We Have Fresh Hood River Bartlett Pears!

Special this weekend, we have a shipment of fresh Hood River Bartlett Pears!

Pears are available for $1 per pound, or $30 per case, which contains 40 pounds of pears.

Now is the time to preserve the bounty of the harvest for the ‘leaner’ months, when fresh fruit is harder to come by, or is shipped from the other side of the globe to get to your grocery store.

Don’t know how to can or don’t have the supplies? We can help! We’ve got lots of canning supplies as well as preserving books that can help you get started. It’s really not as difficult as it seems, you can do it!

Learn more about canning from the OSU extension service website, and come get your pears today through Saturday, from 10am to 5pm.

Farmer’s Market at Celebrate the Season Every Saturday this Fall

It’s harvest time at Duane and Julie’s Backyard Farm, The Miracle Acre, and it time to share the bounty with YOU! Load up on fresh, delicious, LOCAL veggies, grown right here in Central Oregon!

Today, we’ve got:

Zucchini
Cucumbers
Potatoes
Beans

And we’ve always got a wide selection of potted herbs and other starts. It’s not too late to plant a winter garden or an indoor container garden!

Also, we’ve got a load of Bartlett Pears from Hood River. They’re delicious! They’re $30 a case (40 pounds) or $1 per pound if you’d only like a few pounds.

Come see what we’ve got!

Here’s a great recipe for your pears. Make several and keep some of the unbaked tortas in the freezer for baking later.

Pear & Hazelnut Torta

(from Delicious Magazine, May 2009) makes one 26cm cake

100g (3.5 oz) hazelnut meal
110g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar, plus 2 tablespoons extra
50g (1/3 cup) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
60ml (1/4 cup) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
80g (2.8 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 ripe pears

Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F). Lightly grease the bottom of a 26cm (10 inch) tart pan or spring-form cake tin.

Combine the hazelnut meal, sugar, flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl until they are just frothy. Whisk in the milk, vanilla, and cooled butter. Pour the egg mixture into the nut mixture and stir until well combined. Scrape the resulting batter into the prepared dish. and spread out evenly.

Peel, quarter, and core the pears. Cut each quarter into 4 to 5 equal pieces. Fan the slices slightly and then transfer to the top of the batter. Repeat with remaining pear slices. Sprinkle the extra sugar over the pears.

Bake the torta for 25-35 minutes, or until the batter is firm, puffed, and golden. If the top colours too quickly over it loosely with foil.

Transfer to a wire rack sift a thick-ish layer of icing sugar over the top. Allow to cool to lukewarm and then release from the pan. Sift more icing sugar over the top just prior to serving, if required. Serve with whipped cream.

 

2011 Backyard Farm Tour a huge success!

A huge thanks to everyone who came out for the 2nd Annual Backyard Farm Tour! The event was a huge success, with hundreds of people learning about backyard farming and how to grow your own food in a tricky climate like Central Oregon’s.

Publicity for this event:

Video about the Backyard Farm Tour on KTVZ

Article in Cascade Business News

The Feast from the Farms Event was also a huge hit! Thanks again to Deschutes Brewery, The Blacksmith Restaurant, Dump City Dumplings, Bend Distillery, Goodlife Brewing Company, The Brew Shop, Victoria’s Vegetables and The Miracle Acre Farm for all of their support of this community-wide fundraiser for NeighborImpact.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Backyard Farm Tour is TODAY and TOMORROW!

If you haven’t gotten your tour booklet yet, there is still plenty of time!

This year’s tour includes 17 tour stops, with stops on both Saturday and Sunday. Read the booklet carefully, because some tours stops are ONLY on Saturday, or ONLY on Sunday, but many are participating both days.

The tour is today from 10 – 3, and Sunday from 10 -3.

Also, consider purchasing tickets for Feast from the Farms! Tickets are only $10, and can be purchased at the door. The event runs from 5pm – 8pm at Celebrate the Season.

