Summer Is Coming! The Low Down on Our Strawberries

As we said back in January, 2015 is a huge year for us! So far we have announced we would be producing Black Raspberries, Aronia Berries, and now we proudly announce we will be offering a 
U-Pick field of Strawberries in the summer of 2016. 

We really like having strawberries, but we were running into a problem of having an over abundance of product in the field. Meaning we were unable to pick all of the fruit out there, and that means we were loosing money. So we went and put our thinking caps on, after some time we came up with this idea:

We will be opening a U-Pick Strawberry Patch!

How exciting? We will have not only U-Pick Blueberries but also U-Pick Strawberries. We are thrilled to finally be able to do what so many of you have been asking for in providing a certified organic U-Pick Strawberry patch. 

Now, here's the bad news, we need time to get our act together, and get the plants going. So we will not have strawberries this summer, instead we will be opening our Strawberry U-Pick in the summer of 2016. We will continue to have U-Pick Blueberries. 

If your wondering where exactly we will be putting our U-Pick Strawberries in at, and if your familiar with our farm, you might have noticed that we have moved the majority of where we make our compost to a different section of our farm, and that field is now bare. This is where we will be putting our U-Pick Strawberries. It is right across from our U-Pick Blueberry field, how perfect?! 

Over the next year we have quite a bit of work to do, we need to prep our soil and get it up to our standards (it's already been certified organic since we made our certified organic compost there), and most importantly we need to plant the strawberry plants! We have already placed our order for the plants and we are happy to announce the variety we will have are Bentons. 

Benton strawberry plant is a Junebearing cultivar, named after Benton County where Oregon State University is located in Corvallis, Oregon.  Fruit is very bright, has excellent keeping quality, is conic in shape, and the has good flavor. Fruit is medium to large in size and is recommended for all parts of the Pacific Northwest. Benton appears to have excellent winter hardiness and excellent fruit quality with vigorous growth. 

The upright habit makes Benton a good bet for home gardeners as well as the commercial grower. It is more drought resistant than Rainier strawberry plants. Virus tolerant. Also tolerant to red stele. Ripens late.

As we make progress and go along on our new venture we will be posting photos and up dates, so keep your eye out for it all. It's sure to be exciting! 

We would like to thank all of our customers over the years for supporting our farm and all our additions we have added since 2006. Adding blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries was a risk, but meeting such a warm response has allowed us to make additional improvements and to grow as a farm. 

May 2015 Favorites

Whew! What a busy month we have had! It feels like May just started, this month we focused on healthy living, and health awareness.Each week we had delicious recipes that were super healthy, and could be made by anyone. We also started selling our products at Tyee Wine Cellers. A local winery, that is just down the road from us. 

We started and finished trellising black raspberries. 

We had a huge announcement about our strawberries, click here if you missed it. 

These are some of the articles we found most interesting this month:

Vegan Diet Eases Nerve Pain of Diabetes

How A Cell Knows Friend from Foe

Cold, Flu, or Allergy? 

And this was our favorite recipe:

Rustic Strawberry Peach Tart 

from Sally's Baking Addiction 

Ingredients:

FILLING

• 2 ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, sliced (not frozen)
• 2 cups (about 300 grams) sliced fresh strawberries (not frozen)
• 2 Tablespoons (30 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

CRUST

• 1 and 1/2 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour (careful not to overmeasure)
• 3 Tablespoons (45 grams) granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick or 115 grams) cold unsalted butter, cubed*
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) ice water, plus more as needed
• 1 egg, beaten for egg wash
• additional sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

1. For the filling: Mix the peaches and strawberries together in a medium bowl. Add the sugar and vanilla, tossing well to coat the fruit. Set aside and allow the mixture to soak as you prepare the crust.
2. For the crust: In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter (or your hands), cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse, pea-sized crumbs. Add 1/4 cup of ice water, stirring with a fork until the flour is moistened. Add up to 2 more Tablespoons of ice water if the dough seems dry. Gently knead the dough a few times in the bowl until it all comes together. Shape the dough into a ball and flatten it into a thick disk, as pictured above. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 425F degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 12-inch circle. Trim the rim of the circle to make a clean cut if desired. Transfer dough to the prepared baking sheet.
5. Spoon the fruit (not the juices) into the center of the dough, leaving a 2-3 inch border all around, as pictured above. Gently fold the edges of the dough over the fruit, overlapping the dough as necessary. Press gently to seal the edges. Pour most of the reserved juices over the fruit, leaving about 1-2 Tablespoons behind. Too much juice and the dough will become soggy.
6. Brush the crust with the beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until the crust is golden brown, Remove from the oven and allow to slightly cool before serving.
7. If you wish to drizzle with vanilla glaze, use the glaze recipe from here. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Additional Notes:

*Make sure your butter is very cold. I like to chill it in the freezer for about 15 minutes ahead of time.

