this week on the farm

Peach season is coming to a end...quickly. The Elberta peaches will be available for you to pick on Wednesday, Sept. 2. We have just a few Elberta trees, so the peaches will go quickly. It is hard for us to predict how fast, so we will update the phone message at 503-621-3988 as soon as the orchard is picked out. After the Elbertas are all picked, the peach season will be over at Sauvie Island Farms.

We have beautiful Chester Blackberries ripe and ready to pick this week, as well as Bartlett Pears, cabbage, 4 types of peppers, 5 varieties of squash, basil, dill, cilantro and a few red tomatoes! Our Bodacious sweet corn should be ready to pick by the end of the week. We have fresh picked sweet corn each day while we wait for the u-pick field to ripen. The price is the same...6 ears for $1.00.

The u-cut flower garden is full of beautiful dahlias, zinnias, marigolds, sunflowers...and more!!

ahh...the joys and frustrations of farming

It will be an interesting week at Sauvie Island Farms.
We have finished harvesting all the Red Haven Peaches. They are a favorite for flavor and juiciness...but not so easy to work with. So time to move on....THIS WEEK we are picking the ripe Hale-Havens and Rosa peaches. Both of these varieties are 'freestone', excellent for fresh eating and canning..and they come off the pits easily!! The frustrating issue this week will be that mold has developed on some of the ripest peaches during the damp, wet weather we had over the past few weeks. There are beautiful peaches to picked, if you can overlook those that are moldy. With the hotter weather we are getting this week, our peaches will ripen quickly and need to be harvested. We are keeping the peaches at a discounted price....only $1.00 per lb. Our next variety to ripen will be the Veteran peaches. They may be ripe by Saturday, or the first of next week. We will send out an update as these ripen!!

We also have delicious sweet corn, Chester blackberries, 'end of the season' blueberries, bartlett pears, cabbage, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, soy beans, slicing cucumbers and beautiful flowers.

Hope to see you this week on the farm.

A SWEET Red Haven Peach SPECIAL

We have so many Red Haven Peaches this year and they need to be picked this week. SO....we are offering you a special price thru the rest of this week. Pick Your Own RED HAVEN PEACHES for just $1.00 per lb. These peaches are extremely sweet this year and very easy to pick. We will be open 8am-7pm, Mon-Sat, even if it is rainy.

This week we also have Bodacious Sweet Corn, this is our favorite. It is so sweet and delicious.

The Chester Blackberries have started to ripen and there are tons getting ready to ripen, so we will have these cultivated, thornless berries for you to pick for a few weeks. Also don't give up on the blueberries. They are not as plentiful as early in the season, but there are still berries to be picked and more to ripen. We tried this dessert using blackberries and blueberries: http://www.recipegirl.com/2007/05/31/red-white-and-blueberry-cheesecake-bars/

It was sweet...you should try it.

We also have lots of veggies for you to pick..cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, yellow wax beans, green beans, edamame(soybeans),slicing cukes and 4 types of peppers!!

Hope to see you this week on the farm for our sweet peach special!

We have six different varieties of PEACHES at Sauvie Island Farms.

We get asked a lot of questions about which ones are the best for canning, or which ones are the sweetest…and to tell you the truth, the best peach is the one that is ripe and ready to eat today!! Our peach varieties begin ripening with the Early Red Havens and continue for the next 5 weeks. We understand that once you have tried the different varieties that you may have a personal preference for texture, color, sweetness or ease of coming off the pits. If picked when ripe, all of our peaches will be sweet, juicy and excellent for fresh eating, freezing or canning. Our Early Red Havens are all picked out for this year. We are now picking the Red Havens…and the orchard is loaded with beautiful fruit that needs to be picked NOW. If the fruit gets too ripe the peaches will drop off the trees. The Red Havens are ‘classified’ a freestone, which means the flesh of the peach comes off the pit easily. If the peach is not entirely ripe, it will be a little clingy. The flavor of this variety is very sweet and ‘peachy’. Many people use this variety for canning and freezing, and of course for fresh eating!! Our next variety to ripen will be the Hale-Haven, which is a cross between a Red Haven and a Hale. These peaches are very rosy red, and have an excellent flavor. Also great for freezing or canning. The Rosa are also a freestone and great for freezing or canning. We have people who only want the Rosas because of the flavor. After the Rosas, the Veteran peaches will ripen. This is a customer favorite for canning, because these peaches are so easy to work with. They come right off the pit, and the skins slip off without scalding. This variety tends to be a ‘yellowish’ color, it doesn’t have the red color next to the pit like some of our other varieties. Last to ripen in our orchard are the Elbertas. These are a classical favorite, a freestone and great flavor. We don’t have many of these trees, so we usually only pick for half a day with this variety.
So…did I just confuse you more?? Actually, we really don’t have any bad peaches. When you come out to pick your own, you are getting tree-ripened peaches that will be juicy and sweet. It is best for you to try the different varieties and decide for yourself which you like the best. We will have peaches for you to pick thru August.