Thursday, June 22, 2017

June 2017 News & Updates


June Is Here!

Finally the rain is letting up and the beautiful sun is shining through! We had a pretty wet spring and because of that we are currently about 2 weeks behind with the growing season. If we get some really hot weather that can change really quick. It just depends on Mother Nature now.  

WE HAVE NEW PRODUCTS!

What a great reception we have received from our powders! We are so happy to hear that so many of you enjoy them! For those who missed last months newsletter, we have new berry powders up in the shop.  You can now purchase:
Our berry powders are a supercharged way of getting your daily fruits into your diet. You can mix our powders into baking, oatmeal, smoothies, milk, ice cream, and more! Just like our dried berries, there are no additives or preservatives, so we're keeping the product as natural and nutritious as possible! 
*Note: Our powders are not soluble*
We've also added a new size to our powders. Now you can purchase all of our powder varieties in 2 lbs. quantities for $110.00.  
We would also like to mention that our free shipping amount has increased to $235.00 after coupons are applied. Our spreads and frozen do not qualify for free shipping. 

Changes Are Coming:

Most of you are aware that last summer we were crazy busy during harvest. In the summer of 2016 we harvested about 2 million pounds of fruit, this year we are projecting at least 3 million. With that much fruit to be harvested we have had to make some hard choices in where to cut back so a balance can be achieved. This has resulted in our decision to not have a U-Pick this summer. We are sad that we can not continue, but our harvest is our first priority. 
We will still be offering already picked & washed blueberries in 30 pound boxes and 5 pound bags. For these you pull around to our office and we help you there. The price for those this year will be the same as in the past at $100 (30 pound box). 
We would like to thank everyone who has come out and supported us over the years. We hope you will continue to enjoy our berries. 
We will have a blog post late May about all the changes we are making why we are making them. 

This Month On The Blog:

Our blog is becoming more active! We will be having a variety of topics, you can expect these posts over the next month:
  • Blackberry Crostini
  • Spring Superfood Bowl with Blueberry Ginger Dressing
  • Blueberry Broccoli Spinach Salad
  • Raspberry Chia Seed Jam
  • Super Berry Bars
  • U-Pick Update

Have you seen this awesome spotlight video on our farm? It's just a little over 2 minutes so take a look!

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

posted by Jennifer at 9:30 AM 0 Comments

Thursday, May 25, 2017

May 2017 News & Updates




What a wet spring we have been having!

Oregon is home to rain but some sun every once in a while would be nice too! With a little luck the fields will start drying out and we can get on with preparing for the coming harvest. The rain has caused us some disruptions, but the berries have been doing well with all the wet weather and our blueberries are starting to bloom. 
WE HAVE NEW PRODUCTS!
What a great reception we have received from our powders! We are so happy to hear that so many of you enjoy them! For those who missed last months newsletter, we have new berry powders up in the shop.  You can now purchase:
Our berry powders are a supercharged way of getting your daily fruits into your diet. You can mix our powders into baking, oatmeal, smoothies, milk, ice cream, and more! Just like our dried berries, there are no additives or preservatives, so we're keeping the product as natural and nutritious as possible! 
*Note: Our powders are not soluble*
We've also added a new size to our powders. Now you can purchase all of our powder varieties in 2 lbs. quantities for $110.00.  
We would also like to mention that our free shipping amount has increased to $235.00 after coupons are applied. Our spreads and frozen do not qualify for free shipping. 
Follow us on Social Media!
Changes Are Coming:
Most of you are aware that last summer we were crazy busy during harvest. In the summer of 2016 we harvested about 2 million pounds of fruit, this year we are projecting at least 3 million. With that much fruit to be harvested we have had to make some hard choices in where to cut back so a balance can be achieved. This has resulted in our decision to not have a U-Pick this summer. We are sad that we can not continue, but our harvest is our first priority. 
We will still be offering already picked & washed blueberries in 30 pound boxes and 5 pound bags. For these you pull around to our office and we help you there. The price for those this year will be the same as in the past at $100 (30 pound box). 
We would like to thank everyone who has come out and supported us over the years. We hope you will continue to enjoy our berries. 
We will have a blog post late May/early June about all the changes we are making why we are making them. 
And did you see our delicious post this month? No-Bake, Nutrient Dense Energy Bites! YUM! 

