November Newsletter

News From Around the Farm Is anyone else having a hard time believing it's already November? October just flew by! We hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween! Our's was filled with spooky movies and popcorn (and of course our chocolate covered blueberry clusters!). Over the last month or so we've been getting the farm cleaned up and ready for Winter. One of the bigger tasks has been tying blackberry canes- we've been at it for about three weeks now and still aren't done! Another project we've tackled was spreading sawdust mulch among the blueberries, and the final big project we completed was pruning our black raspberries.  With the holidays coming up we would like to draw your attention to two important areas in the newsletter this month. The first being dates which we will be closed: Our normal winter office hours are: Monday - Friday 10 am to 4 pm PST  We will be closed: Thanksgiving-November 24th Day after Thanksgiving- November 25th December 19th- January 1st This means the last day we will be shipping holiday packages will be December 16th. The second, Holiday shipping dates as suggested by USPS and FedEx: USPS: First-Class Mail: Dec. 20th Priority Mail: Dec. 21st Priority Mail Express: Dec. 23rd USPS Retail Ground: Dec. 15th Destination Network Distribution Center Drop Ship: Dec. 19th Destination Delivery Unit Drop Ship Dec. 22 For more info about USPS shipping this holiday season check out their website.  FedEx: Dec. 16: Last day to ship FedEx Ground Dec.  14: Last day to ship by FedEx Ground for Alaska & Hawaii Dec. 12: Last day to ship by FedEx Smart Post Dec. 23: Last day to ship by priority overnight   Dec 22: Last day for 2 Day shipping; $16 charge for Saturday delivery For more details about FedEx holiday schedule check out their website.  Cold Weather Shipping  We will be able to bring back our Cold Weather Shipping special sometime in October. For those who are new to this, every year when it’s cold nation wide we are able to send our frozen berries by ground rather than 2 day air, which saves a lot of money! We can only offer this while it’s cold out, usually fall through the early part of spring. You do need to call us if you would the ground shipping though. Our online store is not set up for it. You can call usMonday through Friday 10 am to 4 pm Pacific. Holiday Gift Boxes: The Holidays are coming! It’s weird that it is already that time of the year again, right? We have gift boxes!If you want a gift box, but don’t see anything you like on our site, give us a call, we are more than happy to do custom gift boxes! If your thinking about ordering a bunch of them please keep in mind that if you want us to ship them to multiple address the order does NOT qualify for free shipping if it goes over $225.00. But if we ship it all to one address then it can qualify for free shipping, as long it’s more than $225.00. We are also offering if you buy 10 gift boxes you get one free (excludes shipping). Our gift boxes are great for birthdays, house warming’s, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Years. Basically anytime you need a present or a nice gesture, we’ve got you covered. Holiday Gift Fair We will be at the Holiday Gift Fair this year, hosted by Home Grown Gardens, December 3rd and 4th. The fair will be open from 10 am to 5 pm each day. We will have our gift boxes there, and remember if you buy 10 then you get one free!  Home Grown Gardens is located: 4845 SE 3rd St, Corvallis, OR 97333  We will have an event added to our Facebook pagewith all the details, so be sure to check it out as we get closer to December.  Easy Vegan Apple, Dried Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls Tender, fluffy, and perfectly spiced, these easy vegan apple, dried blueberry cinnamon rolls are delicious with an afternoon cup of tea or as a special treat on a weekend morning (or any other time!). Serves: 12 Ingredients Dough 2 1/4 tsp yeast 1 tsp sugar 1/2 cup lukewarm water 3/4 cup room temperature/lukewarm non-dairy milk (I use almond) 1/2 cup oil 3/4 tsp salt 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 cup sugar 3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour Filling 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 tsp ground cinnamon 2 tbsp melted coconut oil 1/2 cup dried blueberries 1 apple, chopped  Directions: In your stand mixer bowl, add the yeast, 1 tsp of sugar, and lukewarm water. Let stand for a few minutes. When the yeast has foamed up, add the room temperature/lukewarm milk, oil, salt, ground cinnamon, sugar and 1 cup of flour. Mix with a spoon to combine. Put stand mixer bowl in place, add 2 more cups of flour and using the dough hook, allow the mixer to knead. If the dough is sticky, add flour 1/2 cup at a time. Let mixer knead dough for about 4 minutes and until it is no longer sticky. Remove dough from mixer bowl and oil the inside lightly. Place dough back in bowl, cover with a towel and let it sit in a warm spot until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour. After the hour has passed, punch the dough down and let it sit for a few minutes while you prepare the pan and filling. Line an 11" x 13" pan with parchment paper. Allow an overhang on each side so they can be easily removed from the pan when done. Slice apples into 3/4" pieces (see images above to get an idea of how they should look). In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar and the cinnamon. Lightly flour your work surface, stretch and roll your dough into a rectangle that is approximately 12" x 18". Brush melted coconut oil over the entire surface. Sprinkle brown sugar/cinnamon mixture onto dough. Sprinkle dried blueberries and then apples onto the dough. From the long side, firmly roll the dough. Roll slowly to ensure it is tight as can be. Pinch the entire length of the seam to seal and turn the entire roll seam side down so it's at the bottom. Slice off an inch of dough from each end. Slice the roll into 12 slices. Place each slice into the parchment lined pan. It's OK if they are close together. Cover with a towel and place in a warm spot. Let rise for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°F. After the rolls have rested, bake for about 20 minutes or until they are lightly browned. Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes in pan. Remove using parchment paper overhang and place on a cooling rack.

