Protecting the Blossoms

Last night on the farm our electric fans turned on when the temperature plummeted below 32 degrees.  It was the First Frost of the Blossom Season 2015!  The blossoms are out about 3 weeks early from our usually warm winter (faux winter) and I have been anticipating the first frost for some time now. I call the frost line each and every night and I had a feeling that this was coming when I listened late last evening.  We have 3 electric fans on our orchard and when they all get going it sounds like huge helicopters are landing with an important diplomat inside or there is some sort of an intense man hunt happening in our back yard..  It wakes you up suddenly and compels you to go outside to protect your crops. Our fruit orchard is surrounded by other orchards as well who use electric fans and in total there were about 15 fans frantically chopping away to bring the temperature UP in the wee small hours of the morning.

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 I immediately sprung out of bed because fans are not safe to be on in heavy wind or rain and I also wanted to make sure they all three had started correctly.  I am not a big fan of freezing weather so I put on all of my jackets(ALL OF THEM) and headed out around 1am. Sure enough the 2 out of 3 were going strong but one of the fans was not running at all. 

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Fans have the ability to bring the temperature up any where between 1 and 15 degrees through the process of inversion.  We only use electric fans on our farm and do not believe in burning diesel, using propane or using smudge pots because it is environmentally harsh and an outdated farming practice.  After praying all the prayers and coaxing my Papi out of bed we got the 3rd fan up and running as well. Great Success!!!

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My Hero, showing me how to set the fans manually and also have them start automatically when it drops below freezing.  We were able to turn off the fans when they sun came out(8am) because it warms up the air significantly within minutes of sunrise.  I was also trying to be mindful of the electric bill that will be rolling in next month.

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 Mt. View Orchards is our HOME and we always choose the most clean and safe way to protect our crops here.  We are surrounded by the the Middle fork of the Hood River and the Trout creek.  Both are teaming with life and we also have many animals that live nearby us that we are trying to be mindful of when we are carrying for our land not to mention our own health and desire to breath clean mountain spring air.  These pear blossoms made my heart smile so I am sharing them with you this morning.

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On Monday I prepared 20 bins of seasoned pear wood that my Papi brought down to one of our favorite restaurants Ned Ludd in NE Portland.  I am excited to be heading there this evening with some friends to enjoy some of their wood fired magical eats.  When I used to live in Portland the past decade, I would walk to this restaurant often in the evenings after work and order their trout because it is quite frankly the best thing I have ever eaten my whole life. If you haven't had the culinary pleasure of trying this place out I want to encourage you to make a reservation tonight because food cooked with fruit wood has the most glorious complex taste.  Food cooked with fruit wood fire is the BEST!  Test me on this one, I dare you!  

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It is also a way for us not to waste our fruit wood from our orchard renewal.  We try to waste nothing here at Mt. View Orchards.  New baby trees are planted in their place and the older trees get to go have a second life in preparing wood fired food in the city.  Above is a photo of chef and owner Jason Francis French unloading the fruit wood from Mt. View Orchards.  If Portland were to elect a culinary ambassador, Jason Francis French would be high in the running.  We love Jason/Ned Ludd and it is a huge honor to collaborate with them each year with fruit wood and fruit.  A Delicious Collaboration for sure!

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Want to know when to visit the Hood River Valley to see the Blossoms this year.  This weekend could be one of your best bests.  The Month of April is usually a good time to come and the blossoms are out extra early this year! There is a blossom festival that runs the 17th-19th but that may be too late to really enjoy the drive on Hwy 35 this year to see the Hood River Valley in BLOOM.

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This is a picture of my sweet friend Tanah's little boy taking a stroll through the orchard.

You probably noticed that I am sharing more photos on this blog than I normally do and it is mainly because there are so many spectacular moments to share forward on the farm this week but to be really candid I am feeling pretty exhausted from staying up most the night with the fans. I am in my first year of farming and I am a bit of a newbie at staying up all night in the COLD.  I am literally having trouble making complete sentences and I feel like I could use a good nap or cry or both.  It normally takes me an hour to knock out a blog and its almost noon and I am about to post!  I am so hopeful we will have a great crop next fall and that our fans did a wonderful job at protecting our blossoms. Before my parents invested in electric fans nights like last night would totally wipe our their crop and they would harvest a minimal amount of pears in the fall.  I am a big HOPER and I am filled with great HOPE that last night did not damage our future crops and I Thank you for following along and praying all the prayers with me that we will have an abundant harvest at Mt.View Orchards in the Fall. 

xoxo, your super grateful(yet sleepy) farmer.

