A Shore Acres Christmas

Another wonderful aspect of life on the Southern Oregon Coast is the annual Christmas lights display at Shore Acres State Park.

Few sights pack the dramatic impact of these botanical gardens on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. In the glow of the park's thousands of holiday lights, the roar of the close but unseen surf is an appropriate "sound track".

Every year we pack the kids into car, play a Christmas music cd, and hit the coffee kiosk for caramel steamers before heading to the light display.

Cranberry Farm

One of the best things about life of the Southern Oregon Coast is the fall cranberry harvest.

Bandon is a small town with breathtaking coastal views, a vibrant art community and a wealth of not-so-obvious cranberry bogs. I say this because they appear, to the casual observer, to be unassuming little plots of land. If I were driving past on highway 101, (and didn't know better) I'd wonder what the heck was growing in those concave square lots.

Earlier this month, Max and I had the pleasure of getting up close and personal with some cranberry bushes. My husband was visiting a client at a small mobile home park in Bandon. Max and I took our leave to walk a gravel county road adjacent to the park. We admired the homes in the cute residential area and marveled at the Chanterlle mushrooms growing right in peoples yards when a woman in a large SUV stopped next to us.

"Can I help you find something?", she inquired. I suspect she was being protective of her neighborhood. I explained we were just out for a walk. "Follow this road to the end and you'll find the cranberry bogs" she said with a nod towards my four-year-old. Well you don't have to ask me twice! I thanked her, said goodbye, and hustled down the road.

We were still surrounded by houses with no fields in sight when Max noticed small red berries on the ground by the road. Sure enough, cranberries. They must have fallen from a delivery truck?

We hadn't walked far from the Highway and I was skeptical that a whole cranberry farm could just pop up in this little residential area when we turned a corner and VOILA!- Acres and Acres of fields. It was amazing. A little like finding a sunny beach in the middle of Times Square.

The sunken plots of low growing cranberry bushes were surrounded by canals of water. This is to help with the picking. You see, cranberry bushes are small, dense, and difficult to pick from. Flooding the canals with water brings the berries to the top. As they float on the surface, a special machine culls them from the plants. Brilliant!

We were gamboling about and taking it all in when a large, white farm truck approached. My first thought was to wonder if we would get in trouble for being there. Turns out, the workers were super friendly and more than happy to give Max a sort of private tour. They even crawled into a bog and plucked fresh berries from the plants for him.

I don't remember the gentleman's name, but he explained to us that all thier berries are sent out to be cleaned, then frozen in large bags and finally shipped to OceanSpray. They don't really do anything with them here.

He also explained the myster of the 'white' cranberry. On the East Coast, where I lived previously, the cranberries were a pale color. That is because they have a shorter growing season there and must be picked before the cold weather. At that point, they have not yet turned their characteristic hue.

So Max and I returned with our greedy hands full of cranberries plus a few mushrooms
we harvested roadside. My husband just laughed when we got in the truck with our treasures.

I was so fired up I bought a few pounds of Bandon Cranberries, took them home and made cranberry sauce. I canned whole berries first, and then tried the recipe for the jellied sauce. For Thanksgiving dinner we tried both. The vote was split, My hubby and I like the whole berry sauce, while the kids seem to prefer it jellied.

If you haven't ever liked cranberry sauce, try making it fresh. The diffence is remarkable. It isn't necessary to do any canning. Making just enough sauce for a meal, (such as Christmas dinner) is super easy and quick. It requires just one bag of berries from the store. Most bags have the recipe right on them. You basically just add a lot of sugar and stir until they pop. (that's not a real recipe so don't take me literally)

So there it is. Happy holidays,
-E

What didn't work

So here's a hard look at the some of my less than productive efforts:

1. The goats- Despite my lofty declarations of a future filled with goat cheese and goat's milk soap, I produced nothing. The problem? As they say in the real estate world, Location..Location...Location. As I live in the city(no backyard goats allowed), driving several miles a day to milk a goat ain't gonna happen.

2. Growing eggplant didn't produce more than 2 small fruits. The miniature pomegranate died, and the mini blueberry plant has yet to do much of anything.

3. Home made bath soaps- Lots of fun, but too time consuming for me to do very often.

4. Our rabbits- We certainly aren't going to eat them, but we don't really have time to play with them. They just sit there creating fertilizer all day. Which I suppose isn't entirely a bad thing.......

Live and learn what works for you. Lackluster results give us valuable information that we can use to our advantage.

Never give up, always try something new. And don't forget to have fun!
love,
-EJ

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Revisited

It's been more than a year since I read Barbara Kingsolver's book. It details a year of their lives spent growing and raising their own food. Anything they couldn't produce themselves they obtained from local farmers.

While I admit such a stringent endeavor isn't for everyone, I still recommend the book. It is honest, thoughtful, and at times, quite funny.

In our family's journey , we have made some great discoveries, achieved some exciting goals, and experienced some failures as well.

Below, some things that worked well:

1. Gardening- Now that we are getting the hang of it, the results are considerable. The food coming out of our garden is far superior to anything at the store.

2. Canning- Although still a relative beginner, I am really getting comfortable with the process. We achieved our goal this year of canning enough produce to line several shelves in our pantry.

3. "Make-your-own" - Laundry detergent, non-chemical household cleaners, candles, soaps, etc. My hubby is so hooked on our homemade firestarters it's a drag when we run out.

4. Whole foods- It can be hard to get excited about adding more beans, brown rice, and other whole grains to your diet. The good news is, they are delicious. The trick is finding good recipes. Search the internet and you'll find many innovative cooks have done the work for you.

5. Juicing- I admit I'm not in love with the prep time for this, but it is so worth it. Nothing compares to fresh juice. And I'm hooked on the instant "rush" I feel after downing a glass of fresh carrot juice first thing in the morning.

6. Foraging- This year we did a lot better at 'cashing in' on our natural Oregon resources. The cupboard is full of blackberry jam, we have blackberries in the freezer as well. We also have several quart size ziploc bags full of sauteed Chanterelle mushrooms in the freezer. Dried porcini are in the cupboard as well.

Next time I post, I will admit to things that didn't work out to well for us. But for now, I thought I'd just leave you with the positive. :)

Peace and love,
Ellen

blog is on temporary hold

I am in the process of updating my computer so this blog will be down for awhile. Stay tuned!

Slightly Off-topic

After reading my posts, it probably seems like I spend my days crouching in the garden or in the house making candles and crocheting like some kind of 'countrified' Martha Stewart. The truth is much less interesting, but I'm going to tell you about it anyway.

Confession #1- Sometimes I just loaf off in front of the telly or the computer.

Confession #2- My house is cluttered, the floor of my car has enough junk to feed and clothe a third world country, and I almost NEVER wear makeup.

Confession #3- Much of my consists of doing laundry, cleaning house and running errands.

I'm admitting to these things because so many people let being 'busy' keep them from pursuing their dreams. They have nothing to feel excited about, and that can be both emotionally and spiritually draining.

My intention is to encourage you. No matter how busy you are, you can pursue something you passionately believe in.

If you love peaches .......

I just finished canning 20 pounds of peaches with the help of my daughter. The heat of the kitchen was making us all mutinous. The good news? Lots of delicious jars of Elberta peaches to go into the cupboard.

Doing this brought to mind brought to mind the best-selling author and South Carolina peach farmer, Dori Sanders. This woman is a fantastic writer and a great cook.

Make it a point this month to buy (or check out from the library) her novels "Clover" and "A Place Of Her Own", as well as her cookbook. Dori is at heart both a humble peach farmer and vivid story weaver.


still Eating Oregon (I have the waistline to prove it!),
-E