Fresh Blackberry Cake with Butter Cream Frosting

Summer is winding down in Oregon, and most of our harvest is over. We just have aronia berries left. This summer went so fast, but the weather was also so weird and caused all of our crops to be much later than expected. The only crop that was "on time" was our raspberries. This past week we wrapped up harvesting on our blackberries, and with the few last fresh ones we made this delicious cake to celebrate a harvest well done.

We used a white sponge as a base for our cake, with layers of buttercream and fresh blackberries bursting with sweetness in the middle of the cake.

Ingredients: 

For the Cake

• 1 C Salted Butter, Softened
• 1 1/2 C Sugar
• 2 TSP Almond Extract 
• 3 1/2 C Flour
• 4 TSP Baking Powder
• 1/2 TSP Salt
• 6 Large Eggs,  Room Temp
• 1 1/2 C Milk, Room Temp

For the Frosting

• 1 1/2 C Butter, Softened
• 1 1/2 TSP Vanilla Extract
• 6  C Powdered Sugar
• 6 TBSP Heavy Whipping Cream
• Food Coloring (optional)
• Extract for Flavor (optional) 

We used about 2 cups of fresh Blackberries, our cake is 9 inches in dimeter. You can use more or less depending on your cake size and shape. 

Directions: 

1. Grease three 9-inch pans. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in almond extract.
3. Use a fork to combine the eggs and milk together in a bowl or 2 cup liquid measuring cup. Set aside.
4. In another mixing bowl stir together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. Add ⅓ of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix in until just combined. Add in half of the milk mixture and combine. Add in another ⅓ of the dry ingredients until combined followed by the remainder of the milk mixture. Add in the remainder of the dry ingredients and mix with the hand mixer until just combined, using a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom to make sure everything is mixed in.
6. Divide the batter among the three prepared pans. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. Let sit in pans for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before layering and frosting. 
7. To make the frosting: Use mixer (hand or stand) to whip softened butter and vanilla extract together. Slowly add in powdered sugar, about 1 cup at a time. Thin out with milk if it gets too thick.

SVO August Newsletter

August Already?! 

This summer is just flying by! We have never been so busy as we are this summer. Because berries were early our blueberries and blackberries are having to be harvested at the same time. Which makes for a lot of excitement. It seems that this year we are having to deal with all kinds of new problems, such as we had to figure out if we had enough crates to put berries in, in contrast to how fast we were processing them. These are the kind of problems we want to have. 

Follow Us on Social Media! Facebook Twitter Blog Pinterest Instagram

Details of our Harvest

Machine Picker Unloading Blueberries on Truck

If you have been following us on any of our social media we have been sending out weekly updates called “Harvest Reports” in which we summarize what is going on for the week, what we have available for purchase at our farm stand and how we think our berries are ripening. This is the best way other than giving us a call, to find out how things are going. Click here to read our latest Harvest Report. 

We are officially done with the fresh season, our Farm Stand is now closed, and that means our U-Pick is now closed as well.  We had a great season and are already looking forward to next years harvest! 

We are still processing blueberries and blackberries. So if your on our list to call we have some updated information for you: If you ordered Jersey (the small berries) you should have received a phone call from us by now. If you ordered Blue Crop (the bigger berries) we are still processing them and will be calling you soon. If you haven't gotten a call and think you should have you can call us at 541-752-0560.

Fresh Picked Blackberries

We are also excited to be harvesting a baby crop of Aronia berries. We are hopefully to start experiments for products this fall (including freeze dried powder!). 

We expect to be done processing all of this years fruit some time in mid August. 

We will of course continue to offer frozen berries all year round. We expect to have raspberries back in stock sometime in late September. We have frozen blueberries available, and strawberries. For blackberries we currently have 5 pound cases, and later on after harvest we will have the 25 pound cases back in stock. 

Once we have a product back in stock we will announce it on our twitter and Facebook so be sure to be following us! 

Other Useful Links: SVO Website  Local Harvest

Back to Fall/Winter Hours

We are switching back to our fall/winter hours of Monday to Friday 10 am to 4 pm PST. 

Nutrition Tests

Back in 2010 we sent our blueberries to a lab to have some independent testing done for the nutrition of our berries. Well this year we sent them away again to see where we stand and if we had improved at all. We are happy to announce the following table are our results. (This is for blueberries only)

We will be updating our website to reflect these new results. We are very excited about our improvements, and that we are continuing to uphold a standard of healthy living for our customers. 

