More Berry News

This cool weather is stretching out the strawberry season and delaying the other berries just a little. Except for the new field, the berries are getting small. The mind-set for these fields needs to change. We are now "foraging" for berries, not "picking." But whatever you get is startling. The flavor is so intense you wonder if you're tasting another kind of berry.

This is the time when some folks start to complain about our berry season. The season is winding down, but I still sometimes hear "What is wrong with the berries this year?" or "This is not worth my time." Strawberry season is a short one here in Oregon and you need to get them while they're ripe or the time simply runs out.

We've been making a simple vanilla frozen yogurt recipe that we found in this month's Sunset magazine. It's amazingly simple (2 ingredients) and the tartness goes great with strawberries and raspberries. Perfect if you have a counter-top ice cream maker that largely goes unused (like the one in our house.) Click here for a link to the recipe.

Special for blog readers.
I won't open my raspberry u-pick fields until the weekend, but will have a "first-chance preview day" this Friday especially for my blog readers. I also have some peas you can pick and eat if you find me at the farm.

Farm to do List
My list of tasks for the week.

1) Begin preparing the final plots for the last planting of corn, cucumbers and beans.
2) Reshape last flower beds for planting September flowers.
3) Stake tomatoes.
4) Prune blackberries.
5) Mow all caneberry fields.
6) Weed eat weeds in blueberries.
7) Cultivate pumpkins.
8) Fertilize, water and cultivate corn.
9) Weed third cucumber field
10) Continue watering berry fields.
11) Water, water, everywhere...
12) Research how best to handle late bearing strawberry fields.

Obviously, I have a busy week ahead...