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

Pick your own Apples are 4 weeks Early!

As a farmer, I am constantly reminded that there are so many things that are out of my control. Farming truly is a profession of hope and surrender. Responding to the call to come home and carrying on my families orchard has been a faith stretching experience and as I walk around the farm each night to pray I always ask God to bless our farm, protect our people and give me wisdom to carry on the legacy.  

 Farming is a partnership with the land and the dance that is never the same each harvest.  This season because of a warmer winter and hot spring all of our apples are ready to pick this weekend. Thats right, NOW!  I know many of you have the tradition of coming to pick apples in October but I personally invite you to adjust your family trip and plan on coming earlier this Autumn in September or early October.  The farm is absolutely magical this time of year and there are some lovely photos you can capture with breathtakingly beautiful Mt. Hood in the back ground with your friends and family. 

We have a bumper crop of apples and there is plenty of variety at  Mt. View Orchards. We grow over 70 varieties of apples and the pick your own price this year is 75cents.  The honeycrips pick your own are a little more at $2.75 a pound for pick your own.  The picking is good and we picked completely out last season because we have so many lovely people come visit us. Plan on coming earlier this season to pick your own apples.  Pack a picnic we have many places to enjoy your lunch on the farm that grows your food each year.  

The Keeper apples(Fugi, Braeburns, Pippins, Romes, Grannies) are all coming on and many of our friends at Mt. View Orchards by hundreds of pounds and eat these apples all spring kept in a cold garage, fridge or cellar. So come and stock up for colder months. We are right in the middle of pear harvest and the winter pears also keep well into the spring as well.

As a treat to our loyal costumers we are offering our Golden Delicious Coupon if you spend over $30 dollars from Sept 21st till we close on Oct 30th. The deal is for every 10 miles you drive you get a pound free one way of Golden Delicious apples from Oregon/Washington. What a deal! We are the only fruit stand the valley that offers this every year. The apples are lovely grown on our 100year old Golden delicious trees.   We sure appreciate all our loyal costumers that come visit our farm multiple times a year and this is our way of thanking you.

I am so grateful for an abundant apple crop. For our amazing crew who are picking their hearts out.  For our loyal customers who back us farmers up each week and buy farm direct. For my amazing parents who are helping me each year to help this farm transition be successful. Hope t see you this weekend on the farm friends. xo your grateful farmer.

PS our address is 6670 trout creek ridge rd, Mount Hood, Or 97041 Here is a link for more information.

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Our farm is your farm

There are thousands of people that come up to tour the Hood River Fruit Loop each and every year in the Summer and Autumn months.  We are so grateful to be apart of this group of amazing farms and wineries.  We meet so many kind people from all over the world and it is our pleasure to share the fruits of our labor forward with everyone who finds their way to our small family farm.  Though I am thankful for these one time visitors I am compelled to write today about the tried and true friends of our farm that come every few weeks to stock up on fruit for their families.  Our Loyal customers are really who have kept our farm going strong through the decades and I couldn't be more grateful for their continued loyalty and friendship of Mt. View Orchards.  

I am always touched to see friends of our farm come back and mention to myself or my parents  that "This is our farm."  They proudly share that they have made a commitment to back us up and to get their local fruit farm direct. We have people who continue to come purchase fruit since the beginning when parents first starting selling from their farm stand in the late 1960's.  Sometimes 3 generations of families and friends will come for a peach or apple picking day on the farm.  This is such a huge honor and pleasure for us as farmers to know we have been feeding and nurturing these family members for almost 50 years.

Farming is about thriving. When the soil thrives, my family and my community thrive. My hope is that the lives after ours will thrive. It's simple, but, to quote Wendell Berry, "This is no paradisal dream. Its hardship is its possibility. There are many reasons why I got into farming. It is my way forward in addressing all of the things I care about- environmental, social, and economic issues- it nurtures my creative side, and I love to spend my days working amongst our trees and flowers. And there is the joy of sitting in the field at dusk eating the most delicious, sun-warmed peaches.

If you live in the Columbia River Gorge, Willamette Valley, Idaho, Southern Washington or Hood River Valley I want to personally invite you to come and visit our farm this season. We encourage sampling and open up our farm like a large living room for all to enjoy. We love your kids, dogs on a leash and questions about our farming practices or preserving fruit for colder months. We appreciate everyone who wants to come and pick their own fruit. We love all the social media shout outs/pictures and when people bring their neighbors for the first time.  It really is a Win/Win for us both. There is one particular customer we love in her 90's who comes to purchase fruit every two weeks from across the river. She always comes with her family and my mother expresses how grateful she feels to see this woman come every time to our small family farm to back us up.   

We care deeply about growing food for our community and want you to know who we are and to enjoy the 2016 abundant harvest season at Mt. View Orchards.  We love hyperlocal friends of our farm including our neighbors on trout creek and those who drive as far each month from Boise, Idaho.  When the friends of Mt. View Orchards show up it makes our farmers hearts smile. xox your grateful farmer, Trina

Frequently asked questions about visiting the farm

1. Does it cost to visit your farm and enjoy the day there? Its FREE so pack a picnic and bring your boxes and bags because we have peach and apple picking for days.

2. What days are you open? Currently 7 days a week until November.  

3. Do you have any after hours if I work while you are Open? Yes we have self serve hours in the early mornings and evenings and in November and December

4. How do we join your CSA so you can bring me fruit to my neighborhood in Portland? Check out this link for the 2017 season. Our CSA rocks!

5. I want to know more about having my birthday, family reunion, wedding or special event on your farm. Please email us at mtvieworchards@gmail.com to learn more

6. Whats available for pick your own? check out our Facebook page or website to know what we are picking fresh each week guys. (Red box at the top at www.mtvieworchards.com)

7. Can I buy a whole bin of fruit from you guys for a cider party? Yes email a week before you need it at mtvieworchards@gmail.com to see if we have one to reserve. 

8. Do you bring in fruit to local restaurants? Yes On Mondays and Fridays. 

9. We want to do a fundraiser? Yes we do fundraisers with schools, scouts, non profits and more email us learn more about it. mtvieworchards@gmail.com

10. When is Swiss day? Every 4th Saturday of October 

11. When do hayrides start? We start them when we have the man power to run them so Saturdays in October this year.

12. When do you start the Golden Delicious Milage apples? We started this program to thank our loyal costumers for coming many times.  End of September

13. When are the later apples ready/the keeper apples? We will be picking them end of the month(September). (The ones that keep until Spring are Fugis, Grannies, Romes, Braeburns, Pippins, etc)

14. Do you ship? We don't at this point. We used to and the fruit arrived so banged up that it wasn't representing our farm well. We prefer to source locally. If you want to ship to a friend you may but you have to wrap up the apples and pears well and let them know they may arrive a little weathered from their journey. (We don't recommend stone fruits too delicate/peaches etc)

15. What day to do have apple cider glazed donuts? Every Saturday and Sunday and Monday Holidays in September and October

16. Do you do school tours or international tours on your farm? Yes we do so email us about it mtvieworchards@gmail.com

17. When is the next farm to table dinner fundraiser? Oct 2nd visit www.gorgegrown.com for tickets

18. Are you hiring? Yes email us your resume at mtvieworchards.com to inquire we love a wide range of ages and skills.

19. Do you sell hard cider? Yes 

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