Social Butterflies!

We have had a very busy month on Facebook, Twitter, and our Blog. It’s the best way to keep up to date with our harvest this year. Each week we post about our harvest, recipes, and more! On Facebook this summer we have a goal of getting to 1,000 likes, we are currently at 852, at 1000 likes we will be having a give a away of a gift basket full of our products. So if you haven't liked us please do so, and share our page with all your friends & family! We will announce details for the give away on our Facebook once we have hit 1,000 likes. 

We would also like to announce that we now have an active Instagram account. You can follow us@SVOrganics . On our Instagram you can see more details about our harvest and yummy recipes we love to make! 

This month Pinterest we will be doing a few different things. First we have a brand new board celebrating all the great things about America, especially the delicious food! We are also adding to our Blueberry, Raspberry, and BlackberryInspired boards, as well as Harmonious Berry Blends. We also have a new board,Summer Adventures.

Blueberry Chicken Chopped Salad

Ingredients: 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts Salt and pepper 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 head Romaine lettuce, finely chopped 1 pint (2 cups) fresh blueberries 1 cup roughly-chopped toasted pecans 2/3 cup diced red onion 1/2 cup blue cheese (or any soft cheese) Dijon vinaigrette (see below) To make the salad: Season chicken breasts on both sides generously with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat.  Add chicken breasts and cook for 4-5 minutes per side, until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink inside. Transfer chicken breasts to a separate plate and let rest for at least 5-10 minutes.  Then chop into small, bite-sized pieces. Add the chicken to a large bowl with the lettuce, blueberries, pecans, red onion, blue cheese, and vinaigrette. Toss to combine.  Serve immediately. Number of servings (yield): 3-5 Dijon Vinaigrette 1/3 cup olive oil 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar 2 teaspoons honey 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard Pinch of salt and black pepper To make the vinaigrette: Whisk all ingredients together until combined.

Harvest Report: Close of U-Pick, Fresh Picked Berries, and Farm Stand

We are officially done with the fresh season, our Farm Stand is now closed, and that means our U-Pick is now closed as well.  We had a great season and are already looking forward to next years harvest! We are switching back to our "Fall/Winter" Hours which are Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm Pacific Standard time. 

We are still processing blueberries and blackberries. So if your on our list to call we have some updated information for you: If you ordered Jersey (the small berries) you should have received a phone call from us by now. If you ordered Blue Crop (the bigger berries) we are still processing them and will be calling you soon. If you haven't gotten a call and think you should have you can call us at 541-752-0460.

For those of you who missed our fresh season, we currently have ready to be frozen berries available for purchase in 5 pound quantities or in 30 pound boxes. The variety on these will be Blue Crop. 

We are also excited to be harvesting a baby crop of Aronia berries. We are hopefully to start experiments for products this fall (including freeze dried powder!). 

We expect to be done processing all of this years fruit some time in mid August. 

We will of course continue to offer frozen berries all year round. We expect to have raspberries back in stock sometime in late September. We have frozen blueberries available, and strawberries. For blackberries we currently have 5 pound cases, and later on after harvest we will have the 25 pound cases back in stock. 

Once we have a product back in stock we will announce it on our Twitter and Facebook so be sure to be following us! 

Harvest Report: Last Call for U-Pick Blueberries

We had a very exciting weekend, not only was it perfect picking weather for blueberries but we also had a new "toy" at the farm stand.

We got a square, and it is so great! We are really loving it so far.

Things have been so crazy around the farm over the last week, we are machine harvesting, we are picking more fields that have baby crops of blueberries on them, and we are machine picking blackberries. So people are literally running from one point to another, there is always fruit being loaded into our cold rooms (which are full, almost over flowing) we have been able to pick (from the field) and process (for the mass frozen market) at about the same rate so any time something comes in something is finished processing. We have never had this happen before, but it is great! Our crops are producing so much!

First big announcement we have is that this is the last full week we will be open for U-Pick blueberry picking. Our last day is going to be SUNDAY AUGUST 2, 2015. We will have normal hours for that day, 9 am to 6 pm.

And everyday leading up to it we will be open at the farm stand from 9 am to 6 pm, however Wednesday through the weekend is looking to be 95+ degrees, which means we may be closing in the afternoons for U-Pick to cool the field. We will post on Facebook and Twitter about any closures. You can also call us at 541-752-0460 before heading our way to see if we have the field open or closed.