This farm-to-table event will feature the executive chef from Deschutes Brewery, Dump City Dumplings, Blacksmith Restaurant’s Executive Chef, and desserts prepared by COCC’s Cascade Culinary Institute. Beer, wine, champagne, and mixed drinks will be available for purchase, and live music will be provided by Organic Music Farm and Big Pine and the Pitchtones. It’s going to be a rockin’ good time – so don’t miss out!

Read more on our Events page.

Backyard Farms Wanted – Be in the Backyard Farm Tour

It’s that time of year again, it’s time to show off your garden, and here’s your chance.

The 2nd Annual Backyard Farm Tour will take place on August 27th & 28th from 10am – 3pm. That’s right! It’s TWO days this year! We’ve decided to extend it to give the farm owners a chance to take the tour themselves, and it allows for more farms to participate! So, get your application in ASAP, so you too, can be included in the tour. It’s loads of fun and it’s always nice to see people oohing and aaahing over all your hard work.

Really want to kick it up a notch? Sign up to be Farm Sponsor, and have your produce featured during our Feast from the Farms event on Saturday night! This year we’re charging an additional $10 per person to attend the after-party on Saturday evening from 5pm – 8pm, but here’s why: Local celebrity chefs will each team up with one farm who’s produce will be featured in several appetizers that they create. Attendees will have the chance to taste the produce they saw during the day, and mix and mingle with other like-minded individuals. We will also have a cash bar featuring local brews and wine, live music, and information about gardening and chickens. Did we mention that gardeners featured on the tour get 2 free tickets??

Tickets for the Feast from the Farms event as well as tour booklets will be available soon, so check back.

In the meantime, download an application to be a farm on the tour! You can mail it to erin.schiedler@gmail.com, who you can also contact if you have any questions about this event.

Happy gardening!

 

Sew a Simple Gardening Apron!

Photo by Raymond Hom

Martha Stewart Living strikes again! This simple garden apron is perfect for stashing flowers, veggies, garden shears, or whatever else you need to tote out with you to the garden.

 
To make, fold up the bottom of the apron to make a 10-inch-deep pocket. Cut four 4-inch lengths of ribbon or twill tape. Fold them in half, and stitch the loose ends to the edge of the apron as shown, making loops. Sew on 4 large buttons in corresponding spots.
 
As a bonus, use an apron that already has small pockets in the middle to use for things like keys, a camera, or a cell phone. If your apron doesn’t have them, you can easily sew them on before completing the rest of the apron.
 
What’s great about this design is your apron can still function as a regular apron by unbuttoning the pocket. Also, it makes washing much easier! No more gritty pocket corners!
 
See other crafting ideas at marthastewart.com.

Repairing a Geodesic Dome

Back in the 70′s and 80′s, Duane started a buisiness called ‘Homegrown Domes’. He built large geodesic dome greenhouses throughout Central Oregon, and to our knowledge, many of them still exist!

This week Duane has spent some time out in Tumalo repairing one of these greenhouses (it’s around 25 years old – as old as Duane’s daughter!) The greenhouse glazing is being repaired and/or replaced, and the overall structure is receiving a major overhaul. Talk about a ‘lifetime gurantee’!! We’ll personally repair any of the products we make for years to come!

Here are some photos:

New Products: Down to Earth Fertilizers & Soil Amendments!

We’re delighted to announce that we now carry a variety of Down to Earth products! Down to Earth is a Wholesale Distributor out of Eugene, Oregon, who carries a variety of organic, natural products for the home and garden. Their soil amendments and fertilizers are hands down the best!

Our first shipment included the following products, but there will be more to come!

Bio-Fish Blend - 7-7-2
A nutrient rich fertilizer ideal for heavy feeders like corn, cole crops and tomatoes, Bio-Fish is loaded with the finest marine based ingredients to improve your soil while nourishing your outdoor plants. An excellent source of nitrogen and phosphorus, Bio-Fish can be used throughout the growing season to promote vigorous growth, beautiful blooms and plentiful fruit.

