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...

Machine Picking Raspberries

We recently started picking our raspberries. The berries that we sell fresh are all hand picked because raspberries are extremely fragile. We have chosen to machine pick our raspberries for our frozen market because it save us money, and is far more efficient than hand picking. We have four acres of raspberries this year with new plantings that will increase the size to 10 acres.

In order to be the most efficient we have taken our blueberry picker and altered it a bit. We use Littau Harvesters and are lucky enough to have two of them when harvesting our 70+ acres of blueberries. To alter our machines to pick raspberries we exchanged the shaker heads and put in ones that would be more gentle when shaking the raspberry vines.

The picker process goes something like this: The machine straddles the row and then gently shakes the vines causing the the raspberries to fall and be caught in cups that line the sides, and are carried to the top of the machine where they are dumped onto another conveyer belt, where they make their way into a bin that is divided into 12 slots like placing 12 pints together. Those flats are then stacked in the waiting area on the machine and transferred to a truck where they are then taken to our holding room to be processed.

Another aspect of the picking process is that we choose to pick during the night. Nights are far cooler than the day, this helps maintain the continuity of the berry,  and preserves it. Whereas if we were picking during the heat of the day the raspberries would become very mushy and would not a be a good quality product.

One of our machine pickers

Blueberry shaker heads

Top conveyer belt

Top conveyer belt from the side, you can see the cup on the right side.

Cold Weather Means Cheaper Shipping Rates!

With the cold weather we have been experiencing lately we can ship our frozen strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, New Mexico, and Arizona, and other states for cheaper rates. But you have to call us or contact us through our website in order to confirm that your state qualifies for the cheaper rates. Call us at 541-752-0460, we are open Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm Pacific Time.

Beat The Heat

Summer is in full swing and bringing the heat, especially if your having a good time out doors, or doing some yard work. Here a couple of refreshing recipes for fruity drinks to cool off with.

Dazzling Raspberry Drink (from Betty Crocker)

Ingredients:

·         40 oz. of frozen raspberries, thawed & drained

·         1 can (6oz) frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed

·         1 bottle (2Liters) ginger ale, chilled

Directions:

·         In 4-quart Dutch oven, cook raspberries over medium heat 10 minutes, stirring frequently; cool slightly. Push through strainer with large spoon to remove seeds. Refrigerate raspberry juice at least 2 hours.

·         In large pitcher, mix raspberry juice and lemonade concentrate. Stir in ginger ale. Serve immediately over ice.

Refreshing Raspberry Drink (from food.com) Yield: 4 Glasses

Ingredients:

·         1 1/3 Cups Red Raspberries

·         3 Tablespoons Sugar

·         ½ cup lime juice

·         2-3 cups sparkling water (or sprite if you want it a bit sweeter)

Directions:

•          Place raspberries in a medium bowl
•          Add sugar and lime juice and mash with back of wooden spoon.
•         Let sit for about 10 minutes
•          Strain mixture through fine sieve to remove seeds and set aside.
•          Fill four large glasses with ice and pour ¼ cup raspberry mixture in each glass
•          Add ¾ cup sparkling water (or sprite)
•          Stir to combine
•          Top with ½ cup sparkling  water (or sprite)

Yum! Don’t these sound delicious!?