Coconut Peach Cobbler recipe Just a few weeks ago, I was talking a big game about how I was going to take a break this summer from picking, canning, or even thinking about large amounts of produce. I made it to August until I buckled under the pressure. The peaches & tomatoes made me do it (reading Farmer Boy to my kids right now didn't help, either)! So this past weekend I hauled out the strainer to make applesauce, the canner to can peaches, and the baking pans to make marinara sauce. The floors were sticky and the house was destroyed, but it didn't matter. I just felt this deep satisfaction that comes with jars cooling on the Keep Reading
Basic Basil Pesto recipe
Basil Pesto Recipe Whether you pick it up at your local farmer's market, grab a bunch at the grocery store, or grow it in your own garden, basil is summer at its best. This is the time of year when those beautiful green plants really explode with aromatic leaves. Basil loves direct sunshine and lots of it. Our dreary June weather had my basil plants threatening to pack their bags and head to Arizona, along with half the people I know. Thankfully, we've seen enough sun in July to convince my basil to stick around and start producing those glorious green leaves. If you're having a rough day, head out to your garden and take your aggression out Keep Reading
Raspberry Ricotta Cake recipe
Raspberry Ricotta Cake (recipe) I am totally off my produce game this summer. You see those raspberries? I bought them. At the store. In a white plastic bag in the freezer section. I'm pretty sure a little piece of my heart broke off and died right there in aisle 5. What is happening here?! My normal MO is Crazy U-Pick Person from June-September. 200 pounds of peaches? No problem. 65 pounds of blueberries? Sign me up. My hands are stained, my car is constantly loaded with boxes, and my counters are full of ripening fruit (and pesky fruit flies). But this summer has been quieter in the fruit department, and I am okay with that (I think? I am Keep Reading
How to plan a (successful) strawberry picking trip with kids
I can't even tell you how much I love this time of year in the Pacific Northwest. Warm days. Cool nights. And the berries. Oh, the berries... After much practice, my friends and I have somewhat perfected the art of berry picking with small kids. In fact, five years ago, we hauled our two toddlers and one newborn out to Sleight's Farm in Mulino to pick strawberries. At worst, this may sound like a recipe for disaster. At best, this may sound like lots of kid chasing and very little berry picking. The kids did great, though, and we managed to pick around 25 pounds each. The kids raced up and down the rows, filling their bellies with berries and Keep Reading
Watermelon Feta Mint Salad
Watermelon Feta Mint Salad Summertime is so close I can almost taste it. A few more weeks and we'll have kids in the sprinkler, burgers on the grill, tomatoes in the garden. And watermelons rolling in as fast as we can eat them. I don't mean to brag, but one of my life skills is picking out the perfect watermelon. I've only had a handful of bum ones in the last decade. I know everybody has their own routine in the produce department, sniffing-shaking-patting, but I personally stick to the heft and the thump. You want a melon that feels heavy and sounds hollow when you knock your knuckles on it. I learned it from my dad who learned it from his Keep Reading
How to Can Sweet Cherries {A Step-By-Step Guide}
After a few fun-filled days around the Fourth of July spent in Lyle, Washington last year, my little family headed over to Maryhill, Washington, land of vineyards, orchards, hot weather, and wind turbines. We had one thing on our minds: sweet cherries. My sisters had stopped by the Maryhill Fruit Stand earlier in the week. They kept talking about how they bought a bag of cherries and ate it before they even made it back to the car, the fruit was so sweet. U-pick was just $1 a pound (apricots, too). My husband and I had talked about picking cherries for years; we needed to track this place down. Pulling up to the fruit stand, the sign Keep Reading
Why I Can (and you can, too)
This is a re-post from a previous year. A few weeks ago, I posted a step-by-step guide to canning peaches for beginners. I was all set to follow it with several more basic canning tutorials. Next up, tomatoes! However, as I was pulling out of the Growers Outlet parking lot last week with 400 pounds* of tomatoes in the back of my van, it hit me: This is not normal behavior. In fact, the guy who loaded all 18 boxes even tried to intervene. "Uh, ma'am, have you ever canned before? Because... this is a lot of tomatoes. Are you sure you're up for it?" I assured him that I was splitting the order and the work with 2 other people. He still laughed at me as Keep Reading