At our farm stand we still have fresh picked blueberries, their variety has changed to Liberty, its a newer variety, not as sweet as the Blue Crop but just as huge. We also have fresh picked blackberries, their variety is Chesters.

Now for those of you who are on our waiting lists of wanting to pick up 30 Pound boxes we have started that process, but we are also super busy making sure all the fruit we can pick is done so before we get into this 100 degree weather. We have finished the Jerseys and they have been processed, it will take a few days for the boxes to be frozen, when they are that is when we will start calling people. For those of you who Ordered Blue Crop, today is the first day we are processing those, so it will still be a while before we call you about them.

Thank you for your patients with us this week, we have never been so busy at one time with so many berries and fruit coming off at once!

Harvest Report: Fresh Blueberries, Blackberries, U-Pick + More!

It's been another week! We had a great weekend, and we very happy that we could keep the field open during the high temperatures. Thanks to everyone who called or contacted us on social media about field closures!

This week is the official start of our processing line for the 30 pound boxes. We are expecting to start that on Wednesday, so for those of you who are on our list/ interested in the ready to freeze 30 pound boxes you will be receiving phone calls regarding your orders probably late this week or early next week (depends on what we are picking and processing it). It's also why this is being posted so late in the day, I have been busy running around making sure everything is in place and ready to go for on Wednesday.

This year our 30 pound boxes will be $100.00 each.

We have basically finished picking our baby plantings of blueberries, we have one field left to do which just isn't quite ripe yet. The baby plantings of blueberries are ones that replaced old plants and it's the first harvest we have been able to take from them, which is very exciting for us.

Our Farm Stand is still open.
Our hours are: 9 am to 6 pm everyday (including weekends).
The variety for our U-Pick field is Blue Crop.
U-Pick (blueberry) Price is $2.75 per pound.
If you need to get a hold of us to place and order or to answer questions you can reach us
at 541-752-0460.

We would like to remind you that if you received a postcard in the mail from us, it has a coupon on it so please bring it with you when you come visit us!

Blueberries: 

Fresh Picked Blueberries are still going strong. The variety is blue crop, this is the variety we will continue to have until the end of the season. If your wanting order of 1+ flats (10 pounds per flat) then please give us a call and place an order.

U-Pick is going strong, we are about half way across the field. With plenty of untouched rows still waiting to be picked. The weather is expected to be in the 80's again all week and into the weekend. If this changes and we decide to close for cooling we will let everyone know a head of time. At this time we are also able to predict a end of season, we are thinking that right now is sorta in the middle and our last day will be around the 2nd of August, we will confirm this as we get closer to the end of the season.


(Friendly reminder: please bring containers to take your berries home in, we are unable to supply containers.)

Blackberries:

We now are able to offer blackberries on a pick to order basis. We will have them for this week and next week for sure. We aren't able to offer them on hand at the farm stand because we are all tied up with blueberries, and our packing shed. The blackberry variety is called Chester, they are huge, seriously the average berry is at least 3/4 the size of my thumb.  They are super sweet and so fun to eat. My current favorite way to enjoy them is to have them in an ice cold smoothie after I get home from a day of working on the farm.

The price for blackberries are: 2 1/2 pounds for $20.00 & 5 pounds for $30.00

We do not offer U-Pick for blackberries.

Harvest Report: U-Pick + Fresh Picked Blueberries

Another busy week is in the books for us. We really enjoyed the weather last week and it looks like another week in the 80's for us. Which is great! Our berries are getting sweeter and sweeter. We have heard that some local U-Picks have closed in the area so that may or not mean we will have more U-Pickers when you come visit us! Not to worry though, we haven't even gotten across half the field yet. 

Our Hours are from 9 am to 6 pm everyday. 
The variety is Blue Crop, and our price is $2.75 per pound. Please bring your own containers to take your berries home in.  

It looks like the weather will be in the 80's this week so we do not expect to close the field for cooling at time this week. If temperatures exceed 95 then we will be closing for cooling in the afternoon, but we will let everyone know if that comes up.In our tent we only have fresh picked blueberries right now. The next berry we will have are fresh blackberries which won't be available for a week or so yet. Stay tuned for updates! If your wanting to order a head of time we are more than happy to take it! You can call us at 541-752-0460, or you can email us at sunsetvalleyorganics@gmail.com. 