Health Awareness Berry Good Smoothie

Berries, It's Kinda What We Do

Berries, it's our power house. Not only do we love berries, but we are committed to growing the most nutrient dense berries we possibly can. We stand vigilant in our fields over seeing the soils, the leafs, the growth, the quality of our plants. All so we can continue to improve our already great berries. (We might be a bit of perfectionists!) 

Each of our berries have their own set of health benefits, but they all work harmoniously as well. If you want to learn more about the berries we currently sell check out our website!

Berry Good Smoothie

Ingredients: 
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup fresh or frozen SVO strawberries
1/2 cup fresh or frozen SVO blackberries
1/2 cup fresh or frozen SVO blueberries
1/2 cup fresh or frozen SVO raspberries
2-4 cups fresh kale, stems removed
1-2 tablespoons flaxseed
1 cup ice

Directions:
1. Blend well in high-powdered blender until you see vortex in the middle
2. Serve, sip, & enjoy! 

Summer Is Coming!

You might have see us starting to post more and more about this coming summer! We are very excited for this harvest season. For a while now we have been saying "Summer is Coming"

And it's true. In a few short weeks we will start harvest on our raspberries and they sort of kick off the season for us. We will be sending out post cards for those local folks who have opted in for them. These postcards are for announcement official announcement of what is going on for this summer.

Those of you who do not get our postcards, no worries, we will be announcing all major events/happenings here on our blog, on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest and (coming soon) Instagram, for all updates from around the farm! We would love for you to follow us on all our social media, but you can just pick the one you use most too.

Our next big announcement will be May 30, 2015 right here on our blog, so be sure to come back and check out what we have in store! 

It's going to be a great summer!

Health Awareness Chewy Raspberry Apple Granola Bars

Raspberries are amazing little things....

When our berries start coming on you can always find us sneaking off to the field to graze for a bit. You can tell we are working REALLY hard around here! All joking aside raspberries are a power house of benefits for our bodies. Generally speaking raspberries are a great brain food, support hearth health, can provide cancer prevention, diabetes management, are a detox and help with disease prevention, and they help your eyes. 

For more information about raspberries check out these links:

What are the health benefits of raspberries?
What's New and Beneficial About Raspberries
Benefits of Raspberries

We found this recipe and gave it a our own twist, we hope you all enjoy! 

Chewy Raspberry Apple Granola Bars 

Inspired from Amy's Healthy Baking

Ingredients:

1 tsp coconut oil, melted

½ c unsweetened applesauce, room temperature

1/3 c skim milk

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 ½ c old-fashioned oats

1 c fresh or frozen SVO raspberries, diced

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F, and lightly coat an 8”-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the oil and applesauce until smooth. Mix in the milk, honey and cinnamon until thoroughly combined. Stir in the oats until evenly coated with the applesauce mixture. Gently fold in the raspberries.
3. Press the oat mixture into the prepared pan, and bake at 350°F for 16-19 minutes. Cool completely to room temperature in the pan before slicing into 10 bars.

Notes: 

*For a vegan version, substitute your favorite non-dairy milk and agave in place of the honey. 

*It’s important for the applesauce to be at room temperature to prevent the melted coconut oil from re-solidifying. 

*For best storage results, tightly wrap each individual bar in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator until ready to eat.

*For the sweet tooth's out there, we also tried melting our favorite organic chocolate and drizzling on top, think like a chewy bar, and the results were YUM! (1 cup worked best for us!)

May 2015 News from Around The Farm

We finally got some much needed sunshine and we started putting in trellising into our planting of Black Raspberries. We have also been busy feeding all of our crops and helping them along their way to summer harvest. It’s really important to make sure our crops are being fed now and during harvest so that not only does the plant produce fruit but also that the plant can take care of itself. Whether that means putting energy towards growing, fending off diseases or however else that plant needs to do.   In April we also participated in a couple of community events. If you're interested in seeing photos from our adventures click here for Earth Day event and click here for Tyee’s Open House. Office Hours This is probably the last month we will be in our Winter hours (yay!) But until we say otherwise we will continue with our Winter Hours: Monday to Friday 10 am to 4 pm PST.

