Open @ 10:00, time your visits, honey arrived, Petaluma Bounty

If it seems like harvest conditions change in an instant, you’re right! We’re moving into our summer harvest where it becomes more challenging to find ripe berries. We usually slow down in mid June – right about now. It’s possible that our hours will change next week to closed on Thursday and possibly opening at 12:30 instead of 10:00. I’ll keep you updated as always. I monitor the harvest daily and make my scheduling decisions based on what I see coming in.

For today, time your visits to my deliveries to up your chances of taking home your strawberry prize. I’ll come in at 10:00, 12:30, and a little before 2:00. I’ll deliver berries to Petaluma Bounty at 11:00 and possibly 1:00 only. I really have to guess how many to bring to the Bounty site since we don’t know how many folks prefer to go there. Don’t get miffed with the great folks over there when we run out, they can only sell what I give them. J

I took home some AWESOME broccoli from Petaluma Bounty yesterday. Give yourself a treat and try it. We watched Amy harvest it and I ate it about 7 hours after. You will NEVER find anything more tasty. My favorite part was how sweet the stem was. My hubby and I fought over it!!! If you appreciate fresh food and want farming to continue in your neighborhood, you really must try the goodies at Petaluma Bounty. Every time I pick up something I get inspired to cook and create!

Honey has arrived once more. We have a limited qty of 1 lb jars, 12 (1/2 lb) jars AND 3 (3 lb) jars. If you’re interested in the 3 lb size please ask - it’s too large to put on the display but we’ll be happy to hook you up.

OPEN 10 - 6, outrageous sugars and quality, veggies at Petaluma Bounty, awesome recipe

Seriously….. the berries couldn’t and won’t get any better than this. The sugars are waaay up, and the weather is perfect. This will not last. Higher temperatures will ripen them faster and could reduce our harvest (or wipe it out) if it gets too hot for too long. If you plan to freeze for your winter needs, please take my advice and do it while the berries are like this!! I can’t promise when or if they will do it later in the season and when Ma Nature will take them away. We get berries in August but there are no guarantees!

Petaluma Bounty will not have our berries at the Wed nite farmers market. Paperwork and politics. They WILL have them on Fri and Sat this week from 11 – 4 (unless we sell out). The also will have fabulous fresh veggies:

Lettuces
Salad Mix
Tuscano Kale
Purplette onions (salad sweet onions)
Scallions
Cilantro
Basil (Thai and Genoevese)
Japanese Turnips
Braising mix (asian greens to saute)
Asian greens (pak choi, bok choi and mei qinq choi - delicious stir fried with garlic, ginger and soy sauce)
Beets

Lots of sunflowers and some smaller bouquets

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Berry Trifle
Vegetarian Times Issue: September 1, 2006 p.85

Even though you can use fresh berries in this trifle, frozen work better because they give off more juicy goodness for the chunks of pound cake to absorb.

Note from Sally – the above is not necessarily true with our berries!

Directions

Toss together strawberries, blueberries, sugar and lemon juice in large bowl. Combine yogurt, sour cream and vanilla in separate bowl.
Stand pound cake on side. Cut cake into 4 thin slices lengthwise. Spread first slice with 1/4 cup jam, and top with second slice. Continue with remaining slices and jam, and finish with layer of jam on top of cake. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices.
Line bottom and sides of clear trifle dish or large glass soufflé dish with prepared cake slices. Spoon in half of fruit. Top with half of yogurt mixture. Layer with remaining cake slices, fruit and yogurt mixtures. Cover with plastic wrap, and chill 4 hours, or overnight, to allow trifle to set.

Ingredient list
Serves 16

2 10-oz. bags organic frozen strawberries, thawed
2 10-oz. bags organic frozen blueberries, thawed
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 cups low-fat vanilla yogurt
2/3 cup low-fat sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 16-oz. fat-free pound cake
1 cup raspberry jam

OPEN, bronzing berries, watching rain, CLOSED Sat (unless I can get it covered)

My schedule for the week:

Wed: 6/3 OPEN
Thurs: OPEN
Fri: OPEN
Sat: CLOSED (unless I can get it covered) my daughter is graduating at 10AM
Sun: OPEN

Plan ahead. Get your berries on Thursday if you need them for Friday and get them Friday if you need them for Saturday. We will work long and hard on Friday to cover you.

Of course you know all of the above goes out the window if we get much rain. It’s moist out there right now but not enough to change anything. If we get measureable rain things change.

