January 2016 Newsletter

Happy New Years!

News From Around the Farm

We hope everyone has had a great holiday season. We spent the majority of it relaxing and spending time with family. Now we are back in the office and starting to get ready for another great year.

2016 is going to be another big year for us. This coming year we expect to have our freeze dried powders back in stock. This summer we will be harvesting black raspberries and aronia berries for the first time. Then this fall we hope to have freeze dried powders of those two berries available for purchase. 

In the immediate future it's time for us to work on pruning our blueberries. We have had our blog post about pruning blueberry plants, and we will be posting a new video about how we prune our blueberry plants coming later this month. 

We Need Your Help!

We are in the mists of making changes and gearing up for new projects. But we need your help! We would appreciate it very much if you could fill out our survey. At the end there is a coupon as a thank you for helping us out. (The link has been fixed since last month)

Click this link to help us out.

Freeze Dried Powder Update:

This month we expect to be reciving our freeze dried powders, & we have packaging on the way. Once those two are here we will be ready to sell our powders! (yay!) We will not have raspberry, or strawberry powders still. When we recieve our powders we will be calling anyone who has been on the waiting list, as well as posting on our socials about it. We would like to thank everyone for their paiotents while we have sorted this whole process out. When our freeze dried powders are out, please use POWDER for 10% off. This coupon will be good for 30 days once we make our powders active on our website. 

Food For Thought

In recent weeks we have seen a rise in nutritional information articles about Black Raspberries, and Aronia berries. Information about Aronia berries is still a bit vague but Black Raspberries have been more and more in the news, and we are delighted. The more information that is out there about their health benefits the better! 

We will be sharing all articles we find on our Facebook and Twitter accounts. But these are a couple of articles that we really like that have been posted recently. 

The Superfood of the year is the black raspberry

Black Raspberry May Be New Superfood: Other Best Superfoods For Weight Loss

We will have Black Raspberries + Aronia Berries available to purchase in the Harvest of 2016. 

Cold Weather Shipping is Back!

We know a lot of you guys have been waiting for our cold weather shipping to come back. For those of you who are new to our site, every winter we are able to offer better shipping prices on our frozen berries. We are able to do this by shipping by ground rather than by 2-day air, which is standard in our store online. To take advantage of our ground shipping this winter, give us a call at 541-752-0460 (10 am to 4 pm, PST). 

Winter + Holiday Office Hours

Our Winter hours are Monday to Friday 10 am to 4 pm PST. 

Blueberry Oatmeal Crumble Bars

An easy, one bowl, no-mixer recipe that takes just minutes to make. The crust and crumble topping are one in the same so there’s one less step and one less bowl to wash. Cook Time 30 Minutes Total Time 45 Minutes

Ingredients:

Crust and Crumble Topping
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup old-fashioned whole-rolled oats (don't use quick cook or instant, they're finer and behave like flour and will make mixture too dry)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
pinch salt, optional and to taste

Blueberry Layer
12 ounces (2 cups) blueberries (fresh or frozen; I used frozen and didn't thaw)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray; set aside. Lining the pan helps with cleanup and is recommended.
2. Crust and Crumble Topping - In a large, microwave-safe bowl melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
3. Add the flour, oats, sugars, optional salt, and stir to combine. Mixture will be dry and sandy with some larger, well-formed crumble pieces.
4. Set 1 heaping cup mixture aside to be sprinkled on later as crumble topping.
5. Transfer remaining mixture to prepared pan, and using a spatula or your fingers, hard-pack the mixture to create an even, smooth, flat crust; set aside.
6. Blueberry Layer - In a large mixing bowl (same one used for crust and crumble is okay), add all ingredients and toss to combine. If sugar hasn't dissolved fully that's okay because it liquifies while baking.
7. Evenly distribute blueberry mixture over the crust.
8. Evenly sprinkle with the reserved heaping 1 cup crumble topping mixture. Before sprinkling, I squeeze the mixture in my palm to encourage bigger crumble pieces to form.
9. Bake for about 55 minutes, or until edges are set and center has just set. Crumble topping should appear set and very pale golden. I used frozen berries without thawing and the pan was very cold going into the oven. If using fresh berries, baking time will be reduced, but I'm not sure by how much, I'd guess at least 10-15 minutes, possibly less. Bars may take longer than 55 minutes if blueberries are very juicy. Watch your bars, not the clock, when evaluating doneness. Place pan on a wire rack and allow bars to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving. If you try to slice bars before they've cooled completely, they'll be extremely messy and could fall apart. Bars will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, in the fridge for up to 10 days, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.