PS. Sharing a quote by my dear friend Julie V. on Good Friday....."when our friends scatter, and darkness comes, and everything falls apart, and it seems the worst has happened, that this is when new life springs forth. My hope for you on this Good Friday is that all things in your life that need raised from the dead have the sweetness of hope blown and them. That we all know that this dark hopeless place is where miracles happens, lives are changed, and God shows up. Have hope today, and thankfulness that all is never lost, no person, no situation."

Salted Honey PIE!

This week on the farm we are hosting 24 roaring bee hives.  My family has been using the same Bee keepers for over 40 years.  The blossoms are bursting forth here on our orchard and there is audible buzz that I can hear when I walk around in the evenings.  I love honey bees. I love honey. I love all butter crusts and I love pie.  Its been ions since shared one of my favorite farmhouse recipes with you all and Salted Honey Pie has been on my mind for days.  Almost every friday morning, when I was City kitty in NE Portland, I would to walk to go have a slice of pie and french pressed coffee at this unbridledly precious, spot called Sweedeedee's.  Sweedeedee's is the most Portlandia restaurant in all of portland and I mean that with the upmost affection and reverence.  Everything that I adore is served in this darling honeycombed eatery/bakery.  One thing that they are famous for is their Salted Honey Pie.  At Sweedeedee, that pie is a must-order, its custardy sweet filling is villainously rich, its crust light and flaky. This pie is a game changer! My dear friend Liza, introduced me to this magical place and I am indebted to her for being such a wonderful scout of all things delicious in Portland! 

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Mason Honey bee pollinating a pear blossom. 

At Mt. View Orchards we are huge fans of honey bee's and invest greatly in their viability and sustainability in our region   My grandfather used to say the best decision a farmer can make is to protect and care for their bee hives.  Did you know that Honeybees are the only insect that produce food eaten by mankind? Honey bees have 170 odorant receptors, compared with only 62 in fruit flies and 79 in mosquitoes. Their exceptional olfactory abilities include kin recognition signals, social communication within the hive, and odor recognition for finding food. Their since of smell is so precise that it could differentiate hundreds of different floral varieties and tell whether a flower carried pollen or nectar from metres away.  My favorite fact is that honeybee's communicate with each other by dancing? The honey bee's wings stroke incredibly fast, about 200 beats per second, thus making their famous, distinctive buzz. A honey bee can fly for up to six miles, and as fast as 15 miles per hour. Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water; and it's the only food that contains "pinocembrin", an antioxidant associated with improved brain functioning.  (Cue the Honeypie song by the Beattles)

We can thank bee's for over 1/3 of our diet.  Let's hear it for the Bee's! This morning I am celebrating their powerful pollination work around our orchard by making a Salted Honey Pie. Salted Honey Pie is a Revelation and I encourage you all to make this pie this weekend to celebrate the powerful and beautiful work of Bee's. xoxo your grateful, honey loving farmer

Salty Honey Pie

makes 1 9-inch pie

For the Crust:

1/2 cup (4 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup cold buttermilk

For the Filling:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon white cornmeal

scant 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped (or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract)

3/4 cup local honey (I use raw meadow foam honey)

3 large eggs

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1 to 2 teaspoons flaked sea salt (I used Vanilla Sea Salt from The Meadow)

To make the crust, in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt.  Add cold, cubed butter and, using your fingers (or a potato masher), work the butter into the flour mixture.  Quickly break the butter down into the flour mixture, some butter pieces will be the size of oat flakes, some will be the size of peas. Create a well in the mixture and pour in the cold buttermilk.  Use a fork to bring to dough together.  Try to moisten all of the flour bits.  Add a bit more buttermilk if necessary, but you want to mixture to be shaggy and not outwardly wet.

On a lightly floured work surface, dump out the dough mixture.  It will be moist and shaggy.  That’s perfect.  Gently knead into a disk.  Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.  Allowing the dough to rest in the refrigerator will help rechill the butter and distribute the moisture.