Frozen Raspberries Are Sold Out This is the first year since having raspberries that we have sold out of them. So we will not have that as an option on our website until we have this coming harvests berries are packed and ready. The good news is that we are currently guess-timating that our Raspberries will be coming on some time in June, so hopefully no one has to wait too long. Better Shipping Rates are Over Until Winter Thank you to everyone who has ordered over the last few months to cash in on those awesome shipping rates! The weather is getting warmer and that means we have to insist on shipping 2 day air again. When the weather starts getting cold again we will once again offer these better rates. Just because the better rates are gone does not mean we are out of frozen! We will continue to offer frozen berries as normal. Social Media Shenanigans We had such a great month interacting with you guys! If you missed it we have reactivated our Twitter account, and been posting far more to facebook,Pinterest, and our blog. This month on our blog we are focusing on Health Awareness. Today you will be able to find our post of what this means to us and some tips about what you can do to live healthier. Then every Saturday this month, you will be able to find delicious recipes that go along with this theme. Other posts we have coming up this month will be concerning summer activities for the farm and what you all can expect. Plus we will have a huge announcement about our strawberries! Our Pinterest board for May will be all about Mother’s Day, May Day, and Brunch! We are posting great recipes, beautiful images of wonderful bouquets, and fantastic ideas for gifts for Mother’s Day. Facebook & Twitter are great places to find out if we are attending any events, for example we didn’t know we would be attending the events we did in when we sent out April’s newsletter so we put it all over Facebook & Twitter. We also have been posting a ton of photos of this spring's bloom. As well as articles we run into and want to share with everyone! Post Card Reminders: Every year we send out postcards for reminders about our fresh season coming up. This year there will be a coupon attached to it so don’t loose it, and remember to bring it with you when you visit us! Usually when we send these out we are getting really close to our first berry being ready. Right now we anticipate sending them out at the end of May. Keep an eye on our social media for when we actually do. This year we will also be letting everyone know when we have U-Picks open as well as when each berry and variety we have is ready, via our social media, so it’s super important if you're not following us to do so. We don’t want you to miss anything! Coupons & Specials For Mother’s Day we do have a special going. For $17.99 (includes shipping) you can send your loved one a special gift that includes a Chocolate Blueberry Cluster and a 4 oz Dried Blueberry. We ship nation wide so its a great healthy gift! We also are extending our special in Willamette Living Magazine to the end of June. Raspberry & Lemon Curd Tarts Inspired From Cooks With Cocktails Ingredients: FOR THE LEMON CURD ½ cup lemon juice 1 tbsp lemon rind 4 egg yolk 1 whole egg 1 cup sugar ½ cup plus 2 tbsp butter FOR THE RASPBERRY CURD ½ cup raspberry juice 4 egg yolk 1 whole egg ¾ cup sugar ½ cup plus 2 tbsp butter FOR THE SHORTBREAD 1½ cup flour ½ cup cold butter ¾ cup sugar Icing sugar for dusting (optional) Directions: FOR THE LEMON CURD Put lemon juice, lemon rind, butter on a double boiler and heat till butter melts. Then take it off the heat. Beat eggs in a bowl till foamy with a whisk or on high speed in a mixer. Gradually add the sugar till eggs are pale and very thick. This should take about 4 - 5 mins. Put lemon mixture still in the double boiler back on the heat, add the egg mixture and whisk. Cook till it thickens. It should coat a wooden spoon well. Set aside. FOR THE RASPBERRY CURD Take a bag of frozen raspberry's and thaw. When completely thawed, blend up the raspberries, put in a strainer and strain till you get ½ a cup of juice. Put the raspberry juice, butter on double boiler and heat till butter melts then take off the heat. Beat eggs in a bowl till foamy with a whisk or on high speed in a mixer. Gradually add the sugar till eggs are pale and very thick. This should take about 4 - 5 mins. Put raspberry mixture still in the double boiler back on the heat, add the egg mixture and whisk. Cook till it thickens. It should coat a wooden spoon well. Set aside. FOR THE SHORTBREAD Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place all the ingredient in a food processor or mixer and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for about ½ hour. Take it out of the fridge, divide into 12 equal size balls. Roll the dough ball between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Place in the pan mould or tart shell. Place a piece of parchment over each shell and fill with pie weights. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 mins. Remove from the oven. Most likely the shell will have fallen a little it down the sides of the mould. You will have to use a deep spoon top push down the crust and move it up the side of the pan. A round table spoon works really well. Cool completely. TO ASSEMBLE Take a tart shell and fill it with lemon curd almost all the way to the top. Next place a layer of raspberry curd on top. Continue with the rest of the shells. Sprinkle with icing sugar if desired. Indulge...

