June 2008

Strawberries are Here
Additional Classes Offered
New Purple Fountain Grass

Hello everyone, we hope that you are not letting this cloudy wet weather get the best of you. Regardless of the weather things are moving along on the farm and believe it or not there is a lot starting to come in from the fields and the most important is strawberries. We just started picking this week and while the favor will improve with more sunshine the taste difference between Oregon and California strawberries is incredible. If you are looking to make jam or freeze some berries I would wait at least a week for the sunshine to sweeten them up some more but for fresh eating these are fantastic.

One of the best things about growing up on a farm has always been the opportunity to search through the fields to find the first fruit of the season. This year I had a wonderful time taking my daughter Allyson through the strawberry field for the first time. She is only 16 months old and one of her favorite foods is strawberries. Allyson wasn't sure what we were doing out in the field at first but once I showed her what we were looking for she got a huge smile on her face and proceeded to squat down on the ground and rummage through the bushes to see what she could find. While she didn't do that good at finding her own she was delighted every time I found her a red, ripe, juicy berry. There is nothing like a 16 month old smiling at you and saying thank you in her own way that makes you so happy to be a parent.

As you can see from the picture we had a wonderful time at our first class of the season. The container class in May was a smashing success and everyone that attended said they had a wonderful time and everyone did a great job of putting together containers of their own. In fact I put some of the emails that I got from the participants up on our website on the container class page. Our first cooking class is this weekend and we currently have 25 people signed up. We have room for 30 so if you still want to sign up please give us a call (503-792-3524) and we will add you to the list.

The response to our classes has been so good this year that we have decided to add a few more classes to our schedule. On June 21st we will be doing a Freezer Jam making class. We get so many questions on how to make jam that we thought this would be a good opportunity to address those questions. It will be a great time of the year to make strawberry jam (My Dad's Favorite) and a great opportunity to get ready for the rest of the berries that will be arriving soon: "Gooseberries, Raspberries, Aurora Blackberries, Black Caps, Kotatas, Marions, Boysens, Red Currants, Loganberries, Waldo Berries, Tripple Crowns, Chesters, & Evergreen Blackberries."

On July 19th we will be doing a pickling class. It seems that everyone has secret tips on how to make the perfect pickles. In this class we will go over some of those different methods and show you how to make the best pickles every time. This will be a great opportunity to get your questions answered and get ready for pickling season. Making pickles and jams is a great way for a family and even generations within the family to come together and make something together. It's a great way to help make memories together and we would love to be a part of that tradition. Let us know if you want to join in!

Purple fountain grass is one of those plants that we get asked for every year and people can't wait to get ahold of it as soon as possible. If you are not familiar with the grass it has the most beautiful purple blades and wonderful multi-colored seed heads and looks great all summer. Unfortunately it is not hardy in our climate but it is well worth the investment for the summer and fall.

The current variety that is my favorite is called Rubrum and you can get more information by going to www.provenwinners.com and searching for it by name. I am so excited to tell you about a new purple fountain grass that I found this winter. It is a sport or mutation of Rubrum and is called Fire Works. Fire Works is a variegated purple fountain grass and to me is even more purple than Rubrum, take a look at these pictures from the grower. As far as we know we are one of only a few places that have it and they are going to go fast, so stop by soon if you would like one.

I also wanted to let you know that all of our lettuce has started to come in from the fields.  We have the most beautiful Red & Green leaf lettuce!  The heads look like a floral bouquet, and they are the tastiest Romaine & Butter (Bib) lettuce around.  They are all on sale right now for only $.99. Beets, rhubarb, Walla Walla onions, and spinach have also started to come in and all of them are looking great. Here is one of our family's favorite summer salads:

Wilted Lettuce Salad
1 Large fresh leaf lettuce washed and cut into smaller pieces
(Can add fresh spinach also)
Set aside in a large bowl.
½ lb bacon cut up and fried into small pieces
Remove bacon from pan and dry on paper towels
In you frying pan add ¼ cup vegetable oil
And ¼ cup rice vinegar
Dash of salt & pepper
1 Tablespoon sugar.
Bring to a boil
Call everyone to the table
Pour hot dressing over lettuce, top with bacon, toss & enjoy!!!
Mmm good.