It’s apple season, so it was time to visit what I consider to be the crown jewel of Oregon fruit country: Hood River. This ย little town about an hour east of Portland produces loads of high-quality crops ranging from cherries, plums, pears, apples and more. My sister tipped us off to the only organic apple grower in the area, which made for the perfect fall
October Harvest
October is giving us the last drops of warm-season harvests, but it’s time to draw the curtain for winter. Juniper helped me pick the last of the ripe fruits and veggies. Her way of helping has more to do with eating than actually putting anything in the harvest basket, but I enjoy the company nevertheless. Our cupboard is already packed with tomatoes for winter –
Fresh Tomato Soup
I have been busily canning stewed tomatoes, marinara sauce and ketchup, but still the harvest basket fills with tomatoes. Roasting fresh tomatoes with garden onions and garlic is an easy way to blow through that late summer harvest. Sauce tomatoes work best, like the delicious San Marzanos. But any old mix of tomatoes will work – just roast a bit longer for slicer tomatoes that
September Harvest
It’s still summertime on our homestead in September. Let’s take a little walk through the garden together. The harvest basket includes everything from eggplant to green beans, or rather Dragon’s Tongue beans. They are long with purple strips that taste great fresh or sauteed with tons of garlic. Tomatoes are coming on strong and Juniper is learning that the green ones don’t taste so good.
Imperfection
I had a recent revelation when I was sharing some fruit from our garden with friends and coworkers this summer. All around me, I am happily living with imperfection. On one occasion, I was sharing a bowl full of perfectly ripe figs. When someone from the group spotted a fruit fly circling above, almost all of them turned their noses up at trying the delicious
Apricot-Rosemary Preserves
Our Puget Gold apricot tree has been prolific this year! This variety of apricot was developed in Washington and is particularly well-suited for the Pacific Northwest, with our late cool springs. They are self-fertile, meaning you only need one to get fruit. Apricots are a finicky fruit tree that doesn’t grow well in much of the country, so you may have live vicariously through this
Making Plum Chutney
Plum chutney is a sweet-and-tangy spread that is perfect for roasted meats, on sandwiches or as a dipping sauce. I made it last year with a box of Italian plums I picked with my friend Brigitte from a local farm. It has to be hands down one of the best chutney combinations I’ve ever had. Any old plum will work for this recipe, but I
Strawberry-Rhubarb Hand Pie
Don’t you just love June? I’m planning our evening meals based on garden strolls – picking artichokes here and there, clipping rhubarb and gathering berries. It just feels right to eat what gifts our summer garden is giving us right now. We are in the thick of berry season on our homestead – happy times indeed. The red currants are dripping with ripe berries. The
How to Use Bantam Eggs
Our new flock has settled in comfortably to life in our city garden. The older chickens are still separated from the younger ones, but that will soon end as we combine the two flocks into one. The young gals are about four months old now, except for the bantam who was fully grown when we got her. The bantam is officially the most productive layer
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