Health Awareness Grilled Salmon with Avocado Salsa

Umm Yum!

Last week we talked about the benefits of eating at least two fish dishes each week for a small step to a healthy living lifestyle. Salmon is a personal favorite around the farm, so we thought this was a great opportunity to find a delicious recipe to try and share with all of you! Some of the benefits specifically, salmon can provide are:

Rich in Omega 3 fatty acids
High quality protein
Essential Amino acids
Vitamin A
Vitamin D
Vitamin B6
Vitamin B
Vitamin E

For additional information around salmon and its benefits please check out these links:

Seven Health Benefits of Salmon to Improve Your Vitality

The Health Benefits of...Salmon

Health Benefits of Salmon

Grilled Salmon 

with Avocado Salsa Inspired from Rookie Cookie

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs salmon, cut into 4 pieces
• 1 tbs olive oil (I used light extra virgin olive oil)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp ancho chili powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• for the Avocado salsa:
• 1 avocado, sliced
• ½ small red onion, sliced
• Juice from 2 limes
• 1-2 tbs finely chopped cilantro (depending on how big of a cilantro lover you are)
• Salt to taste

Directions: 

1. Mix the salt, chili powder, cumin, paprika, onion and black pepper together, rub the salmon fillets with olive oil and this seasoning mix
2. refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
3. Pre-heat the grill.
4. Combine the avocado, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and salt in a bowl and mix well, chill until ready to use.
5. Grill the salmon to desired doneness. (I grilled for about 5 minutes)
6. Top with avocado salsa and enjoy!

Trellising of Black Raspberries

As we have previously stated we will be having black raspberries starting in 2016. We are so excited about it but in order to get there we have a ton of work to do. In the early spring we planted these cute little guys. Now that they are wanting to grow and get some energy going we need to put in some trellising. We planted 20 acres of black raspberries and we have to put trellising on all of it! What a task! Luckily we have an excellent crew who has worked very had and done a fantastic job. 

Here is our quick look at the process of how we put in our trellising:

If you would like to see more photos check out our Facebook album! 

Health Awareness Coconut Bliss

Coconuts seem to be one of the many hip things to eat these days, and with good reason Coconut & Coconut Oil are packed full with useful things our bodies can use, such as:

1. Coconut Oil Contains a Unique Combination of Fatty Acids With Powerful Medicinal Properties: coconut oil doesn’t contain your average run-of-the-mill saturated fats like you would find in cheese or steak.No, they contain so-called Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs) – which are fatty acids of a medium length.Most of the fatty acids in the diet are long-chain fatty acids, but the medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil are metabolized differently.They go straight to the liver from the digestive tract, where they are used as a quick source energy or turned into so-called ketone bodies, which can have therapeutic effects on brain disorders like epilepsy and Alzheimer’s.

2. Populations That Eat a LOT of Coconut Are Among The Healthiest People on The Planet:Coconut is kind of an “exotic” food in the Western world, primarily consumed by health conscious people.However, in some parts of the world, coconut is a dietary staple that people have thrived on for many generations.The best example of such a population is the Tokelauans, which live in the South Pacific.They eat over 60% of their calories from coconuts and are the biggest consumers of saturated fat in the world.These people are in excellent health, with no evidence of heart disease.Another example of a population that eats a lot of coconut and remains in excellent health is the Kitavans.

3. Coconut Oil Can Increase Your Energy Expenditure, Helping You Burn More Fat: Obesity is currently one of the biggest health problems in the world.While some people think obesity is only a matter of calories, others (myself included) believe that the sources of those calories are critical too.It is a fact that different foods affect our bodies and hormones in different ways. In this regard, a calorie is NOT a calorie.The medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) in coconut oil can increase energy expenditure compared to the same amount of calories from longer chain fats.One study found that 15-30 grams of MCTs per day increased 24 hour energy expenditure by 5%, totaling about 120 calories per day.