To roll out the pie crust, on a well floured surface, roll the crust 1/8 inch thick and about 12 inches in diameter.  Transfer it to a pie pan.  Trim the edge almost even with the edge of the pan  Fold the edges under and crimp with your fingers or a fork.  Cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for a minimum of 30 minutes and a maximum of 3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Place a rack in the center of the oven.

To make the filling, in a medium bowl whisk together melted butter, sugar, cornmeal, and salt.  Split vanilla bean  and add the vanilla bean scrapings (or extract, if using) into the butter mixture and whisk until thoroughly combined.  Whisk in honey.

Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking to combine.

Whisk in heavy cream and vinegar.

Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust.  Bake pie for 45 to 55 minutes until pie is deep golden brown and puffed around the edges and set in the center.  Open the oven and rotate the pie halfway through baking.  Remove from the oven and allow to rest for at least 4 hours before serving.  Serve warm or at room temperature, and sprinkle with sea salt just before serving. Enjoy! (adapted from Joy the Baker) 

New Mt. View Website LIVE!

I am thrilled to announce that our NEW Mt. View Orchards Website is LIVE today!  I warmly invite you all to go and visit our new and improved website and encourage you to please share it forward with everyone your know.  I hope that you find the new website inviting and that it inspires you to want to come and visit our small family farm, over and over again. There are a lot of new things happening on our orchard and I am so very honored to carry on my family's farming legacy here at Mt. View Orchards. Check out our activity page, come for an event, bring a picnic and browse through our farm photos.

One of the challenges of most farmers is that they proudly grow food for America but they often lack the skills to market their product effectively.  One of the reasons why I am writing a weekly blog and created a new website is I am trying to get the word out about our farm and become better at marketing our freshly harvested fruit. One of my hopes as a budding new farmer is to sell directly to the consumer to promote sustainability and offer better prices for both the consumer and the farmer. The shorter the chain between raw food and fork, the fresher it is and the more transparent the system is. You, as a food buyer, have the distinct privilege of proactively participating in shaping the world your children will inherit. This magical, marvelous food on our plate, this sustenance we absorb, has a story to tell. It has a journey. It leaves a footprint. It leaves a legacy. (Joel Salitan)   

On Trout Creek Ridge road where I farm, all my neighboring farms are ran by farmers who range in age from 65-90 years old. Thats right I wrote, NINETY!!! It is a profound honor to be surrounded by so many legends in the farming culture but this is also disconcerting to me because small family farms are one the decline and the next generation is unable to carrying on the legacy because of financing or there is a lack of interest.  Folks, we need more farmers and one of the ways you can rally to sustain farms is to make the choice to buy directly from farmers and not from big box stores.  There is nothing like coming to visit a farm and experiencing life where your food was grown. It is our pleasure at Mt. View Orchards to have you come and explore our Orchard and know that our farm is your farm.  It always brings a smile to my face when someone shares that they have been coming to buy fruit from us for over 30+years.  What a gift you are to us farmers and I thank you for actively participating in the sustainability of farms in your communities. Buying LOCAL really makes a difference and keeps small family farms ALIVE.  

Lastly, I want to honor my dear friend and creative wonder, Zachary Vandehey who has created the Mt. View website, the Grateful Farmer blog, designed all the graphics and is an amazing photographer and marketer. He is so very talented and I give him the highest of my recommendations and encourage you to collaborate with him if you are looking to do similar work.  I also want to honor my dear friend Allison Armerding for all her web copy and writing(her website is soon to launch) Allison, truly is the best editor/ghost writer every made by God and I am so grateful for our long lasting friendship. If you have every thought about writing a book, she really is profoundly gifted and I encourage you to partner with her.  I also want to honor my sweet friend Marla Cyree, at Simply Splendid for all the amazing pictures she captured at Mt. View Orchards. Her darling daughter, Ava is in quite a few shots and I so appreciate her ability to tell a story through pictures here on our farm.  

Thank you again for following along friends, for partnering with me on this farming journey.  My mother and I are about to hop into our farm truck and go purchase 500 new baby trees to plant this year.  Planting pears for our heirs! My biggest hope and prayer is that our farming legacy will continue for many generations to come. xoxo your grateful farmer.