Tips for picking berries at a U-pick farm

Despite the horribly soggy spring we've had here in the Pacific Northwest, we managed to get out last week to pick some strawberries. I met up with three friends and their offspring over at Lee Farms in Tualatin (not organic, but they don't spray) and went home with 34 pounds of Hood strawberries. It felt so good to be out in the field on a rare, sunny day, bent over, brushing aside leaves in search of ripe, red fruit. And finally, after a couple of years of U-pick experience, I feel like I'm finally getting the system down.

Call First: Since this spring has been so miserable, some farms might not be open every day for U-picking because the fruit might not be ripe enough. Always call the morning you want to pick to double-check.

Containers: Many U-pick farms will provide flat, cardboard boxes, but I try to bring my own containers from home. I have a motley assortment of lidded plastic containers that I use, all of which stack nicely into a reusable shopping bag, leaving a free arm to carry any additional containers I might need. (See also: Kids) This trip I had to use a couple of the farm boxes because I didn't bring enough of my own, but I can reuse them on the next trip.

 
It's nice to use the flattest container possible so that you aren't piling lots of tender berries on top of one another. Mine are a little too deep, but they get the job done. Renee has a bunch of shirt-box-sized flat lidded containers that I think are perfect. I might have to steal them.

Kids: Picking berries with kids can be tricky. I like to devote at least 90 minutes (if not more) to picking, but my kids get restless after about 20 minutes. Luckily I have a group of friends who love u-picking, and all of our kids are friends, so we try to arrange to be at the farm at the same time. The kids end up hanging out together; they're happy and we're happy.

Last week was particularly adorable -- this group formed the Strawberry Army and marched up and down the rows chanting 'Hut 2-3-4, Hut 2-3-4!' We all felt much better knowing these precious strawberries were being protected by such devoted troops. Also, bring water and snacks. (You'd think a field of strawberries would provide enough snacking, but my kids get tired of eating them, which seems so wrong.) Also, make them help you carry berries to the car. Many hands make light work, etc.

Sun Protection: Long-sleeved shirts, hats and sunscreen -- you really need them because there is no shade out there. Renee here strongly believes that one sun hat is simply not enough.

Look at the size of those weeds! A good sign of a no-spray farm.

Processing: So what do you do with 34 pounds of strawberries once you get home, dirty, exhausted and sore? You get back to work. Last year I made a ton of strawberry freezer jam, and we still have a ton left over. So this year I'm totally focused on freezing whole berries for smoothies and baking. I rinse them, cut the tops off and lay them flat side down on whatever baking sheets and pans I can find and pop them into our massive upright freezer. After they're frozen I bag them up in gallon zip-locs.

Oh, precious berries, how I love thee in the dark depths of winter. Oh, precious sunshine, will you ever come out again?

I want to pick at least 100 pounds this summer, but we need some freaking sun! Have you been out picking yet? Any good tips to share? To find a U-pick near you, check out PickYourOwn.

CSA-inspired meals

As we've mentioned before, Renee and I split a box of produce each week from a community supported agriculture program at a local farm, the Gathering Together Farm. We pick it up every Sunday at our neighborhood farmers market along with additional fruits and veggies, cheese, eggs, mushrooms, bread (and the list goes on) from other market stalls. This is the second year we've done this, and I feel like I've finally found my food groove. We composted a lot of veggies from our CSA last year because it was a little overwhelming. This summer I've challenged myself to look at the food we have and try to come up with creative meals before heading to the grocery store for back-up.

Could you become a vegetarian (to save the planet)?