Newsletter for November 2015

Happy November! 

Happy November everyone! Wow fall is moving so fast this year! In Oregon where we are, we actually just started to have rain and to feel like it is truly an Oregon Fall. Our blueberries bushes are mostly red now, there is still a bit of green on some of the plants. Did you know different varieties of blueberries turn colors at different times? For us our Duke Blueberry plants turn first, and our Jersey Blueberry plants are the last to fully be red. They also vary in tone of red, Blue Crop Blueberries like to be more of this deep red, and Jersey Blueberries are more orange red.

News From Around the Farm

We have finished putting our blueberry plantings to bed for the fall and winter, and have been working really hard in the raspberries and blackberries tying up the canes and getting the plants ready for next year.

So I know we have been talking about our freeze dried powder, and our freeze drier. Well I sort of have good news. (Just bear with me here guys…) We still have a broken freeze drier, and we are still at that 90% mark. The good news is we have found a company that we can work with to make some blueberry powder for us. We will only have blueberry powder for a while. So it’s better than nothing.  When we have blueberry freeze dried powder available we will be posting on our blog, Facebook, and Twitter. As well as of course having it available in our online store. 

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 office hours right now are Monday to Friday 10 am to 4 pm PST.

Our office will be closed for Thanksgiving: November 26, 2015 and November 27, 2015.

Our office will also be closed from December 21, 2015 to January 4, 2016. 

Website Changes on The Horizon

We are going to be making changes to our website, so if you see something wonky, or weird. Please have patience as we will be improving and changing it over the next few months. Our goal is that in 2016 we will have a brand new site, that is educational, and user friendly.

Savings for this month:

We don’t have any coupons this month but there are a couple of different ways for you to save.

1.     We still have an ad in the Pet Press magazine, to use it just bring it in when you visit us at our farm. (There is no code, not valid for online & phone purchases)

2.     We are starting to send out Holiday flyers in orders, so if you buy from us you can receive a coupon that way.

3.     We have gift boxes that make great gifts for this time of year. They also make for a great sampler if you want to try any of our products. Click here to see our gift box section in our online store.

Social Butterflies!

We now have an active Instagram account. You can follow us@SVOrganics . On our Instagram you can see more details about anything that is happening around the farm. Check out our Pinterest board this month! We are adding to our Healthy Thanksgiving board and we are also always adding to our Blueberry, Raspberry, and Blackberry Inspired boards, as well as Harmonious Berry Blends. 

