After my enjoyable bike ride through the West Eugene Wetlands, I headed up Royal Avenue toward Fern Ridge Reservoir on my way to Green Hill Aire Blueberry Farm. There was a large down-homey sign on the corner with an Oregon Blueberry Growers Association banner on it pointing the way to the orchard.

They have a nice setup with white buckets that they insert a blue plastic bag into for ease of transfer. They sell by the bucket load instead of by weight so that they don’t need a certified scale. Each bucket weighed about 6.5 lbs.

I enjoyed the visit as the blueberries are planted on the slope of a pleasant pasture covered hill. The bushes were bursting and the berries sweet and rich flavored. It is the closest u-pick blueberry site to Eugene so it was very busy. There was a nice community feeling to the visit with lots of families with kids (teens even!) chatting and picking and laughing.

Here is the rightfully happy and satisfied farmer (i believe his name is Stan Hunsdon) with his wife at the check out stand. They were quite friendly and we had a lengthy discussion of digital cameras. We’ll be back next year for sure.

TIP:

If you have a lot of fruit coming on, especially berries and soft stone fruit, and not enough time to juice it all, put the produce in gallon freezer bags and place in the freezer till you have more time. Then juice the berries frozen. There is minimal difference in results (a bit more pulp perhaps) and you don’t waste any precious fruit.

Take Care

Daniel

I rode my bike out to Green Hill Aire Blueberry farm via the West Eugene Wetlands on the Fern Ridge Bike Path. We are very lucky to have a wonderful network of bike paths here in Eugene and this one is a personal favorite. The wetlands are very deceptive in that they seem still and empty. In reality, they are teeming with life, even in the dry heat of the summer.

Just past the entry sign, in the middle of Amazon Creek which flows through the wetland, I spotted these turtles sunbathing. They are just one of many kinds of animals one can find at the wetland: herons; geese; ducks; snakes; nutria; beaver; otters…the list is endless.

The trail continues along the creek for a while before heading into the camas covered savanna comprising most of the wetland. At this time of year the fields are bone dry but bursting with various flowering herbaceous plants. The hues were muted pinks, purples, yellows, green, white and strong browns. Very pleasing.

There was a strong smell of wild mint mixed with other dry grass scents in the air as I biked through.

I parked my trusty rig at an overlook and investigated a mint field. Up close the fragrance was intense! Buzzing with honey bees and other hungry bugs, the field was alive with sights, smells and sounds. A perfect example of the wealth of the West Eugene Wetlands. After enjoying the mint for a bit, I jumped back on my bike and headed over to Green Hill Aire Blueberry Farm which was just down the road toward Fern Ridge Reservoir.

A vigilant parent and a couple of curious siblings. This nest was right along the dirt road. We also noticed another nest with 2 juveniles out in one of the hay fields. Very beautiful birds with an eerie chirping call. I’ve seen them pluck fish out of the water while I was hiking along either the Willamette or McKenzie Rivers near Eugene.

When we got out to Bear Fruit we found that their berries were almost gone. They had had a short season. We picked a half a bucket and decided to go pick peaches at Detering Orchard up the road back toward Harrisburg.

Bear Fruit has a well managed open blueberry orchard with their weighing and selling shed down toward the entrance. They had started irrigation for fall in the pastures next to the berries. My boys had fun getting wet in the spray. Refreshing on such a hot day.

At Detering Orchard we headed out into the peach orchard to pick Red Haven peaches. They were large and nicely ripe. We picked 40lbs in about half an hour or so. In retrospect, I think we should have picked a bit less ripe as the peaches got bruises just from being handled and in the box. Better to pick less ripe and ripen at home to lessen bruising. As it turned out we juiced most and ate the rest fresh or in cobblers and pies (yum!).

They have a fun, colorful fruit stand with lots of preserves and nuts as well as fruits and veggies for sale. They also have u-pick vegatables as well as their u-pick fruit. I always enjoy a trip out to Detering, it is like a trip back in time. That’s our #1 picker Ciaran with our peaches.

On the way back home we stopped at a car show in Coburg. It was already closing down but we got to look at a few cars and chat with some of the owners.  Beautiful vehicles.

All in all a great way to spend a summer day. Check out the previous processing post to see what we did with the peaches. Lots of good info there.