We do not ship fresh berries, because we can not guarantee the condition they will arrive in.  

In other news we have started harvesting our youngest plantings. These are baby crops and we are very excited to be getting fruit from them. A few years ago we took out all the plantings that were too old, and replanted with new varieties, so we are now able to start seeing a harvest from them. 

Harvest Report: U-Pick Going Strong, End of Fresh Raspberries

We were so busy over the weekend! Thanks to everyone who came out and shared their 4th of July with us! We loved seeing everyone! This week so far it looks like temperatures will be cooler than the last (yay for people and for our berries!). We didn't have any heat damage because of how we grow our berries as well as the cooling we did in the afternoon. We want to say thank you for your understanding and patients during those hot days. 

As long as the weather stays below 95 we will have our U-Pick open during our business hours this week. If the weather decides to jump back up then we will be cooling again in the afternoons. We will announce that here on our blog as well as on Twitter and Facebook. 

Our U-Pick is still looking great and super loaded! We haven't even picked out the first 5 rows yet, and it's not from a lack of people coming to see us! Our bushes are just that loaded!

Our Hours are from 9 am to 6 pm everyday. 
The variety is Blue Crop, and our price is $2.75 per pound. Please bring your own containers to take your berries home in.  

In our tent we only have fresh picked blueberries. Our raspberries are officially done, if you missed the fresh ones no worries, we will have frozen available starting sometime in late August or early September. 

The next berry we will have are fresh blackberries which won't be available for a few weeks still. 

It's going to be a great week! If you have any questions you can call us at 
541-752-0460 during business hours. 

News from around the farm for July

July is Here! 

We have been so busy on the farm and we have so many things happening. The biggest is we have started our harvest for the summer. We started June 17, and June 29 we opened for U-Pick Blueberries. We are also getting ready to harvest on a larger scale for our frozen processing. 

Details of our Harvest

If you have been following us on any of our social media we have been sending out weekly updates called “Harvest Reports” in which we summarize what is going on for the week, what we have available for purchase at our farm stand and how we think our berries are ripening. This is the best way other than giving us a call, to find out how things are going. 

We had a fantastic response to our raspberries this year, we have barely been able to keep up with demands for them this year! However all good things must come to an end. This week is the end of our red raspberries, and we will just have blueberries and maybe some black raspberries. (If your interested in black raspberries please keep in mind they are baby plants and there isn't a whole lot out there. There will be tons next year, so thank you for your patients.) 

We have frozen in raspberries if you missed out and we sell them not just online, but at our farm stand as well, so you can still get your fill! We will have frozen raspberries starting in august some time. 

We have fresh picked blueberries, since opening our variety has been Duke, an early variety, but this week we are changing to Blue Crop (this is the same variety that is our U-Pick field). If your interested in buying more than a flat or two at a time please call us to place an order. 

U-Pick is officially open! We are open 9 am to 6 pm daily (includes weekend). Please bring containers to take home the berries in. Our U-Pick variety is Blue Crop and our price is $2.75 per pound. We only offer U-Pick for blueberries. 

Please Note: July 1-3 due to high temps we will be closing our U-Pick field each day at noon to cool the field with water. If we continue to have high temperature we will continue to close the field to protect the crop. For updates please follow our social media or give us a call. Thank you for understanding and your patients. 

Blackberries are coming up pretty soon as well. Right now we are estimating they will be ready some time in late July or early August. If you want to be notified about when we have fresh blackberries please call to have your name put on a list or to reserve fresh blackberries. 

Our 30 cases will be ready around the 13 of July. If you have placed an order with us to reserve berries you can expect a call from us the week of July 6 letting you know all the details. We will also post about our 30 pound cases on all social media.  If you would like to reserve a 30 pound case (or more) please call us and we can add you to our list. 

Plus....

We have also been voted the best U-Pick Berry Farm of 2015 by the readers of Willamette Living Magazine. We would like to thank everyone who voted, and even if you didn’t, you are the whole reason we do this, with out you guys we wouldn’t be in business. So THANK YOU! 

Social Butterflies!

