Confessions of a Grateful Farmer September 2016

1. I am over the moon to be serving our Golden Row Cider at our Event Space and Farm Stand. Come by for a free sample and pick up a growler to take home this weekend. Or let us know if you are interested in having a pony keg at your restaurant or brewery. 

2. We thankfully finished picking our winter pears this season.  It was a smaller crop than we are used too and we struggled to have enough people to help us harvest but in the 11th hour we had some bonus pickers show up and save the day. Thankful for answered prayers.

3. Our Farm Stand is OPEN 7 days a week and the apples are absolutely beautiful, tasty and huge this year for pick your own.  Did you know the keeper apples store all winter long(Fugi, Grannies, Pippens, Braebruns, Rome, Spitzenburgs). Grateful for our loyal customers that come out each week to buy farm direct and for those of you who are putting up the harvest in apple butter and sauce. Here is my recipe for Pear Butter.

4. We are honored to be partnering with a favorite non profit Gorge Grown this year for their annual fundraiser a farm to table Harvest Dinner on October 2nd from 4-7pm.  Tickets our selling out fast for this once a year event featuring Ben Stenn from Celilo Restauant and local farmers so pick yours tickets today. Excited they are serving our Golden Row Cider  and fresh fruit at this lovely dinner. 

5. We had a fantastic first year hosting weddings at our Wedding and Event Space right in the heart of our orchard and if you would like to learn more about having your special day here on our farm it would be our pleasure to host you. We also host other events as well so reach out and check on available dates.

6. We have bumper crop of Italian Prune plums and they are looking for good homes.  Please come by this weekend because they taste amazing fresh, dried, in jam or pie and are on SALE.

7. Speaking of Dried Fruit we have some of the best dried fruit in town according to our customersCome by today for a sample and get inspired to dry some of this years harvest for your household for colder months, or stock on the dried fruit we have lovely prepared for you. 

8.  Yes we have fresh pressed unpateurized Cider as well for the next 6 weeks. This weeks variety was made with Gravensteins, Jonagolds and Goldens. Its perfection! It freezes well too.

9. The best farmer on the farm (my dear mother) right smack dab in the middle of harvest had her gall bladder removed. We barely made it without her harvesting pears but we are grateful she made it out ok. 

10. We got some great news this past month from our 2015 pear crop. We thankfully had the numbers of bins and payout in a way that I got my first pay out check as a farmer.  This is the first pay check I have received from the packing house since I started in 2014(2 years later).  It was a loooong wait and I am so grateful for this surprise. Financial breakthrough keeps farmers going strong year after year and Ill take it. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for my continued success.

11. Our All fruit CSA is in its last weeks and we have had a very successful season. So many people want to back up local small family farms they just don't have the time to come out each week to shop. Consider joining our 2017 All Fruit CSA and let me drop off a box each week in your neighborhood, friends.

12. Yes, we are having our Swiss Edelweiss day on October 22nd from Noon-4pm this year. Plan on joining us for this day of Swiss music, dancing and yodeling, Swiss Sausage, Apple Strudel and Hard Cider. Also Harvest Festival weekend is a fun weekend to join as well Oct 14-16th.  

13. Consider following along on our Facebook and instagram accounts for photos, recipes, weddings, cider and farm love. xox your grateful farmer, Trina McAlexander

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Photo of Ben Mitchell/Hood River News (Golden Row Cider made by your truly)

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Harvest season is my favorite. Photo by Ben Mitchell/Hood River News

2016 Wedding Giveaway at Mt View Orchards

In my life my most favorite childhood memories include growing up here on our magical small family farm, dancing wildly at weddings with my family and welcoming new babies into the world.  These days here on the farm most Saturdays and Sundays we are hosting hopeful, engaged couples who are wanting to see Hood River Valleys premiere wedding venue that stands in the heart of our orchard.  We have had friends of our farm, ask us for decades if they could get married here because they consider our farm a special place in their hearts.  So last year, at the persistent urging of a dear friend of mine, I took the plunge and started the process of the lengthy application and walked around to all my neighbors homes to ask them how we could host weddings in a way that would be honoring to their adjoining farms as well.  I am so over the moon because our wedding application was approved and we can host weddings here at Mt. View Orchards.   My dream of big harvests and farm to table weddings is now coming true!

So one evening over dinner, I was sharing with my dear friend, Marla Cyree that I have been thinking about giving away a free wedding on the farm this summer. I explained that I am meeting some lovely couples, with big love for one another but do not have a big wedding budget therefore they are struggling to find the venue of their dreams.  She agreed that it would be so wonderful to throw a Wedding Giveaway on the farm and she would be willing to donate her services and be the photographer!!!!  There are not enough kind words to describe how much I adore her pictures.  She is my fave for sure, hand down.

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Lately, we have been busy booking weddings for this coming summer and the Summer of 2017 but if you are newly engaged and still looking for a venue and would love to get married in an orchard meadow at the base of Mt. Hood this summer, I strongly urge you to apply at the 2016 Wedding Giveaway on Simply Splendid's site. We have already read through some beautiful applications thus far and are deciding on who will receive this giveaway this month.  Here's your chance to have the weddings of your dreams because one of the philosophies of our farm is to be exceedingly generous and we want to always be known for being a farm that is welcoming to everyone.  