I am REALLY pleased with the berries right now. They love the cool weather and I see a lot of them bronzing. For those of you who don’t know, bronzing is when they turn more of a salmon color, have ripened slowly, and the sugars really concentrate in an awesome berry. If you’re making jam or freezing, now is the time to get them. There are no guarantees – the berries do this infrequently and we never know what kind of crop we will have in the future.

REMEMBER opening at 12:15 instead of 10::00

Just a reminder….. I’ll bring in berries at 12:15 instead of 10:00 for the rest of the season. IF I am pleasantly surprised within the next 2 weeks and have enough to keep us fully stocked from 10 – 6, I’ll let you know and open earlier. The shortage is due to the heavy frost we had on April 29th that wiped out 50% of the existing blossoms. Blossom to fruit is 25 – 30 days so….. this is the result. I’m truly sorry if the change makes it difficult for you – I’m trying to keep the stand stocked for a consistent time period instead of running out every hour and disappointing people. Last year we changed our schedule on June 15th so we’re about 2 ½ weeks early this year.

On the flip side….. I still see blossoms out there! This is a crazy year overall. I may have decent amounts of fruit in late June and some of July. Time will only tell.

OPEN today at 10:00, OPEN all weekend, same delivery schedule HONEY arrived

FIRST….. the HONEY has arrived!! I know this will excite all of you who have inquired about it. Come and get it J

SECOND…… we’ve got berries ready to flow in for the holiday weekend. I’ll open at 10:00 as usual today and over the weekend (unless I update you otherwise). If we run out more will arrive at 12:30, 2:30 and 4:30. The days have been mild so I’m hoping ripening time has been slow to allow sugars to build. Can’t control it, just manage and harvest J

3:30 Fri, 5/8 7 flats available Open tomorrow at 10:00 Recipe

Hi all,

Just delivered 7 more fresh flats to the stand. If you need them for tomorrow morning I would consider getting them today if it works for you. Lots of folks have asked what time I’ll open tomorrow and I may only have 20 flats to start.

Here’s the scoop for tomorrow….

OPEN at 10:00 with all we can pick

More at 12:30

Possibly more at 2:30 (99% sure)

4:30 ???? up in the air

If the field holds up (meaning we don’t need to pick in the same spot we were today) we’ll be open on Sunday. I’m 99% sure we will be open at least for 10:00 and 12:30. I’ll update you as always.

There’s a good chance we will be closed on Monday to allow the field to ripen more berries for Wed.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Poundcake

Yield: 4 servings

3/4 lb Butter -- softened
1/2 lb Cream cheese -- softened
2 cups Sugar
1 pinch Salt
2 tsp. butter flavoring (optional)
6 Eggs -- room temperature
3 cups sifted flour
1 pt Fresh strawberries sliced

Cream the cheese, butter, and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add a pinch of salt and the butter flavoring, and beat the mixture well. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Stir in the flour. Gradually add the sliced strawberries, gently folding them in.

Spoon the batter into a buttered and floured cake pan (I use loaf pans or those nice little mini-loaf sizes for gift-giving), and bake the cake in a preheated 325-degree (F) oven for one-and-a-half hours, until the cake begins to shrink from the sides of the pan.

Place the pans on cooling racks until cooled; turn cakes gently onto wire racks.

5:00, Wed 5/6 OPEN with 7 flats available Twitter info. Open tomorrow

Hi all,

First off, there are 7 flats still available and looking for homes. My daughter will be happy to help you adopt them J

Next, Twitter will not replace my emails. No worry. Twitter folks will get the updates faster because I only have to write 1 line of text, and I don’t have to cut and paste to fit 1100 contacts into messages. My emails will always be there for you, how would I fulfill my need for farmer chatter and distribute recipes without it??? (that’s right, you need some recipes tomorrow) Follow Twitter if you like, email if you like – be happy – that’s my only objective.

We will be open tomorrow at 10:00. I’m sad to report that the weather has really done a number on our lovely crop. Huge, beautiful berries are starting to mold or get severe brown spot from all the rain. Some of the white berries that would be red in a few days also have brown spot. They can take a small amount of rain but not 3 days of it. The plants will take on excess water and the berries will not have the concentrated sweetness until we dry up a bit. It’s as if we overwatered for 3 days straight – something I NEVER do. That’s one of my secrets to growing the berries you love. When Ma Nature waters I have to take what I can get. Keep your fingers crossed for clear weather!

Berry Update for....... fall Thanks for another berry good year!

Hi gang,

Still tending those baby plants! We’re pulling plastic from the old beds, seeding cover crop, weeding and watering the new plants and cleaning up in preparation for winter. We’ve got a lot to do before the rains really come in. Winter is a slower time (thankfully) for us. I’ll miss you all. Thank you sincerely for supporting your berry farmer and keeping me entertained all these years!