Our Blog theme is follows along the lines of healthy thanksgiving but focused on being  diabetic friendly, every weekend you can find healthy alternative for goodies and treats for this Thanksgiving.

Happy Veterans Day!

Happy Veterans Day! We would like to thank all who are currently serving or have served, and to thank those who made the ultimate sacrifice. We would like to offer a coupon for in our online store, use code VETERANS11 and save 11% on your total order (excludes frozen). This offer is good for today only (November 11, 2015 12 am to 11:59 pm).

We hope everyone enjoys today!

Happy Healthy Thanksgiving: Home Made Bagles

Who can say no to a bagel? I know no one around here can! So we were super excited when we found a recipe that was gluten free + vegan friendly! We have also given it our own twist! 

Homemade 

Blueberry Bagels 

(Gluten Free + Vegan Friendly) 

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose white blend
1 3/4 cups milk of choice or water
2 1/2 tsp yeast or 1 packet 
1/2 cup dried blueberries
3 tsp guar gum
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt (+ extra for top)
1 tbsp sugar

Instructions:
1. Heat liquid to 100 degrees F. Add yeast and sugar, then mix and allow to sit for 5 minutes. 
2. In a separate bowl mix flour, gum, dried blueberries, and salt.

3. In large bowl combine liquid and oil. Gradually mix in all the flour mixture by hand to avoid big lumps. Mix until all incorporated and smooth.

4. Use a large cookie scoop or spray a ½ cup to scoop the dough. With wet hands form dough into a ball and use a finger to poke a hole in the center. Gently shape into bagel form by expanding the hole. Place on a individual piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

5. Spray tops with oil, cover with plastic and allow to rise in a warm place for about 20 minutes. (Don't allow to double in size or else it will lose its shape and fall apart in the bath.)

6. Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil. Gently drop a max of 2 bagels in the water and boiled each side for only 30 seconds each side. Remove individual parchment paper pieces and place back on baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt.

7. Bake at 450 degrees F for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown.

Useful Info:

Be careful moving bagels to and from the water. The extra sheet of parchment paper makes it easier to move and comes off easily after boiling. The water should be a rapid boil and only let them sit for a short while on each side or else they will absorb too much water and become soggy. If you can, allow your oven to preheat at least 20 minutes prior to baking. These freeze extremely well and can be used for sandwich bread.

Original Recipe from Petite Allergy Treats

November Themes

It hardly seems like Christmas is next month! But first we have the great month of November, we love November around here. This month we will be posting about two very important topics, Alzheimer's Awareness, as well as Diabetes Awareness. Each Saturday we will have either a stimulating recipe for Alzheimer's Awareness or a healthy alternative for Thanksgiving for Diabetes Awareness.

Alzheimer's is a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. It's the most common cause of dementia, a group of brain disorders that results in the loss of intellectual and social skills. Sadly scientist don't fully understand what the actual cause of Alzheimer's disease. But as research continues, it is becoming apparent that a series of complex events take place in the brain over a long period of time, it is thought that it also involves a mix of genetics, environmental and lifestyle factors. In America 5.2 million people of all ages (2013) have Alzheimer's. 5 Million of that are 65 years of age or older.

While there is no known cure for Alzheimer's there are ways of slowing the progression. Specifically we will be focusing on blueberries and their link to slowing Alzheimer's. Scientist and researchers are not 100% on what exactly the link, or magic is between the two but the theory is that because Blueberries are so high in Antioxidants.

Why are Antioxidants important? Because they help repair tissue, cells, and DNA that have been damaged specifically by free radicals. Free radicals are all around us, from being exposed to the sun, the foods we eat, even our bodies create free radicals from the process of digestion. However as long as diets are high in antioxidants then the thought is that the free radical production can be kept in check.

Another thing that is magical about Blueberries is that they have high amounts of anthocyanin, this is what gives the berries that blue & purple color. Anthocyanin can also be found in other berries such as raspberries, blackberries, strawberries,  and aronia berries.