OK, let's assume you aren't vegetarian, or vegan for that matter. Could this information sway you to give up meat?:

• One-third of all fossil fuels produced in the US are used to raise animals for food (energy spent raising grain and soy; tilling, irrigation and crop dusting; transportation of food to feedlot and animals to slaughterhouse and dead animals to processing plant; packaging; trucking to the grocery store...multiplied by 10 billion animals per year)
• ...not to mention the air pollution that results from fossil fuels being spent
• Animal manure pollutes the water and sends methane into the air (one dairy cow produces 100 pounds of excrement per day...can this be true?)
• Huge amounts of water are used to feed the animals and grow crops to feed them

I got this info from the folks at GoVeg.com, who of course want you to give up meat. But I've always been aware of the fact that raising animals, particularly cows, for food is detrimental to the planet. We received an email from a reader, which is what has got me asking the question, "Could I give up meat? Or at least beef?" She wrote:

I recently heard on NPR and have read elsewhere that going vegetarian is the best thing you can do for the environment, hands down.  It makes the biggest impact.  It's all about the Energy Pyramid and land use. I'm trying to get back into it.  I've been pretty successful so far.  Not so easy for the rest of the family.

I don't think I could give up meat entirely. I do like chicken. And duck. And a big, juicy steak. Oh, stop! OK, I probably could give up red meat because I did it for five years way back in my 20s. But I'm married to a dedicated carnivore and I've spawned one as well...I just don't think the family would get on board. But if those 'facts' mentioned above are indeed true, well it's pretty awful. For the most part my family buys meat that is raised sustainably: organic chicken from a local farm and grass-fed beef. But considering how much meat the average American consumes, I don't think that small organic animal farms could feed everyone.

Could you give up meat for the planet? And if you have, did you do it cold turkey (ha ha)? No really, do you have any tips for transitioning a meat-eating family to a meat-free one?

Plum harvesting party @ Zenger Farms, Sept. 1

Pick a peck of plums! Zenger Farm is ripe with plums and needs volunteers to gather the harvest. Tomorrow, Saturday the 1st, show up at the farm, pick some plums and take some home - gratis - as your reward. The farm is at 11741 SE Foster Road, a true urban farm, and a place we should all check out sometime. Their mission is "to promote sustainable food systems, environmental stewardship and local economic development through a working urban farm." Enough said!

Kookoolan Farms: challenges and market offerings

(photo by Eric Moret)

I've written before about Kookoolan Farms, which sells their own pasture-raised, free-range, organically-grown and humanely slaughtered chickens at the Hillsdale Farmers Market. I really love what they are doing and hope to see more small poultry and livestock farms follow suit. (And their chickens are delicious!) I've been receiving the newsletter from the farm and thought I'd pass on their latest. (If you want to receive the newsletter, email them at kookoolan [at] gmail [dot] com.) It's an interesting look into the challenges of poultry farming:

The moral problems of farming. One of the facts of life of free-range poultry farming is predators. Fully one-third of our tiny five-acre farm is a riparian wilderness that we have never penetrated. A small creek runs through our property, and “the other side of the creek” is a 1.5-acre woodlot overrun by brambles, and located right in the Yamhill River Valley migratory bird path. We frequently hear coyotes at night, and we have seen turkey vultures, falcons and assorted raptors, raccoons, possums, and large feral cats, each of whom has had a free meal or two at our expense. We have respect for wildlife, and onesy-twosy kinds of losses, whether of meat chickens or egg-laying chickens, we can put up with. Really neither of us much has the stomach for trapping and shooting. Once we get to three or four losses with a similar pattern, then we have to declare war. This week again we have found a couple of egg-laying bird remains, which makes us vigilant but not quite on the warpath.

This week at market we’ll have:

Oudoor Kids: Mother Earth Bio-Immersion Kindergarten

We've been talking about ways to get your kids to spend more time outdoors, and this is probably the most fool-proof: enroll them in outdoor kindergarten! The Shining Star Waldorf School in NE Portland has started a satellite kindergarten program at the Tryon Life Community Farm in SW Portland. The Mother Earth Bio-Immersion Kindergarten will be held daily from 9:30am-1:30pm, and tuition is $320 per month. They still have spots available for Fall.

The kids will spend the majority of their day outdoors -- all year long -- which means rainboots and Gore-Tex. They will study things like zoology, botany, natural medicine, agriculture and animal husbandry, and follow the general curriculum that most Waldorf schools embrace. You can read more about the program in an article from today's Oregonian. It sounds like the program was inspired to counteract "nature-deficit disorder," a concept from Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods.