Take Care

Daniel

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Incredible Shrinking Fruit:

Fruit that has been steamed for juice in the Mehu-Liisa looses a lot of volume. Here are some images to give you an idea:

The first image is the full basket of berries just before I put it into the Mehu-Liisa (which has been coming to a boil). The second image is after 45 minutes steaming (I don’t go further as the juice after 45 min. is negligible). Sometimes, I only juice for 30 minutes if I plan on making fruit spread from the pulp. In this situation I let it go 45 mins. and added juice back into processed pulp.

These images are after 15, 30, and 45 minutes. The colander was full when I put it into the Mehu-Liisa at the beginning of processing. Peaches retain a fair amount of bulk after juicing and make excellent fruit spread. I also added juice back into the peach fruit spread.

Basic Processing Techniques:

Over the years I have developed habits when using the Mehu-Liisa. Here is one for drawing off juice (I’ll post more as they come to mind):

Drawing off juice:
I use a plastic mixing bowl (fairly deep) to hold the hot jars (direct from 250 degree oven) when I draw off juice. Notice I have a glove on as well, to avoid steam burns. Kid leather garden gloves work even better as they are more maneuverable and supple to enable grabbing jars from oven without using hot pads.
  

Process Timing (or how to avoid burning your waterpan dry):

I use large display digital timers to time my processing so as not to boil the pan dry. I set the timer for 30 mins. and when it goes off I check the water and add some if necessary. I check the juice level as well and if it is near the top of the funnel in the juice kettle I drain it off into sterile jars. Then, I set the timer for 15 minutes more. I usually get another quart of juice.

REMEMBER! – you DON’T need to use high heat and a furious boil. Once water comes to a boil set heat at medium high and keep a steady boil. Once the juicer gets up to full steam it will release excess steam from the top as the lid bounces up and down – also at the seams between parts of the juicer. This is totally normal and in fact, the juicer is designed to do this so that the juice isn’t diluted with condensation.

Steam escaping from the top of the Mehu-Liisa. Once done processing, it’s easy clean up.

Making Blueberry and Peach Fruit Spreads:

After juicing I process the pulp that is left through a Foley Food Mill. I keep track of how much pulp I get and then use Pomona Pectin and organic cane sugar to make fruit spread. This time around I added back a quart each of Blueberry and Peach juice to each batch to increase the flavor of the fruit in the spread.

     
I spoon the pulp from basket to Foley Mill and grind away. No time at all to extract the pulp. Not much left over.
Here are the basic steps for processing with Pomona:

- Mix calcium water as per instructions in Pomona Pectin box. Add 1/2 the sugar, lemon (if called for), and calcium to fruit pulp. Bring to a boil. Mix pectin into rest of sugar thoroughly and add to boiling pulp little by little stirring all the time. Stirring constantly (to dissolve the pectin) bring back to boil and boil for 2 minutes. Take off heat and ladle into steril jars. Water bath process according to fruit canning (not jam or jelly canning) guidelines.
Here are my ratios as per the Pomona Pectin instructions (they will be different for every batch):

Blueberry -

3 qts + 1 cp pulp (includes 1 qt added juice), 3/4 cp lemon juice, 3 cps sugar (too much after tasting), 2 TB pectin, 4 TB calcium water. This yielded 16 cups of fruit spread

Peach -

4 cps + 1 pt pulp (includes 1 qt added juice), 1 cp lemon juice, 2.5 cps sugar,  4 TB + 1.5 tsp pectin, 6 TB calcium water. This yielded 18 cups of fruit spread.

Here are a few photos of the juice, etc.:

Rich, thick golden peach juice (someone’s been at it already!). Beautiful dark blueberry juice. Hungry Mr. Clemm.

Well, it’s been fun sharing all this with you folks. Let me know what you think. Also, check out the recipe and tips forum on the website.

Take Care

Daniel

I met a farmer at the Thursday Lane County Farmers’ Market in Eugene who was selling blueberries (Camas Farm). His berries we exceptionally well flavored with uniform sweetness. We talked a bit and he told me that they usually didn’t do U-pick at their farm but that the berries were so abundant this year that they had opened up to U-pickers. He gave me his card and told me to give him a call when I wanted to pick (Kurt Mueller at Camas Farm 505-9489). Later in the day we set up a time to pick on Friday.