A housekeeping note: Drop me a note, info@sallystrawberry.net, if you would like emails with this info :-)

Cheers!

Sally Strawberry

Thursday, 9/18 - Ooops, forgot the time in my last message

Silly me….. I keep forgetting to include the time I’ll be open. Today, Thursday, we’ll open at 12:15 and stay until 2:00 or when sold out. Yesterday we made it until 2:00.

Friday I’ll come in at 12:15 as well and stay till 3:00 if we still have berries.

Friday COULD be our last day. I’ll find out today when I see how far we’ve gotten thru the field at noon.

The berries are coming in really soft and quite juicy. Could be good if you’re eating them right away or freezing. Not so good if you intend to keep them for a few days. I took some home yesterday and noticed some were soft but I find that happens every year at this time. They just can’t hold up and many of them are on the small side. The poor plants have just about run out of steam for the year.

I’m getting that Fall clean up feeling and am soooo ready to put the old berry patch to bed. We need to strip the tops of the beds of plants, lift and pull plastic, disc and prep the field, and sow a cover crop. We can’t let Ma Nature sneak in some rain on the Adobe!

Thursday, 9/18 - the final days are here :(

Hi gang,

I’ve made an executive decision…… we’ll be open Thursday, 9/18 and Friday, 9/19. If the field is not picked clean on Friday, we will open for our FINAL day on Saturday. So….. it’s either Friday or Saturday as our last day of the season. We have plenty of chores to tend to after closing and much to keep us busy. The new transplants are looking really good! My concern at this time is with gophers. Everyone who wants a great crop next year could help by sending a personal message to the gopher keep away angels to help protect those strawberry babies!!! LOLOL

Wed, 9/10 - CLOSED for transplanting

Hi all,

Transplanting has been going well. We decided to stick with it and stay focused. At this rate, we should finish on Saturday or mid Sunday. I doubt we will be open on Sunday, 9/13. We will be closed all days up until and thru 9/13 unless you get a message from me.

We’ve finished about ½ of the field or 20 thousand plants. The new soil is a challenge, an adventure and something we’ve never worked with before. We were raised on adobe soil so sandy loam is completely different.

Wed, 9/3 - Open from 12:15 to 1:30 only getting ready for transplanting, days and hours will change

Hi gang,

I’m going to have a small window of open time today due to the transplanting jobs I need to get done. Our plants are arriving today, they need to be unloaded and unthawed, prepped in tubs and ready for 6AM tomorrow. It will take me awhile since I’m dealing with thousands of plants. So please stop by, grab your berries between 12:15 and 1:30 and get them to your cool homes. As of today I don’t know if we’ll be open on Friday, 9/5. It’s possible we’ll be closed. Get your berries while you can. We estimate about 10 sale days left.

Cheers!

Sally Strawberry
Carstensen Farms

Sat, 8/30 - OPEN at 12:15 about 20 days left of the season

Hey all,

Quick note since we haven’t been open on Saturday for a LONG time. I’ll bring berries in at 12:15. Come by as close to that time as you can since I don’t know how many I’ll have today and who will show up.

We have about 20 days of harvest left. That’s if I get the stand covered while we transplant and the field holds out. Can you believe the end of the season is almost upon us???

Cheers!

Sally Strawberry
Carstensen Farms

Fri, 8/29 - Open at 12:15 comments on upcoming open days

Hi gang,

We’ll open at 12:15 today as usual. I don’t know how many have made it thru this heat and how long we’ll be open. If would really like berries, please come by close to the 12:15 opening. Take your berries home and get them cool. Your best bet us to enjoy them right away and don’t worry about keeping them!!

The berries are most certainly getting roasted right now. How many will make it – I don’t know. Some for sure. Those sitting on the black plastic will be history. How does that change my schedule for the stand?? We ALL will have to roll with the flow. I’ll open on Friday at 12:15. At that time I’ll see how many flats we bring in compared to the our last open day. Then I’ll scout the field and consider the projected temperatures. Then I make a decision about opening on Saturday. I would like to keep with my plan of opening on Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon BUT….. the number of flats we have available may not be there.

Simply put…. it’s a day by day thing right now. Keep checking my emails and I promise to keep everyone informed.

Cheers!