4. The Fatty Acids in Coconut Oil Are Turned into Ketones, Which Can Reduce Seizures:A so-called ketogenic (very low carb, very high fat) diet is currently being studied to treat various disorders.The best known therapeutic application of this diet is treating drug-resistant epilepsy in children.This diet involves eating very little carbohydrates and large amounts of fat, leading to greatly increased concentrations of ketone bodies in the blood.For some reason, this diet can dramatically reduce the rate of seizures in epileptic children, even those who haven’t had success with multiple different types of drugs.Because the MCTs in coconut oil get shipped to the liver and turned into ketone bodies, they are often used in epileptic patients to induce ketosis while allowing for a bit more carbs in the diet.

5. Coconut Oil Can Improve Blood Cholesterol Levels and May Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease:Coconut oil is loaded with saturated fats, which actually do not harm the blood lipid profile like previously thought.Saturated fats raise HDL (the good) cholesterol and change the LDL cholesterol to a benign subtype. In one study in 40 women, coconut oil reduced Total and LDL cholesterol while increasing HDL compared to soybean oil. There are also rat studies showing that coconut oil reduces triglycerides, total and LDL cholesterol, increases HDL and improves blood coagulation factors and antioxidant status.This improvement in cardiovascular risk factors should theoretically lead to a reduced risk of heart disease over the long term.

This month we are all about health awareness, but that doesn't mean you can't have your cake and eat it too. And to do that we have a delicious Coconut & Lemon Ball Bliss recipe for you all!

Don't these look delicious? With just five ingredients these are a perfect way to add a delicious snack for a healthy living choice! 

Makes approx. 15 balls. Calories per ball: 151.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups shredded coconut + extra 

• ½ cup almonds 

• 2-3 tbsp honey or rice malt syrup (to taste) 

• 2 tbsp coconut oil 

• Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Directions: 

• Place all ingredients into the food processor and blend for 1 minute.

• Roll into small balls around the size of a 10c piece.

• Roll in extra coconut.

• Place on a lined tray and chill in the fridge until firm.

Health Awareness Month

May is National Health Month. We all try to do our best to be healthy, and be good to our bodies. But some times thats hard, but little changes are what can make the biggest differences. Plus if you make a bunch of small changes eventually they all add up into something much bigger. So this month we are post recipes that are delicious but have that healthy idea behind them. Be sure to check out our blog every Saturday for new recipes!

Here are some small ideas to help kick start your super healthy month!

Wear a pedometer. Wearable technology is becoming all the thing, but you don't have to be fancy. New research suggests that routinely wearing a pedometer encourages people to walk about an extra mile each day, lose weight, and lower their blood pressure. Aim for at least 30 minutes of brisk walking and a total of 10,000 steps per day.

Don't pop too many vitamins. Enthusiasm for vitamin pills is high, but evidence for their benefits is low. Try to get vitamins from foods and consider a multivitamin for insurance. Women should get at least 1,000 mgs of calcium per day (1,200 mgs/day if you're past menopause) from food and/or supplements. Everyone should also get 800 international units of Vitamin D per day -- more than the federal "Recommended Daily Allowance." A great way to get some of those vitamins is from our berries and berry products. Our mission is to give you guys, our customers, the most nutrient dense fruit possible. 

Eat at least two fish meals per week. The evidence is strong that the oils in darker types of fish, such as salmon, tuna, mackerel and herring, are beneficial for the heart and brain and may even lower risk of cancer.

Drink water. No matter where you are, water should always be the first thing you reach for when you're thirsty. Water truly is essential.

Sleep 8 hours a night. A number of recent studies have confirmed that you really do need at least 8 hours a night. Among the many benefits: Adequate sleep makes you feel better, decreases risk for cardiovascular disease, boosts memory and reduces the likelihood of being in a car accident.

Don't focus on dieting. Focus on eating. If you're hungry, you're more likely to overeat, especially in the evening. Instead, of sacrificing all day and gorging later, it's better to eat enough during the day to avoid hunger pangs and uncontrolled eating at night. Eat every four hours or so, and make sure to eat a "second lunch" -- think of it as another meal rather than a snack -- in the mid-afternoon to keep your energy up and make you less hungry in the evening.

See our recipes that go with this months theme!

Coconut Bliss
Grilled Salmon With Avocado Salsa
Chewy Raspberry Apple Granola Bars
Berry Good Smoothie