I keep forgetting that the Tryon Life farm is in my neck of the woods, so I'll definitely be bringing the kids for a visit. What a great resource! The farm is open to the public for self-guided tours on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11am-4:30pm, and you're invited to pull on a pair garden gloves and pitch in. They also offer a summer farm camp for kids ages 8-11 -- keep this in mind for next year.

California produce at Lake Oswego Farmers Market?

An alert EnviroMom recently noticed trucks from California unloading produce at the Lake Oswego Farmers Market. So what gives? All of the vendors listed on the market Web site are from Oregon and close-in Washington. Are some of the vendors passing off California produce as their own? The market is a member of the Oregon Farmers' Markets Association, which exists to support Oregon farmers, not California. Anyone have a clue?

Found it! A source for pasture-fed chickens!

Kookoolan Farms of Yamhill made their debut at the Hillsdale Farmers Market today, and I wasn't the only one leaping for joy. People were lined up, asking all kinds of questions and buying chickens that had just been slaughtered yesterday. I posted awhile back about my search for pasture-fed chicken, and I can't wait to cook up my 3.75 pounder for dinner tonight! They are only selling at the Hillsdale and McMinnville markets, but anyone can call them up or come out to the farm to buy chickens. Three Square Grill and Nostrana also cook with their chickens. Here's the scoop:

Kookoolan Farm's transitional organic, truly free-range, pasture-fed chickens live outdoors, exercising or resting at their pleasure, foraging for bugs and grass as birds should. Certified organic feed. No hormones. No antibiotics. No medications. No cages. No artificial lighting. No confinement. No crowded transportation to slaughter. Contains no retained water from processing.

Our chickens are naturally raised in small flocks of 200 and respectfully hand-processed on the farm where they were raised. Our Oregon Department of Agriculture licensed processing facility is located right on our farm. Our hand-processed chickens are humanely killed, then air-chilled to obtain optimum flavor and texture.

Cost is $3.75 per pound, whole chickens, fresh or frozen. Contact them at 503-662-4742 or kookoolan [at] gmail [dot] com. At the Hillsdale market, their stand is at the very end, closest to Rieke Elementary. In addition, the farm also sells raw cow and goat's milk -- call or email for more info.

Yeehaw! Will this be the best chicken I've ever tasted (if I manage to cook it successfully)? I'll report back...

All hail kale

I know. I'm as surprised as you. When Renee and I opened up our weekly CSA container of produce today, my heart sank when I saw the kale. My one experience with kale left me bitter because it was so darn, well, bitter. So here I had a head of black kale. Thankfully the Gathering Together Farm also includes recipes with each batch of produce, so last night I cooked it up. Verdict: two green thumbs up. Little did I know, collard greens are basically the same as kale, so the delicious collard greens I've enjoyed at the Delta Cafe all these years have been kale all along! Kale is thicker and veinier than most greens, so it doesn't suit everyone's taste. In the south, it's often cooked with pork fat or bits of sausage. It's pretty hearty. If you've never tried it, now is the time. Here's the recipe from the farm:

My organic milk is better than your organic milk

It's like a page out of Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type. Have you seen CowsUnite.org? Launched Monday, these activist cows invite you into their barn, and hope that you read the bovine bill of rights and the history of the cow movement. It's a humorous, clever concept drafted by an agency to promote the Organic Valley brand of dairy products. But is Organic Valley milk better than competitor Horizon's organic milk? They are both major sellers in the organic dairy space. When a lot of people think organic, they think small, local farm. With major producers of organics like Earthbound Farms, small and local is not what you're getting much of the time. When I think small and local in the dairy domain, Alpenrose is the first one that comes to my mind.

So what do you think? Is Organic Valley milk better than other organic milk? Are you brand loyal when it comes to milk? Do funny cows on a web site make you want to know more and buy more?