Acid Mix 4-3-6
A fertilizer blended specially for acid soil loving plants like rhododendrons, azaleas, hydrangeas, evergreen trees and shrubs, and other plants that thrive in a low pH soil. To encourage lush flowers and fruit, apply Acid Mix in early spring for vegetative growth and again when blooms appear. Late fall applications promote healthy root growth and boost resistance to extreme winter temperatures.

Rock ’n Chicken – 2-4-2
A unique, pelletized combination of Idaho soft rock phosphate and composted chicken manure, Rock ‘n Chicken is easy to apply in gardens, on lawns and around roses, trees and shrubs. Use as a turf fertilizer in the fall and spring for a lush, deep green lawn year round.

Down To Earth All Natural Compost
• Perfect for amending garden soils, creating your own potting mix or making nutrient rich compost teas. Improves the water holding capacity, helps conserve moisture and adds organic matter to depleted soils.
• Composted for at least 12 weeks and fortified to provide readily available plant nutrients as well as bacterial and fungal biomass.
• Our compost does not contain any municipal yard wastes like grass clippings or leaves and is free of any herbicide or pesticide residues
commonly found in commercial composts.
• Contains: Composted Forest Products, Composted Bark, Composted Dairy or Chicken Manure, Oyster Shell, Kelp Meal and Organic Fertilizers.

Down To Earth Premium All Natural Potting Soil
• Our custom blend of premium ingredients makes this soil an excellent all purpose mix for seed starting, transplanting and container gardening.
• Rich in pure Earthworm Castings, Worm Compost and Organic Fertilizers, our biologically active potting soil nourishes your plants while retaining adequate moisture to help reduce watering needs.
• Diverse strains of mycorrhizal fungi promote extensive root development, increased nutrient uptake and improved stress resistance in a wide variety of plants, trees and shrubs.
• Contains: Aged Pacific Northwest Bark, Coir Fiber, Worm Compost, Earthworm Castings, Perlite and Diatomite plus Organic Fertilizers and Mycorrhizal Fungi.

Our inventory is always changing, so stop by to see what we currently offer.

Celebrate Asparagus!

Wondering what to make to celebrate your asparagus harvest? Why not make this delicious tart that lets the asparagus shine?

Don’t have an asparagus bed yet? It takes several years to get it up and running, so start now! Start planning where you’ll plant your asparagus, so you can build a bed and prepare the soil. Good things take time. Learn more about growing asparagus.

ASPARAGUS TART RECIPE
SERVES 4-6 AS AN APPETIZER

Recipe and photo from Marcus Samuelson’s blog. 

1 package frozen puff pastry (Preferably Dufour)
½ bunch asparagus, about 15 pieces, sliced in half lengthwise
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, to taste
1 egg, beaten for egg wash
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 ounce aged Cheddar cheese

1. Two to 3 hours before baking, defrost the puff pastry in the refrigerator. Alternately, defrost at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
3. Dust a work surface with flour and lay the dough flat on the surface. Dust the top with flour and roll with a floured rolling pin to make a uniform shape. Trim 1-inch borders from the edge of the dough and set the strips aside.
4. Brush the edges of the dough with the egg wash and place the strips on top of the egg wash. Press down lightly to seal the dough together.
5. Transfer the dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
6. Place the halved asparagus spears in a medium bowl. Toss the asparagus with the 2 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
7. Prick the dough lightly all over with a fork. Do not pierce the dough all the way through. Then, on the edges of the dough, press the tines of the fork down on the raised strips to make diagonal slashes.
8. Brush the raised strips of dough with egg wash.
9. Lay the asparagus spears lengthwise in the center portion of the dough. Season again with salt and freshly ground pepper.
10. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the dough is hard and well-cooked.
11. Remove from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack. Slice strips of the cheese with a vegetable peeler and place on the tart to let melt. Serve hot!

Wine Tasting Today!


Wine tasting today from 4pm – 6pm. Stop by to sample some great organic and local wines. We also sell beer!

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.