbsp. Unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2-3 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 cup blueberries*, divided
• 1/2 cup raspberries*, divided

*the berries can be fresh or frozen

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.

2. Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish. In a medium bowl, mix the oats, half of the walnuts, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir to combine. In a liquid measuring cup, combine the syrup, milk, egg, butter, and vanilla.

3. Spread the sliced bananas in a single layer over the bottom of the baking dish. Top with half of the berries. Sprinkle the dry oat mixture over the fruit in an even layer. Pour the liquid ingredients evenly over the oats.

4. Sprinkle the remaining nuts and berries over the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top is browned and the oats have set. Let cool 10 minutes before serving

Up & Coming Announcement From SVO!

A while back we announced that in the year 2016 we would be having Black Raspberries for sale. Well we haven't added just one crop, but in fact two. At this time we would like to announce that in the harvest of 2016 we will also have Aronia berries. 

Aronia Berries are also know as "chokeberry" but have been rebranded into the Aronia. Native to North America, and most commonly found in wet woods and swamps. Places in Europe and Russia have been growing Aronia berries since the early 20th century. Uses for this berry include wines, syrups, juices, soft spreads, teas, salsas, chili starters, extracts, beer, ice cream, and gummies. Here in the United States, Iowa has been at this super foods heart. 

We are excited to start offering this along with all of our other berries and we think it will complement what we are already offering. Aronia berries are thought to be higher in antioxidants than all of our common super foods that we already know and love. While studies are still being conducted as to what exactly they can do, there are strong theories and reports that suggest these health benefits:

• Reduce blood pressure
• Reduce oxidized LDL cholesterol levels
• Reduce inflammation
• Reduce the chance of a heart attack
• Reduce recovery time following a heart attack
• Reduce weight gain
• Reduce eye inflammation
• Reduce muscle recovery time after workouts 
• Regulate Blood sugar
• Reduce the chance of developing cancer

We are excited to include Aronia berries as a new flavor to be included in our spreads, powders, dried, and frozen. We will keep everyone updated as we develop our new products and approach 2016's harvest. Who knows we might even sell them fresh at our farm stand!

For even more information (health benefits and such) please check out these links:

1. Heal With Food 
2. Superberries
3. Nutrition & You

April Events For SVO

We sometimes do events in our local area. This month we will be attending two events that we are very excited to share with you, and invite you to come out and see us! 

April 22, 2015

Earth Day Vendor Fair Hosted by First Alternative Natural Foods Co-Op

This event is going on at both of First Alternatives locations (South & North). We will be at the South Store location (1007 SE 3rd St.) from 12pm to 1:30pm. Then we will move over to the North Store Location (2855 NW Grant Ave.) and will be there from 2pm to 3:30pm. 

We will have our products with us and have sample available! YUM!

Check Out Our Facebook Event for the South Store Location

Check Out Our Facebook Event for the North Store Location

April 25, 2015

Step Into My Parlor Tyee Open House Hosted by Tyee Wine Cellers

You are cordially invited to join Tyee Wine Cellars (26335 Greenberry Rd) on the Buchanan Family Century Farm. Celebrating Tyee's 30th Annual ReOpening, the Buchanan Family will be hosting a "meet and greet" in Tyee's historic Milking Parlor turned Wine Parlor. Come see how we've aged! 

In addition to tasting new release 2012 Tyee Estate Barrel Select Pinot Noir, 2013 Tyee Estate Pinot Gris, 2013 Tyee Gewurztamier and 2011 Tyee Estate Barrel Select Pinot Noir, we will be featuring Winemaker's choice Tyee Library Wines and Tyee New Releases for tasting and purchase. 

Featuring: Marshall Adams on flamenco & classical guitar

Product Demos & Sales from:
Sunset Valley Organics (We will be there from 3:30 to 6pm)
Willamette Valley Cheese Company

Admission: $10 {waived for Tyee Wine Club Members + 1 guest}

Check Out Our Facebook Event For Tyee's Open House

Stress Release Recipe, Juicing Joy

"When Eat Naked author Margaret Floyd needs to wind down after a long day, she turns to spinach. "Spinach is high in the amino acid tryptophan, which helps elevate your mood and promotes better sleep," Floyd says. "It's also high in magnesium, which helps to relax nerves and muscles."- shape.com

Ingredients:
2 big handfuls spinach
3 to 4 stalks broccoli
3 to 4 stalks celery
1 large or 2 small carrots

See us on KVAL13!

In case you missed seeing us on KVAL13 you can see it below!

April Rain Brings May Flowers....

Or at least that's what they say. We have been getting our fair share of rain here on the farm. We are so happy spring is in full swing, for those of you who have been following us on Facebook you have seen all the photos we have been posting of the process our Blueberries have been going through into full bloom. They are so beautiful to see. Our Raspberries and Blackberries won’t be blooming until later, and when they do you can bet we'll be sharing! So be                                                                                                            sure to be following us on Facebook! We have also been selling a ton of our dried blueberries. They are so delicious and make for a great snack! They are great in homemade granola, trail mix, muffins, cold cereal, oatmeal, basically anything you can think of these guys are great to throw into! We dry all of them here on our farm. We start with our sweetest berries; that during our harvest are washed, and cleaned by going over our in house packing line. They are packed into 30 pound boxes and held in freezers until we are ready to dry them. Then when ever we are running low on our dried blueberries we grab a couple of boxes and start the process of drying them. We have two commercial dryers at our disposal. We fill them and let them dry for anywhere 8 hours to 10 hours depending on the weather outside. Then we run moisture tests to make sure everything is stable and won’t mold. Then we package them and have them ready to go!