His farm is out River Road toward Santa Clara on River Loop 2. This is a pleasant road that winds through older suburban neighborhoods and eventually out into the old farm land next to the river. His farm was one of several  berry farms lined up on the west side of the road. I wandered out back through a pleasant cottage garden dodging chickens along the way. Kurt was in the sorting/processing shed with a couple of hearty young pickers. I had a interesting conversation with the older boy when I was picking. He was from a local farm where they “grew whatever you could eat, except exotic stuff”. He picked berries for his summer job and liked working with Kurt as the berries were so abundant and Kurt paid him well. “I take a dip in the river everyday” on his way back home at the end of the day.

Kurt told me that they had 7 different varieties but that the former owner hadn’t supplied them with a map of where they were. So, it was best to wander around and taste a few to get an idea of which to pick. I found a nicely ripe section of row that had large fragrant clusters of huge berries. I picked a full bucket in no time. Then I wandered around a bit and picked another bucket of mixed varieties. I was very happy with my haul as the berries we very sweet and tasty but not over-ripe. I planned to juice at least one bucket full and make blueberry spread from the pulp. The rest would find their way into cobblers, pancakes, and pies. Hard work, but someone has to do it…

Please look for my next few posts that will have info on processing and making fruit spread from the pulp left over from processing blueberries and peaches with the Mehu-Liisa.

Well, I’m off to Tuesday Farmers’ Market downtown. Take Care!
Daniel

There was a nice young fellow at the sales stand who just graduated from the Horticulture program at OSU studying Viticulture and Enology. He is starting a job at a local winery in the fall. We wished him good luck.

We headed out to the trees and ended up picking 33 lbs. in no time as the fruit was so abundant. Of course, Ciaran picked the most cherries. He went off by himself and climbed into the top of a tree and went to work. Picking cherries is his favorite u-pick. He didn’t eat any until he had a full bucket. He made up for it later though.

We love going to Me and More. It is a very well cared for orchard and the folks are pleasant to talk with. We headed back home to get to work pitting the haul. See next post for more on that.

This is just a blog management post. Please ignore.

I have driven by this farm many times on my way to the Arboretum to hike or swim. This is the first time I have stopped to pick their berries. I believe they grow and process peppermint for oil and alfalfa as well.

I believe this is the processing shed for the pepper mint oil (on the L). Beautiful field of alfalfa being mowed for bailing.

They have a pleasant little sales and field processing area to the north of the beds. Every thing was on wheels or skids so they could be moved along as the picking progressed through the field. There was a beautiful cottonwood towering over the beds to the east toward the river. I love these trees and their “snow” of seeds with cottony tufts.

The strawberry beds are raised a good 6-8 inches high and the paths between are sown to Fescue. This makes for very comfortable picking as the plants are higher and the grass pads the knees when kneeling. The variety was Shuksan and they were doing their 3rd pass through the field. Even so, I had no problem picking 3 buckets (about 18lbs.) in no time. The folks tending the sales area were very pleasant and helpful. They use a very efficient colored flag system for managing the beds. I really appreciate this technique as it assures good picking for all and higher yields for the farmer. So, be sure to follow your farmer’s instructions so that everyone gets good picking.

I put most of these berries in the freezer and made shortcake for dessert that evening. I went back on the weekend with my youngest son Aodan and my wife Patricia. Even though the plants were on their last legs, they still had quite a few good berries left on them. The folks at the farm dropped the price $1 a bucket and we went away with 3 buckets and 1/2 a flat already picked. I highly recommend this u-pick farm.
Mehu-Liisa Tip:

I juiced most of these berries.No need to hull! Just rinse and juice.
One full basket yielded 5 quarts of super dark thick luscious juice. The juice is so thick that it takes thinning up to 50/50 with water or seltzer. We had strawberry juice with seltzer for dinner. The kids love it.

During juicing I added about 2 cups of sugar in two layers of berries (1 cup each) to the fruit in the basket. This resulted in a relatively sweet juice. I might use less next time. Processing time was about 35-40 minutes. Short and sweet.
That’s it for now. Next will be cherries no doubt.

Take Care ’til next time.

Daniel