Berries at Sauvie Island Farms

All three BERRIES available at Sauvie Island Farms this week.

Strawberries are in their final week, we do have some nice beautiful Hood strawberries waiting to be picked.  The strawberries are $1.50/lb.

Raspberries have started!!  We are picking our Tulameen and Saanich varieties.  

These berries are so easy to pick, large and great flavor. 

The Early Blue Blueberry bushes are loaded with ripe fruit right now.  So easy to pick, and as you may be hearing in the news, so good for you nutritionally!!  Blueberries freeze nicely, and are a great snack right out of the freezer.  Raspberries and Blueberries are $2.00/lb.

We will begin picking CHERRIES on Saturday, June 30th.  

We don't have a lot of cherry trees

so don't miss out on them!  They are $2.00/lb.

We also have 5 baby ducklings, just hatched last week.....they are so cute!  

It's a great time to come out to the farm.

Blueberries.

Sauvie Island Farms will begin picking the first of our blueberries on Friday, June 22.  The Early Blue crop looks great this year.  There are plenty of ripe ones and they are so easy to pick.  Pick Your Own are $2 per lb.  

Below is a picture of 'what not to do' as a u-picker on our farm.  We ask that you please pick and pay for the fruit before you eat our sweet berries.  We understand that a taste or two is part of the u-pick experience, just try not to eat handfuls at a time, like this guy is doing.  
(He seems to think he is allowed since his dad is the farmer.)  Thanks! 

 It is getting to the end of the STRAWBERRY season, so if you haven't picked enough sweet Oregon berries, there are still nice ones in the fields.  They are smaller in size, but still sweet. We will keep the fields open as long as there are berries to be picked. 

A strawberry by any other name would taste as sweet.

STRAWBERRIES at Sauvie Island Farms are ripe and ready to be picked.
We are growing four different varieties of strawberries in our fields this year.
Understandably, this may not matter to some people, but since others may have a preference,
I just thought we would explain that you have a choice this year!

HOODS

 An Oregon berry that has been around for years.  Very sweet with a bright red color. Many people only want Hoods.  This variety has a short growing season, only lasting about 2 weeks.  Also after the first picking, the fruit is smaller, but sweeter!  Strawberry transplants are planted in the spring, but we do not get the first harvest until the next June.  At Sauvie Island Farms, we usually keep our plants for three harvest seasons. This year our first year field of Hoods has beautiful big berries waiting to be picked.  They won't last long!!  We also have a 2nd and 3rd year field with sweet berries, just not as big.

VALLEY RED 

 New to the farm this year, this berry is sweet, with a nice red color throughout the entire berry and is excellent for preserving, or freezing.

HONEOYE

We have had this variety on the farm for 3 years now, it is the first berry to ripen, producing a firm, deep red berry, but isn't as sweet as some of the other berries.  This variety is excellent for freezing due to its firm texture. These are smaller in size this year.

SHUKSAN  

This is the last variety to ripen on the farm, and it has become a favorite of many, due to its size, and flavor.  It is easy to identify a Shuksan because the berries tend to have deep ridges in them.  This variety is my favorite for flavor and texture.
So, that's the line up of the berries available at Sauvie Island Farms, AND they are all ripe and ready to be picked this week. If you want to experiment and choose a favorite, you are welcome to u-pick in all four varieties!  All of our strawberries are OREGON grown, with great flavor, and are easy to pick.
Come and decide what your favorite is!  We are open Monday-Saturday, 8am-7pm.

Sauvie Island Farms is located at 19818 NW Sauvie Island Road, Portland OR  503.621.3988

2012 season at Sauvie Island Farms

It's almost time to open the farm for 'pick your own' STRAWBERRIES. 

We will have HOOD strawberries for you to pick beginning Thursday, June 7th. 

 We also have beautiful peonies blooming, and a couple of other early flowers.  We will be open Monday-Saturday  8am-7pm, closed on Sundays. 

Hope to see you next week on the farm, for the first of our u-pick crops!

Christmas is coming....

Sauvie Island Farms will open on Friday, November 25th for Choose and Cut Christmas trees!We have many trees to choose from, Douglas, Grand and Noble Fir.   We will be open Monday-Saturday 10-5pm, closed on Sundays, until December 21st. 

This time of year, we welcome your dogs on the farm, remember to keep your pet on lease at all times, and please clean up as needed...!   Saturday, November 26th, Santa will be visiting from 12pm-3pm.  Bring your camera and have a family photo taken with Santa.  We have hot drinks and cookies, as well as a free treat for each dog!