Our normal office hours are:
Monday - Friday 10 am to 4 pm PST  

Cold Weather Shipping 

Cold Weather Shipping is still going! Since spring is here, if the temperature gets above 75 degrees where you are please call us and we will discuss if it's safe to ground ship berries to you. May is the last month we will be able to ship, and it might not even be available the whole month. It just depends on what the temperature decides to do. 
Thank you to everyone who has taken advantage of our Cold Weather Shipping! 
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 us at 541-752-0460 Monday through Friday 10 am to 4 pm Pacific Standard Time.
**PLEASE NOTE: We are not responsible for shipping delays due to weather conditions**


LEMON BLUEBERRY SWIRL CHEESECAKE

Original Recipe from quartzandleisure.com
Ingredients:
BLUEBERRY FILLING INGREDIENTS:
  • 1.5 Cups fresh blueberries
  • 1 Cup sugar
  • 1 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 oz. water
CRUST INGREDIENTS:
  • 1.5 Cups Graham cracker crumbs (I used all 3 blocks from the package – we’ll reserve some of the leftover crumbs for topping)
  • 1/3 Cup melted butter
CHEESECAKE INGREDIENTS:
  • 3 Packages cream cheese (8 oz. each)
  • 1 Cup sugar
  • 3 Eggs
  • 1 tsp. Pure vanilla extract
  • Zest of 2 lemons
  • 1 Cup heavy cream (or whipping cream)
Instructions:
BLUEBERRY FILLING DIRECTIONS:
  1. Pour blueberries & sugar into a pot over medium-high heat. Simmer for about 10 mins.
  2. Add the cornstarch to the water and mix well.  Pour this into the berries.
  3. Continue to stir until it thickens up.
  4. Remove from stove and allow to cool completely (approx 1 hour).
CRUST DIRECTIONS:
  1. Place graham crackers in a Ziploc bag and smash into crumbs.
  2. Measure 1.5 cups of crumbs and mix with the melted butter until evenly coated.
  3. Press into the bottom of a spring form pan and set aside.
CHEESECAKE DIRECTIONS:
  1. Mix cream cheese and sugar with a mixer until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
  2. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix for 30 seconds before adding the next egg.
  3. Blend in the vanilla extract and the lemon zest.
  4. Add in the heavy cream and mix until competely smooth.
  5. Scrape down the bowl and give the batter one last mix at HIGH speed for 1 minute.
  6. Pour over the graham cracker crust.
  7. Make a foil “nest” that the pan will sit in while cooking.
  8. Cook the cheesecake for 65-80 minutes at 300° or until the surface no longer looks shiny.
  9. Allow the cheesecake to cool to room temp before moving it to the fridge to cool completely.
  10. Serve with fresh whipped cream and garnish with the remaining graham cracker crumbs.

Our Featured Products in the online Shop:




We are almost to full bloom in our blueberries. The bees have been hard at work despite the rain we've been having.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

posted by Jennifer at 9:43 AM 0 Comments

Saturday, December 3, 2016

December 2016 Newsletter from SVO


News From Around the Farm

Happy December everyone! We've been so busy with the holiday season already and it's just starting! We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We would also like to thank everyone who participated in our Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday sales! It really means a lot that you shopped with us!
Featured products in our shop:
Holiday Shipping: 
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:
  • 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

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

Above is a sample of what we offered during the November Insta Sale.

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 page with all the details. 


Finished Superfood Chocolate Bark



Superfood Chocolate Bark

An indulgent yet healthy Christmas treat of dark chocolate bark topped with goji berries, dried blueberries, dried aronia berries, almonds, pistachios and coconut
INGREDIENTS
  • 200g dark chocolate
  • ¼ tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp pistachios (shelled and halved)
  • 2 tbsp goji berries
  • 1 tbsp desiccated coconut
  • 2 tbsp sliced almonds
  • 2 tbsp dried blueberries
  • 2 tbsp dried aronia berries
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Line a dish with baking parchment. I used an 8x8in dish but you can use a smaller or bigger one depending on how thick or thin you want your bark to be.
  2. Sit a heat proof bowl in a pan of boiling water over a medium heat. Break the chocolate into small pieces, add to the bowl and stir continuously until it has all melted. Add the vanilla and mix well.
  3. Pour the melted chocolate into the parchment lined dish. Top with the pistachios, goji berries, dried blueberries, sliced almonds, dried aronia berries and coconut.
  4. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes or until the chocolate has set.
  5. Store in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Labels: , , , , , , ,

posted by SunsetValleyTeam at 9:00 AM 0 Comments

Sunday, April 10, 2016

April 2016 News from SVO

News From Around the Farm

April is here! We are starting to see less rain and are able to start feeding our berries. Our Duke blueberries are starting to bloom, and so are the raspberries and black raspberries, but not as consistently as the blueberries. We think in a week or so, if the weather stays nice, we will have bees brought in. This is one of my favorite times of year, seeing everything waking up and blooming. Before we know it, it'll be summer and harvest will be here. 
This last month we pruned our black raspberries, we posting pictures on our Facebook. We did a short video showing how the machine works, if your interested please click here to see our video. (+ Check out our YouTube Channel! We will be added new videos through out the spring and summer.)
We are also very excited with a delivery or Aronia Berry plants for our newest planting have arrived and once things dry out a bit we will set to work planting them. Bringing our current total of 16 up to 26 acres total. 
Our final piece of news is that we are now selling our products at Natural Groshers in Corvallis, and Eugene, OR. You can find our dried blueberries and spreads, and hopefully we will have our frozen in there as well. We would like to thank everyone for their continued support as we are slowing growing our products and where they are available for purchase. 

