Because I miss Summer

I decided to post these pictures because I'm really missing summer right about now. They were taken towards the end of summer at the farm we "belong" to as part of our community supported agriculture membership. We were picking tomatoes, or "matos" as my little one calls them. Both of my boys love tomatoes, as you can see by the pictures. They love them enough to eat them like apples. They love them enough to whine for one one when they see them in the produce isle at the grocery market. Crazy, I know.

But I'm not here to talk about my kids' love of all things edible. No. I want to talk about summer. Remember it? The smell of fresh cut grass, the warm sun on your skin, watermelon, hamburgers on the grill, long walks to the park? Right now it's a balmy 40 degrees outside and that's the warmest it's been all day.

Maybe you're reading this from your comfy home that's located somewhere where it's still relatively warm outside. Like maybe you live in Arizona, or Florida, or maybe even Vegas. If you do, I envy you right now - but only now because there's no way IN HELL I would live in those places during the summer! No sir ree - I just want to ask you to please share a little of your warmth with me today - just a little. You probably wouldn't even notice that it was gone.

If you only came here to read my HASAY update - it's below so please read it. I need all the encouragement I can get at this point! Besides, maybe if I get up and get moving I'll warm up a bit!

Blueberry Time

My family's absolute favorite summertime activity is picking blueberries. "blueberry time" as Captain Crazy calls it arrived later than usual becuase of the cooler than usual weather we experienced in May and June. Finally it was time to load the boys up and head off to our favorite U-pick berry farm. It was a perfect day for picking blueberries - it was early morning, the sun was shining and a soft, cool breeze kept us cool.


The boys had an absolute blast and I was very happy to see that Captain Crazy's picking abilities had greatly improved from last year. In fact this time he was downright discerning, only picking the biggest, fattest berries he could find. The Destroyer on the otherhand, was eating anything he could get into his mouth -unripened blueberries, rotten blueberries, sticks, grass, and probably a bug or two as well.


We left with buckets of blueberries and dreams of blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Most of our stash is now safely tucked away in our freezer and will make appearances in cobblers, smoothies, pancakes, muffins and jams all throughout the upcoming winter months.

"Check out my Cherry!"

My family loves cherries. We also love blueberries, Marion berries, Logan berries, strawberries, huckleberries, raspberries, and black berries. In fact, if a person could survive entirely off of berries, I think we would give it a go.

These pictures were taken during our last cherry-picking trip. We know a lovely couple who have a cherry orchard on their property. The arrangement is quite simple really - we bring them several bags of 100% Kona Coffee that the IL's send us from Hawaii and we get to pick as many cherries as we can cart away.

We went berry picking for the first time about five years ago, right after my husband and I moved to Oregon from Colorado. On a whim (because you can do things 'on a whim' before you have kids) we visited a local "u-pick" berry farm and for about 15 bucks we left with more raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and black caps than we could shake a stick at. Needless to say - we were hooked.

Now every year around April or so we start to get antsy waiting for the sun and the warmth of summer to come and ripen the berries. We practically start foaming at the mouth as we daydream about the red, sweet, swollen fruit and how it will taste right off the branch, in our pancakes, on top of our cereal, and in a cool, refreshing smoothie. We also freeze a lot of fruit to get us through the long winter months and we give a lot to neighbors and friends.

This year I want to try something new. I have always wanted to learn how to make jam and to can fruits and veggies, but some reason I'm a little intimidated by the whole canning/jam making process. I just don't know where to start! So please, if anyone out there has some good advice, I'd love to hear it. You never know, there could be a jar of homemade jam in it for you!