We have had a very busy month on Facebook, Twitter, and our Blog. It’s the best way to keep up to date with our harvest this year. Each week we post about our harvest, recipes, and more! On Facebook this summer we have a goal of getting to 1,000 likes, we are currently at 838, at 1000 likes we will be having a give a away of a gift basket full of our products. So if you haven't liked us please do so, and share our page with all your friends & family! We will announce details for the give away on our Facebook once we have hit 1,000 likes. 

We would also like to announce that we now have an active Instagram account. You can follow us @SVOrganics . On our Instagram you can see more details about our harvest and yummy recipes we love to make! 

This month Pinterest we will be doing a few different things. First we have a brand new board celebrating all the great things about America, especially the delicious food! We are also adding to our Blueberry, Raspberry, and Blackberry Inspired boards, as well as Harmonious Berry Blends. 

Coupons and Specials:

For those of you who received postcards you can still redeem the coupon on them when you come see us at the farm. Just remember to bring it with you when you come see us. If you don’t get those post cards all you have to do is find our ad in Oregon Family Magazine and tell us about it and get a great saving! Each of these is a one time only, and will be valid during our 2015 Fresh harvest, only valid at our farm stand. 

If you come out to our farm stand and show us you have liked us on Facebook, or Follow us on Twitter then you can save 10% off your total order! This offer will be available as long as our farm stand is open. 

Blueberry, Strawberry, Jicama Salsa

Makes about 3 cups of salsa

Ingredients:

1. 1 Cup fresh blueberries
2. 1 Cup diced strawberries
3. 1 Cup diced jicama
4. 1/3 Cup chopped cilantro
5. 1/4 Cup finely chopped red onion
6. 2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeno pepper, stemmed + seeded.
7. Juice of 1 large lime
8. Salt, to taste
9. Tortilla chips, for serving

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine blueberries, strawberries,  jicama, cilantro, red onion, jalapeño, and lime juice. Stir until well combined. Season with salt, to taste. Serve with tortilla chips at room temperature or chilled. 

Note: This salsa is also great with grilled fish, or chicken. It is best eaten the day it is made. 

Blueberry Breakfast Parfait Pops

Inspired from Mom On Time Out   Makes 4

Ingredients:

1. 4 Yoplait Greek Yogurts (2 Blueberry, 2 Vanilla)
2. 4 Blueberry Nature Valley Breakfast Biscuits, crushed
3. 1/2 Cup Fresh or Frozen Blueberries

Directions:

Fold blueberries into vanilla yogurt. 

First two popsicles:

Layer 2 tablespoons blueberry yogurt, 1 teaspoon breakfast biscuits, 2 tablespoons vanilla yogurt, 1 teaspoon breakfast biscuits, and 2 tablespoons blueberry yogurt in popsicle mold. (Adjust according to the size of your mold.) Sprinkle additional crushed biscuits on top and press in slightly to adhere.

Second Two Popsicles:

 Layer 2 tablespoons vanilla yogurt, 1 teaspoon breakfast biscuits, 2 tablespoons blueberry yogurt, 1 teaspoon breakfast biscuits, and 2 tablespoons vanilla yogurt in popsicle mold. (Adjust according to the size of your mold.) Sprinkle additional crushed biscuits on top and press in slightly to adhere.

Freeze for at least four hours before removing and enjoying.

June 2015 Favorites

It seems like June just flew by, but I guess thats what happens when crops start being ripe and things started getting really busy around the farm. In case you missed anything here a little recap from this month in all the things we liked and had happen. 

I think the biggest news that came from us this month was opening the our farm stand for the summer. Since that post we have had a harvest update and will probably have them weekly until the end of our harvest season. 

It's finally happening! Our farm stand is opening this week with pre picked berries! Here are all the details you'll need!

Officially Opening: Wednesday, June 17, 2015 at 9 am
Farm Stand Hours: Monday - Sunday 9 am to 6 pm
What We Have: Pre Picked blueberries, and raspberries. 
U-Pick Blueberries are now open! Our U-Pick price is $2.75 per pound. 

Click here to see more...

This month we focused on National Men's Health Awareness and a couple of really delicious posts we really enjoyed were: Healthy Greek Yogurt + Honey Blueberry Muffins and Marinated Tomato + Mozzarella Pasta 

In news from around the world we found this article sadly amusing, and a reinforcement that GMO is not the answer to problems in agriculture. 

For those techies out there we discovered Garden Plan Pro, an app in which you are able to plan your garden!