We have also finally finished all of our pruning around the farm! It feels like we have been mentioning pruning forever, but it’s a lot of hard work, that takes care and time to be done right. It’s important to prune a plant, pruning influences how a plant grows. Depending on what you want out of the plant you can help determine what the plant puts it’s energy into. Either plant growth (more limbs) or production (more fruit). If you have plants that are very small, or that are young you want the plant to focus on growth. If your plant is nice and big, and mature then you would want more production. If you haven’t pruned your plants yet there is still time! See our blog post that is specific to blueberries. 

Office Hours:

Spring is here, but we are still on our “Winter” hours of Monday to Friday 10 am to 4 pm Pacific time.

Better Shipping Rates Are Coming

To An End

Those of you who have taken advantage of our offer we thank you so much, we are so happy we can provide these better rates! However we know some of you have been waiting to place that order. And now is basically the final call. For people in the states in the Pacific Northwest (including: Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Colorado, Montana, Nevada) we can easily provide better rates still. For anyone outside of these states please call us and we will see what we can do. As temperature rise we will no longer be able to offer these rates. April will be the last month we can offer general better rates, then it will be gone until next winter. You can call us at 541-752-0460 (Monday to Friday 10 am to 4 pm Pacific time).

Social Media Updates:

We have been hard at working updating and making changes. We are happy to announce our blog is finally back up and running. We would also like to announce our twitter account is back to being active. So all of those of you who prefer twitter to Facebook we will be posting a great deal there as well from now on. We appreciate all the patients everyone has had. This has been a very long bumpy road. We will continue to make more changes and improvements during the year and are excited for things we have coming.

You can find us now on Local Harvest. Local Harvest is a great resource to find farmers who produce local goods. They have a Local Harvest National Directory so even if you're on the East Coast you can use this to find farmers and vendors in your area! Click here to learn more about them.

Our Pinterest Board will be a continuation of Leap into Spring since we are just having so much fun finding recipes, gardening tips, decor inspiration, and all things to do with spring!

Organics To You

Some of you may already know about this company. For those of you who don’t they are a Portland, OR based company who has been delivery local goods to the good people of portland for the last 14 years. Now they have taken their business online and are buying products from vendors/farmers in Oregon to be delivered to anyone in Oregon! They have recently started buying our Blueberry Spread, we are so excited by their business and are happy to be supplying them with a fantastic healthy living choice! Click here to check them out.

Savings & Coupons

This month we have an ad in Willamette Living Magazine that offers a special code for our Tea. So keep your eyes peeled for that (this may also appear in the May edition, gotta keep you all on your toes)!

For those of you who use Facebook & Twitter we will be offering a code for our Teas here as well. Be sure to keep an eye out for those. They will be good for the whole month of April!

Stress Awareness Month

Our culture is fast paced, and we all have a million things going on all at once. Not to mention when things go wrong or something makes a hiccup. We all get stressed out, but eating right and taking care of our bodies can help us relieve some of that stress. I know after a bad day some people reach for chocolate or other comfort foods, but that might actually be doing more harm than good. 

If your looking for some stress relieve its best to avoid things that will give your body extreme highs and lows, things like caffeine and alcohol. Avoiding sugars is also good because sugars can cause your blood sugar to spike then fall quickly, which reflects upon your energy level. Which can leave you still feeling stressed and outta energy, not fun. 

So there is a lot that you should avoid when stressed, but what about the things you can eat? Luckily there are a ton of healthy, delicious things that help you keep you stress levels down. When your stressed your body releases hormones that affect your mood. Eating certain vitamins and minerals such as folic acid (found in asparagus) and B vitamins can help keep your mood steady because they're needed to make serotonin, which is a chemical that directly affects mood in a positive way.

Things that are on the "to eat" list include:

• Beef, high in zinc, iron, and B vitamins which can help stablize your mood. If your concened about fat content you can always ask your grocery store butcher for a lean cut. 
• Milk, high in antioxidants, vitamins B2 & B12, protein, and calcium. Grabbing a bowl of whole grain cereal and low fat milk in the morning is a great way to start your day with a stress fighting breakfast. 
• Cottage Cheese and Fruit, packed with protein and calcium. Foods with high protein content that aren't loaded with sugar won't cause a spike in blood sugar and will keep you satiated for a longer time. Mixing Cottage Cheese with fruits that are high in vitamin C (such as oranges) is not only delicious but super healthy,  as vitamin C is thought to play a role in fighting stress and is also an antioxidant that fights free radicals that get released when stressed. These radicals have been shown as a cause for cancer. 
• Almonds, a good source for vitamin B2 & E as well as magnesium and zinc. Plus you can really crunch into them and get some aggression out! 
• Blueberries, super rich in antoixidants but also offer high fiber, low calorie fruit opetion, that also is full of Vitamin C. Makes great to throw in cereal or Cottage cheese.
• Tuna, A great lunch option, tuna is high in stress-fighting vitamins B6 and B12. Tuna is also a good low-fat protein source.
•  Cornflakes or Crispy Rice Cereal, Although they aren't low in sugar, cornflakes and crispy rice cereal are fortified with B vitamins and folic acid to help reduce stress. Have them for breakfast with milk. Geise also recommends having them dry as an afternoon snack.