Go to our website http://www.sauvieislandfarms.com/ and click on the COUPON link...it's a good one!!

The recipe

The is the recipe that I made for the college kids.  I am told that they were great....
so thought I should share.  They are very rich, so cut into small-ish serving sizes.
I did NOT add the walnuts or nutmeg, as much as I do not like pumpkin, the farmer
equally does not like walnuts....or nutmeg.

Ooey Gooey Caramel Pumpkin Blondies with Chocolate and WalnutPrep Time 20 Minutes
Cook Time 25 Minutes
Servings 16Ingredients
• FOR THE BLONDIES:
• ¾ cups Butter, Softened
• 1 cup Packed Brown Sugar
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Pumpkin Puree
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ½ teaspoons Nutmeg
• 1-¾ cup All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• FOR THE FILLING:
• ½ cups Chopped Walnuts
• ¼ cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 14 ounces, weight Caramels, Unwrapped (1 Bag)
• ¼ cups Heavy Cream
Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13 pan with non stick cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in eggs, vanilla and pumpkin until combined. Slowly incorporate the remaining ‘blondies’ ingredients into the batter. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly to ensure a smooth batter. Spread about 2/3 of the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
For the filling: Sprinkle nuts and chocolate chips over top of the batter.
Place caramels and cream into a heat-proof bowl. Microwave on high until caramel is smooth and completely melted, being sure to stir every 20 seconds. Stop as soon as it’s melted and smooth.
Pour melted caramel over chocolate and nuts. Spread around evenly with a butter knife or spoon. Place dollops of the remaining batter over the top of the caramel layer. Spread those dollops out to try and get a smooth layer of batter over top. (It’s fine if some of the caramel layer is peeking through.)
Bake for 25 minutes or until edges are golden and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted. (It might come out with a little caramel on it which is fine. You don’t want batter on the toothpick.)
Cool completely before serving. Or be prepared to get a whole lot of oozing caramel if you serve it warm.
Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
We are now closed until the day after Thanksgiving for Cut Your Own Christmas Trees!!

How I really feel about pumpkins.....

This post is all about the confessions of the farmer's wife....me.

We grow pumpkins, I do NOT like pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin milkshakes or those pumpkin spice lattes that people drink in October.  I really do NOT eat pumpkin.  I am not sure I even like the color orange.....ouch.  Ok I said it.  I do like fall, and I do like the idea of harvest, and all that goes with it.  My family, however, does like pumpkin pie, cookies and bread.....so for all these years, my sister-in-law, Cindy has made all the pumpkin pies for family dinners....aka Thanksgiving. She has also made loaves of pumpkin bread and sent them to my college boys.  So....what is the point here?
I am hosting a dinner tomorrow night for our son's birthday with numerous college kids.  I wanted to make a new recipe that I found, a pumpkin caramel blondie, for dessert....so I went to Safeway to BUY a can of pumpkin.  OK...I KNOW.  I have probably lost the respect of all of you by now.  It was just going to be easier, I am busy this month!  Guess what?  There was NO pumpkin in the can on the shelf in Safeway.  The nice lady that works there told me that as soon as they get it in the store it flies off the shelves....figure of speech, I think.  See, people have the same idea I do.  So what's a girl going to do?  Huh?  Oh...right, I have THOUSANDS of pumpkins sitting in the fields behind my house.  So home I came, talked to Cindy, learned that the Cinderella pumpkins mixed with a Buttercup squash make a good textured pumpkin filling. I picked out one of each and home I came to bake the pumpkin and the squash.  It's easy.  Cut those suckers in half, take out the seeds, put them flesh side down in a baking pan with a small amount of water, and cook for less than a hour at 350 degrees.  After they cool, scoop the fleshing part into your blender or food processor and blend away, until it looks  all creamy and smooth.  Cindy puts her pumpkin in freezer bags to save for the holiday pie making. I got 10 cups of blended pumpkin from a small Cinderella and the squash.  I haven't made the dessert yet, so I don't know if is good or not.  The farmer tells me that it is always a bad idea to try something new on company.  But I figure that they are hungry college kids, so they will eat anything.  I will share the recipe with you next week, if it turns ok.  And just so you know, we DO have lots of pumpkins left here on the farm.  We are open on Saturday, Oct 29, closed Sunday, and our last day will be Monday, October 31.  If you want to try making your own pumpkin filling, there's still time to come out and get a couple of pumpkins.   We also still have cabbage, sweet corn, apples, squash, and of course lots of pumpkin.  Our flowers were hit with the frost earlier this week,  there are a few sunflowers that survived and are still blooming!