Harvest Update: Open Season

It's finally happening! Our farm stand is opening this week with pre picked berries! Here are all the details you'll need!

Officially Opening: Wednesday, June 17, 2015 at 9 am
Farm Stand Hours: Monday - Sunday 9 am to 6 pm
What We Have: Pre Picked blueberries, and raspberries. 

We expect our farm stand to be open from June 17, 2015 until August 1, 2015. We estimate our U-Pick blueberries will open around the 4th of July. The price of our U-Pick blueberries will be $2.75 per pound. Keeping an eye on our social media, and here on our blog is the best way to stay informed about our harvest. 

If your wanting more than a flat of raspberries we kindly ask you call a head and place an order with us. You can reach us at 541-752-0460, please call during business hours. 

We are so excited to finally start the season, and we can't wait to see you all out at our farm stand and in the field this summer! 

It's Finally Summer! Fresh Berries + News from Sunset Valley Organics

Happy Start of Summer!

We are so happy it’s finally SUMMER! Anybody else feeling the heat we have gotten over the last few days? All this heat really helps our berries ripen, and it helps make them sweeter! Yum! As we have announced we do not have fresh strawberries (frozen is still available) this year. However we will have raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. 

News From Around The Farm

We have finished trellising the black raspberries, and what a boat load of work that was! After we got it all trellised we put in drip irrigation to the field so we could easily make sure everything was getting the water it needed and that took a good part of our May. 

Every week now we are feeding our plants and soils so they stay nice and healthy during the harvest. Just as we work hard and need food to continue so do our plants. 

In May we also got to try Bearded Brother’s Blueberry Vanilla Energy Bars they were so good you guys! The reason we wanted to try them is because these specific bars are made with our dried blueberries. 

We have also been voted the best U-Pick Berry Farm of 2015 by the readers of Willamette Living Magazine. We would like to thank everyone who voted, and even if you didn’t, you are the whole reason we do this, with out you guys we wouldn’t be in business. So THANK YOU! 

Social Media Updates This month on our blog we are posting about National Men’s Health Month, and some delicious recipes to go along with it. We will also have a Father’s Day inspiration gift guide. This is also going to be a great place to check for updates about our harvest this summer.  We are also going to be starting an Instagram account so if you wanna see some awesome shots of our farm and what harvest looks like for us then be sure to watch Facebook for that announcement!  Our Pinterest board theme is Schools Out! It’s time to be outside and relax! This board celebrates the start of summer with delicious recipes and great ideas for spending some quality time with your kids!  Specials + Coupons So we have a couple of ways to help you save this month: First of all, if you come out to our farm stand and show us you have liked us on Facebook, or Follow us on Twitter then you can save 10% off your total order! This offer will be available as long as our farm stand is open.  Finally We are sending out post cards with a special offer, but if you don’t get those post cards all you have to do is find our ad in Oregon Family Magazine and tell us about it and get a great saving! Each of these is a one time only, and will be valid during our 2015 Fresh harvest, only valid at our farm stand.

Recipes This month we are trying to beat the heat with some delicious, healthy smoothies. We hope you enjoy the selections we have chosen.  Raspberry Coconut Smoothie Dairy-Free, Vegan Friendly Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 0 mins Ready in: 5 mins Yield: 1 smoothie Ingredients: 1/2 cup coconut milk  1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries 1 tablespoon coconut butter 1 banana peeled, chopped into pieces optional: sweetener of choice, if needed.  Directions: Blend all of the ingredients into blender, food processor, or with an immersion blender. Optional: Add sweetener to taste. If the smoothie is too thick for you, add milk until it’s your desired consistency. Raspberry Mango Tango Smoothie Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 0 mins Ready in: 5 mins Yield: 1 large smoothie, or 2 small smoothies Ingredients:  1/2 of a large banana, peeled, sliced and frozen.  1/2 cup favorite brand of Mango yogurt 1 cup fresh or frozen mango 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries optional: milk for desired thickness. Directions: Add all of the ingredients into the blender Blend on high for about 3 minutes, or until smooth. Serve + 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!

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

Willamette Living Magazine, August Issue

Check out this months issue of Willamette Living Magazine! Our fresh blueberries and raspberries made the cover, and the look simply delicious! We also had the amazing opportunity to hand pick some recipes for the magazine. These can be found on page 94 of the online edition, and page 63 of the printed edition. Check it out here.

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.