New Products In Our Shop

We have a few of new products up in our store, be sure to check them out!
Our New Products:
Coming Soon:
Dried Aronia Berry + Blueberry mix

Food For Thought

These are the articles we found over the last month and just had to share with you all. 
We will have Black Raspberries (and products) and  aronia berries (and more products) available to purchase after the Harvest of 2016. 
Blog News:


Check out our blog for our first post in our Biological Farming series. We will be adding a new entry every month, this is a great way to see our farming practices.

Cold Weather Shipping is Back!

It's spring time again and that means the weather is starting to warm up. If you've been putting off taking advantage of our cold weather shipping please place your order soon with us. Once temperatures are hot again we will not be able to offer the ground shipping option.
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, PDT). 

Winter + Holiday Office Hours

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


Aronia Berry Granola Bars

Great snacks for on the go! A nutrient dense + delicious choice!

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup Honey
  • 1 Cup Dried Aronia berries
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups rolled oats
  • 1/3 cup raw, unsalted sunflower seeds
  • 2/3 cup roasted, unsalted almonds
  • 1 cup dried, pitted dates
Instructions:
  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  • Whisk together the honey, cinnamon, & vanilla in a larger bowl. Stir in the oats and mix until evenly coated.
  • Toast sunflower seeds in a dry pan on medium heat until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, pulse the almonds and dates in a food processor until coarsely chopped. 
  • Add the toasted sunflower seeds and chopped almonds and dates to the oat mixture; mix well. The color of the mixture should be more of a purple hue.
  • Press the mixture into an 8X8 inch baking pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool, then place in the freezer until firm. After about an hour, cut into bars and enjoy!
  • Note: Store in airtight container up to 1 week. 


Labels: , , , , , , , ,

posted by Jennifer at 10:57 AM 0 Comments

Saturday, March 19, 2016

March 2016 Newsletter

Spring Is Here!

News From Around the Farm

We can not believe March is already here! 2016 is flying by so fast! Before we know it, it will be harvest time again. Sorry about getting this newsletter out a bit later than normal, the office has been passing around a really awful cold and everyone is just now getting back to being healthy. 
We've finished pruning our blueberries and are starting to tackle pruning on the black raspberries. Be sure to follow us on Facebook for pictures of how we take care of the black raspberries. (Coming later this month)

New Products In Our Shop

We have a few of new products up in our store, with more going up later this month. 
Our New Products:
Coming Soon:
Dried Aronia Berries
Dried Aronia Berry + Blueberry mix
Blog News: This month will be the first month we have our Farming 101 series (the name might change, we're still working on it!) where we cover a topic that we deal with everyday and a more in depth look at how we farm. We will post to our social medias when it goes live.
Other News: For months now we have been working on ourfrozen shipping prices and looking for a way to get them lower so we can ship at better rates for you guys. Well we are in the final steps of signing new shipping contracts and we are excited to be able to ship internationally at considerably better rates, as well as domestic. We will be rolling out new shipping prices in the coming months. During this time please be patient with our site while everything is updated and changed. You can always call us to place your order. 

Food For Thought

These are the articles we found over the last month and just had to share with you all. 
We will have Black Raspberries (and products) and  aronia berries (and more products) available to purchase after 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. 


Healthy Oatmeal Cups

Easy, fast, make ahead breakfast cups. Great for kids + adults. 

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick) 
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar 
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder 
  • 1 teaspoon salt  
  • 3/4 cup milk 
  • 2 eggs 
  • 1/2 cup applesauce 
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
  • 3/4 cup blueberries, sliced bananas, sliced strawberries, chocolate chips, or dried aronia berries.
Instructions:
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and spray a muffin tin with baking spray. 
  • In a large bowl, mix together oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Beat in milk, eggs, applesauce, and vanilla extract. Stir in desired fruit of choice. Using an ice cream scoop, place scoops of the oatmeal mixture in each cup. Sprinkle additional fruit on top. 
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes or until middles are set. Let oatmeal cups cool in the pan. Enjoy!
Notes: Store in an airtight container, will stay firm at room temperature. If there's any left after a few days, refrigerate for up to two weeks. 


Labels: , , , ,

posted by Jennifer at 10:20 AM 0 Comments