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ABOUT SIMPLY SPLENDID

Marla Cyree of Simply Splendid is an Oregon wedding photographer who specializes in film and shoots from the heart with a timeless, fine art, editorial style.  A hopeless romantic who believes love conquers all and pinches herself every time she gets to partner with a couple on the biggest day of their lives to create imagery that captures the truest essence of that beautiful day.  She has a strong affinity for gorgeous authentic color, stunning black & whites, and making photographs that stand the test of time.

Marla lives in Portland with her family and takes full advantage of the vast treasures the Pacific Northwest has to offer, including all the amazing food, delicious drinks, and beautiful scenery available.  Mt. View Orchards is one of her favorite places in the PNW and she’s overjoyed about partnering with them for this wedding giveaway!

ABOUT MT. VIEW ORCHARDS

Mt. View Orchards is a third generation family farm established in 1974. Mt. View’s fifty plus acres are nestled at the northern base of Mt. Hood.  The orchard was planted over a hundred years ago and today, most of the original fruit trees have been replaced many times over, with one exception. Right at the heart of the orchard, just alongside the Orchard Meadow, stands a row of century old Golden Delicious trees, which continue to produce some of the sweetest apples in the region year after year. Our “Golden Row” symbolizes the blessing we wish for every Mt. View Orchards wedding; that the union of two hearts, families, and futures would grow strong and be fruitful for many years to come.

2016 unveils the new Mt. View Orchards Wedding Meadow, a one of a kind wedding venue in the Hood River Valley of Oregon.  Framed by a stunning view of Mount Hood and surrounded by over 100 varieties of beautiful fruit trees, the Orchard Meadow is a truly magnificent site for your big day.

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GIVEAWAY INCLUDES:

Mt. View Orchards, Orchard Meadow Wedding Venue

• 12 Hours Availability of Site
• Epic panoramas of Mt. Hood and Hood River Valley
• Includes Beautiful Wooden Tables and Benches for up to 160 Guests
• Expansive Lighted Dance Floor
• Covered Open Sided Wooden Beam Reception Barn
• $8,300 Value

Photography Package from Simply Splendid

• 8 Hours Wedding Day Photography, expertly photographed with film and digital
• Complimentary Engagement Session
• High Resolution Files Delivered Via Private Viewing Gallery
• $4,250 Value

A total package value of over $12,000, yay!

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Why such a phenomenal prize?

Mt. View Orchards Orchard Meadow wedding venue is a new wedding venue positioned perfectly in a century old working orchard. Owners Katrina (Mt. View Orchards) and Marla (owner of Simply Splendid) have been friends and mutual supporters for over 6 years and are excited to introduce Orchard Meadow to couples as a most unique and beautiful wedding venue.  YOU could be the recipient of this fantastic giveaway! Please head over to the 2016 Wedding Giveaway to share your love story with us. Rooting for you all, xoxo your grateful farmer, Trina

Julia Child's Cherry Clafouti

I am excited to announce that the cherries at Mt. View Orchards are within a week of being ready to eat!!!  Oh tree ripened cherries, you are simply the best!  Cherries are lovely to eat as a snack but they can be pitted and put into pancakes, pies, crisps, canned, made into jams, put on pizza, can be made savory with pork and polenta but my favorite way to enjoy them is in Julia Child's Cherry Clafouti!  Do not let this recipe intimidate you, just because clafouti sounds so darn sultry and french. Oui Oui? This dessert is actually quit simple but will impress everyone in town.  It works for breakfast, tea time and is a beautiful dessert. Trust me on this one.  You need to make this and share with your favorite people asap!

Cherry Chafouti Ingredients.

• 1 1⁄4cups  milk
• 2⁄3cup  sugar, divided
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon  vanilla
• 1⁄8teaspoon  salt
• 1⁄2cup  flour (This could easily go GF with rice flour)
• 3 cups  cherries, pitted
• powdered sugar, for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Using a blender, combine the milk, 1/3 cup sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour, and blend.
3. Lightly butter an 8-cup baking dish(I use cast iron), and pour a 1/4-inch layer of the blended mixture over the bottom. Set remaining batter aside.
4. Place dish into the oven for about 7-10 minutes, until a film of batter sets in the pan but the mixture is not baked through. Remove from oven (but don’t turn the oven off, yet).
5. Distribute the pitted cherries over the set batter in the pan, then sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Pour the remaining batter over the cherries and sugar.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes, until the clafouti is puffed and brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.
8. Servings: 6-8 for dessert, 4 for breakfast.

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I am excited to announce that we are opening Mt. View Orchards fruit stand on Friday June 26th and will be open every day of the week until November(9-5pm).  We are also going to be at the Cully Farmers Market on Ne 42nd in Portland starting this Thursday the 25th from 4-7pm  Things are buzzing here on the farm and it seems like I could be working non stop if I wanted too because the work never seems to be done.  We will start harvesting our first crop here on the farm of cherries this next coming week and the harvesting doesn't end until October with our apples. Harvest time is such an exhilarating time here on the farm and I am again so pleased with our crops and cannot wait to share them with you all. Please consider coming opening weekend for some fresh cherries and say hello.  We are located at 6670 trout creek ridge rd, Parkdale Or 97041 Thank you again for all the farming love and friendship. xoxo your grateful farmer