Sally Strawberry
Carstensen Farms

Wed, 8/27 - Open at 12:15, more open days possible (fingers crossed)

Hi all,

For the regular stuff….. Open on Wed, 8/27 as usual at 12:15. I added Monday (yesterday) back in as one of our open days and it went really well. I hope the extra day made it easier for some of you to catch us. More berries in the field = more open days. The time that we close still varies based on customer response. Sunday we were open until 6PM, Monday we sold out just before 3:00. What will it be Wed ????

This is what I’m planning for the rest of the week:

Wed – open at 12:15
Thurs – closed
Fri – open at 12:15
Sat – OPEN at 12:15
Sun – open at 12:15
Mon – OPEN at 12:15 (subject to change based on qty of berries available)

I’m attempting to open for more days for 3 reasons – there are more berries in the field, it’s a holiday weekend, and we don’t know how many days we’ll be open the following week when we start transplanting and I know you need your berry fix. The above schedule is not set in stone. If the field runs out I’ll have no choice but to close on some of the days. Stay tuned.

Here’s the scoop on transplanting……. We’ll start next week (1st week of Sept). We won’t know what day until we get everything ready (plants unthawed, beds shaped, plastic, etc). If I have a crew to transplant and one to harvest I’ll keep the stand open. If not, the stand will close and we’ll focus on the important transplanting job. I will definitely keep you posted. Last year we closed for 10 days straight, then reopened for about 2 weeks.

We have about 18 more open days left gang!! That’s with an estimate of open days, transplanting, and the end of the season around Sept 26th. Anything can change!!


Cheers!
Sally Strawberry
Carstensen Farms

Wed, 8/20 - OPEN

Hi gang!

Yipee – the kids go back to school today! Another change of routine for families with kiddos. We will open today at 12:15. It looks like we’ll stick with the W, F, Sn schedule for the rest of the season. Our hours will also stay the same. The only variable is our transplanting season – coming up in about 1 ½ - 2 weeks. If I get it worked out we may be able to keep the stand supplied with berries and transplant at the same time. More on that as we get closer. We have about 5 weeks left in the season (where did the time go???)

Cheers!

Sally Strawberry
Carstensen Farms

Sunday, 8/3 - CLOSED but..... OPEN Monday 8/4 instead

Hi gang,

All my help has ditched me :-) LOLOLOL Annie is away for a month and the girls are wrapping up last minute college and before school stuff. Since little ole me will be at the fair with my kids and their 4-H/FFA projects on Sunday, there’s no one to mind the store! Sunday is the big awards day, gather and move out, haul 2 loads of cows, 1 trailer and a tired kid home, etc.

We’ll be open on Monday instead. Remember ….. don’t come to the stand on Sunday 8/3, come on MONDAY :-) The berries are still trickling in so it looks like I’ll stick to this schedule next week:

Mon 8/4 OPEN

Wed 8/6 OPEN

Fri 8/8 OPEN

Sun 8/10 OPEN

If the harvest quantity comes up over this next week we’ll add Monday back in as a sale day the following week.

Do you know I have about 1 month until TRANSPLANTING AGAIN!!! We have about 7 harvest weeks left. I can’t believe how the year flew by. We’ll pick up 47 thousand plants around Labor Day and spend 10 days getting them tucked in the ground. It’s very time consuming (10 – 12 hours a day) and demanding. These plants come to us frozen in boxes. They have a very limited shelf life and must be transplanted immediately. After the plants are in, we make sure they have the correct amount of moisture and fertilizer for optimum growth, lay straw between the rows for mulch, pull weeds around each plant by hand, pluck off every single runner and blossom until the plants go dormant, release beneficial insects AND pull up all of the old plants/plastic and plant a cover crop. Whew!!!

Then…. we rest

Cheers!

Sally Strawberry
Carstensen Farms

Open @ 12:15, BLUEBERRIES, plums

Hi gang!

I’m sure this heat is doing a number on my berries!! I’ll be open today AND the schedule for the rest of the week is up in the air. Look on the bright side….. 100 degree temps for days should cook out my bad bugs.

I don’t know how many strawberries I’ll have today. Heat is definitely not good for them. I’ll open the gate at 11:30 and come in at 12:15 with berries. We’ll stay till we’re sold out.

I DO have BLUEBERRIES today! If you want them, please plan on being there at 12:15 to get them before we run out. We got this batch picked and in the fridge on Monday. Blueberries are not as perishable as strawberries. You can keep them a few weeks (if you don’t devour them first). I’ve packed our in a larger clamshell than those you see in the store. Ours hold a lot more and are full to the top. They may seem more expensive but…. you’re getting more delicious berries! We had blueberry pancakes for dinner last night ---- awesome and delicious .

