Blueberry picking news.

Hi!  Everyone seems to be wondering WHEN my blueberries will be ripe...as you can see on the main photo, the berries are barely ripening this year with all the cold wet weather!!!  WE need more hot sunny days.

So, as far as my bushes go, the ripening is very slow with most of the berries still green... I don't think that my berries will be ripe for several more weeks. You can e-mail me if you are interested in berries later in the summer.

BUT, the good new is that Megraws Blueberry U-Pick in Kent is opening this Wednesday.  His prices, direction and information can be found on his website http://sites.google.com/site/bmegraw/.

There are also other blueberry U-Picks that should be opening soon, if not open now.  Mcgraws is my favorite.

Below is a favorite FRESH blueberry pie recipe than can be used for any fresh berries.  Enjoy!

Anne

Fresh Fruit Pie --(strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, peach, ....)

Cooked Pie Crust - Any type will do, regular, graham, cookie crust

2 heaping Tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Combine cornstarch, water and sugar completely then bring to a boil and heat until clear (milky but not cloudy) and it thickens.  Remove from heat.  Add:

1  3oz package Jell-O   (lemon is the basic but could use other flavors depending on the fruit)

Cool slightly.  Mix with 6 cups or less fruit or berries, enought to fill the pie crust.

Pour fruit mixture into the cooked pie crust. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Serve with whipped cream.

Fun FORAGING Free Food!

Lincoln City, Oregon

I attended an amazing Wild Food Adventures workshop late July.  

Sea Vegetables of the Pacific Coast by John Kallas, PhD.  

The setting was Lincoln City, Oregon.  

  Exposed rocks are normally many feet under water!

Sub-low tide was at 8am but I awoke early and hit the beach at 5:30am!    The beach was deserted.

Starfish and sea anemones were everywhere!

It was wonderful, exhilarating and fun to explore the tide pools, see the HUGE mussles & barnacles, to watch the seagulls eat crustaceans, the starfish eat mussels and smell the clean ocean air.    

Mussels were almost as big as my shoes!  Large mussels are as tender as little ones.  We could gather 75 but all I could carry in my 5 gallon bucket was 15!  They were SO huge and heavy.... I later cooked them on the BBQ.

At 8am John Kallas led our group to a northern more remote area. He had us taste,evaluate & gather many edible seaweeds. We found nori and kombu.  John showed us a poisonous seaweed which contained traces of Sulfuric Acid. Seaweed poisonous? What an eyeopener.   

John Kallas, wearing the brown hat, talks to us during our lunch break.

  I had bought a shellfish permit, tough gloves and a 5 gallon bucket so I was able to gather mussels.  At home I rinsed and dried the gathered seaweed to preserve it for future use.

Dried seaweed with ebi.

Dried seaweed.

I was quite impressed with John's teaching style and expertize in edible wild plants.  I plan to attend more of his plant foraging workshops.

Check out his website and book for more information.

It's hard to starve in the NW if you know what edibles may be gathered off the land. 
Anne


Below is a video of my early morning low tide experience!
Anne at Lincoln City, OR low tide