It’s berry season!
July 25, 2009
Two weekends ago my mom came down to visit from around the Seattle area. We went to an organic u-pick blueberry farm. It was also the weekend of the country fair (which I decided to skip out on this year) so I had to figure out an alternative route to get to West Eugene.
When we got there, we saw so many cars parked on the side of the road, and I was worried it was going to be really crowded. But, it wasn’t too bad, though there were a lot of little kids running around. We both carried around provided buckets and filled them up in a couple of hours.
And apparently, you’re not supposed to wash them until you are about to eat them. I didn’t know that, and I washed about half of them to store in the fridge. Then I read that tidbit online, and stored the other half in the freezer, unwashed. Cameron and I will need to go picking again, as we’re almost out!
The other afternoon I made some blueberry bran muffins. I usually make blueberry muffins with whole wheat pastry flour, but wanted to try something different this time. I didn’t like the bran muffins nearly as much as I liked the other ones that I usually make. Oh well. the batch made 15 muffins, too much for us, so I’ll be giving some to my neighbor.
It’s also blackberry season! Himalayan blackberries are an invasive species around here, and they grow like crazy here, though mostly near water. Every day for the past week, I’ve gone out to pick some around my block. Spiders have begun to spin webs in front of some really ripe blackberries, so I have to be careful. Though the other day I was at school and felt something tickle my arm, so I looked down and a spider was climbing up a single strand of web attached to my arm…
Anyway, two days ago Cameron and I took a bike ride on a path with more blackberry bushes than you can imagine. We found a good spot and picked a nice amount, some of which we would make blackberry cobbler out of. There are a lot of fruits that are still green, or not fully ripe yet, but there are still plenty that are.
I’ve also noticed that black walnuts are coming along… but I’ve heard that they are nearly impossible to break open, but are well worth the task. There are plenty of walnut trees around Eugene, so I plan on collecting some in a few months.
fresh out of the oven… you can see the steam coming off of them.
recipe from here: baby bran muffins
Where did I put that tissue?
March 4, 2008
I’ve come to the realization that my nose starts running regardless of where I am. I’m in my second year of my life in Oregon and I can no longer proudly say that I don’t have any allergies. What can be the reason otherwise? I don’t think I’ll ever really find out what I’m allergic to, because there is no way in hell that I am getting a bunch of needles poked in my back for an allergy test. So instead, I decided to figure out a healthier and cheaper remedy then taking an allergy pill everyday. According to BeeSource, taking a teaspoon or two of local honey everyday, for several months can fix me up. Luckily, Eugene, Oregon is full of natural food grocery stores, making it easy to find some local honey. I headed to Sundance Natural Foods and bought a 16oz jar of Heavenly Honey Oregon Clover for only $3.99.
Every time I reach for a new tissue (and I try to use a single tissue as much as possible, until it falls apart), I remind myself that I need to buy some sort of handkerchief. I’ve always thought they were ridiculously disgusting. Carrying around a few wads of snot in your pocket until you decide to give it a wash. Only now, am I realizing how much more environmentally friendly they are… now that I’m reaching for a tissue about ten or so times a day. Not only are they more eco-friendly, but it keeps me from wasting money on tissue box, after tissue box (I’ve never seen a store carrying tissue refills, just boxes). So as I was ordering a single hanky from hankettes, about to put my credit card information in, the shipping and handling came out to $20! That’s a pretty expensive shipping fee from Canada to Oregon. I was really excited about that one too, so I guess I’ll have to keep searching for another organic cloth handkerchief…