Plums will be available today. I picked them yesterday and put them in the fridge for you. Get ‘em while I have ‘em. The tree has about 2 more harvests on it before we’re thru. The good news……. we’ll have the oblong shaped Italian plums this year. They’re really sweet and firm from what I’ve been told. Mom’s tree has NEVER produced. The cold weather must be just what this tree needed.

Bewitching Blueberry Pancakes
1 1/4 c. flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3 tbsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
3/4 c. milk
3 tbsp. oil
1/2 c. washed & drained blueberries

Sift together dry ingredients. Beat egg and milk together and add to dry ingredients with oil. DO NOT OVER MIX. Stir only until dry ingredients are moist. As you stir in blueberries (this is the magic part) say three times: "Gobble dee gook With a wooden spoon, The laugh of a toad At the height of the moon!" Pour on a hot griddle and watch.

Cheers!

Sally Strawberry
Carstensen Farms

Berries arrive at 12:15, gate opens at 11:30 w/ veggies

Hi gang,

Friday was mindboggling!!! 20 minutes and we were out. All the cars and people – WOW!! Don’t you wish Ma Nature would just kick out a few more flats??? My hands are tied of course. I can only get what’s out there. YOU people are so darned nice AND kind hearted. Even though we had tons of people waiting, every one of you was willing to take home a few berries (maybe less than you came for ) just to leave some back for others. How generous and thoughtful!! I certainly appreciate it and hope folks will be willing to continue sharing as we work our way thru July. I promise….. August will be better!!! Production comes up, the open hours are longer, and the lines disappear.

The gate will be open at 11:30 today. Amy will be there with her wonderful veggies and stunning bouquets of gorgeous flowers. Shop for your veggies and chat with Amy while you wait on the berry lady. Everything is fresh and harvested this morning. You can’t beat it!

Our next OPEN day is Wed, July 2nd at 12:15.

Cheers!

Sally Strawberry
Carstensen Farms

for Thursday, 5/22 - Open at 9:00, can sell out and reopen, Bounty Farm produce arrives, and more

Hi gang,

I sincerely apologize for Ma Nature’s whims this year and my resulting lack of berries today. I closed and reopened twice! I was about ready to throw in the towel this morning when some of my crew didn’t show up AND I had less than 1/3 of the usual quantity of berries picked for this time of year. I knew the frost would affect us, and now I know when. I’m praying to the ripening gods to allow us enough sun to bring in what you would like for the holiday weekend. I predict it will be challenging and we will sell out often. I promise I’ll keep you updated and do my very best to bring in what I can.

I will open tomorrow, Thursday at 9AM and bring in what I can. Will I have the crew?? Will I have enough to stay open most all of the day?? I simply don’t know.

IMPORTANT
I will change my hours this holiday weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon) to open at 10AM. I have to do this to allow enough time to pick and attempt to keep the stand stocked.

Regrettably, I’m unable to take advance orders and hold requests for this holiday weekend. I sincerely wish I could J

Farmers Corner by Amy Rice-Jones
The Bounty Farm is busy becoming a "farm" and its first crops will be available for purchase tomorrow, Thursday, May 22nd at 9AM. The arugula is fully mature and ready to enter your salads this week! This vegetable is a pungent, peppery salad green that has been widely used in Italy since ancient Roman times. It entered American cuisine in the 1970s and is now widely available in the spring time at most farmer's markets. Arugula is a nice addition to a salad mixed with lettuce or as a salad on its own. You can make pesto out of it by simply substituting arugula for basil. Below is a simple salad recipe for you to try out.


Arugula, Orange and Fennel Salad

Salad:
1 fennel bulb, sliced thinnly
1 red onion, shaved paper thin
1 cup segmented navel oranges
3 bunches fresh arugula
1/2 cup walnuts

Vinaigrette:
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Trim off the top off the fennel bulb. Slice the fennel and onion paper thin.

3. To prepare the vinaigrette, combine ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk.

4. Toss the arugula, fennel and onion with vinaigrette, divide among serving plates and top with orange slices, and walnuts.

There will also be a handful of Easter Egg radishes and Hakurei baby turnips for those of you that arrive early at the Berry Stand. If you haven't ever had a Hakurei turnip, they are mild, tender and sweet--delicious to eat on their own or in a salad.

The next crops that will be available at the Berry Stand will be spinach, lettuce, rainbow chard, purplette onions and broccoli to follow.

Your purchase of produce from the Bounty Farm will go towards the development of this educational farm and its mission to provide healthy produce to families that need it the most.

Cheers!

Sally Strawberry
Carstensen Farms