Yep, it’s been a long time between posts. Between the oppressive heat and the magical appearance of a PS3 in our entertainment center, I haven’t been very craftily minded for the last month or so, with the exception of making Hot Garlic Dill Pickles (recipe courtesy of Ken Miller) after a trip to Kruger’s Farm on Sauvie Island. (Side note:  Beer in Mason Jars made by Captured By Porches = YUM!) 

Visited Jossy Farms and Sara’s Blueberries this weekend with the girls. Four women in a Subaru Outback with a ton of boxes and containers! Distracted on the way out to North Plains by a number of yard and estate sales, and had to stop and pick up more cash for fruit because we had blown all of our cash on garage sales.  Picked up fun fixings for the costumes I am crafting for Aaron and I to wear to the Portland Pirate Festival next month. Finally made it out to the farm.

At Jossy Farms, you get a little wagon and pull it through the orchard while you pick out your peaches, pears, or apples. This is a steal at eighty cents a pound, and it is so much fun to wander the rows. There is nothing like peaches right off the tree! My pears are sitting a few more days to finish ripening, but the peaches I picked were so perfectly ripe that they bruised a bit on the way home.

One of the gals also had her heart set on blueberries, even though it is the end of the season, and the folks at the farm gave us directions to Sara’s Blueberries. It is hidden behind a neighborhood of relatively new tract homes, and you would never know it was there unless you knew where you were going.  They have about an acre of blueberry bushes, and a pen of goats.  At $1.50/lb, again a steal!  I picked close to two pounds.

Once I got home, I started prepping to dehydrate the whole lot.  Here are the lessons I learned this weekend:

• More than blanching is needed for blueberries.  I tried drying them blanching only, and finally gave up after around 36 hours at 125 degrees.  Think I will try slicing them next time.  Read something about a water and vinegar rinse, too.
• Uniform slices for peaches (preferably thin) are best
• If the skin isn’t coming off the peach after it has been blanched, it is not ripe enough.
• Must remember to lightly oil the dehydrator trays before arranging the fruit.  Might also pick up some additional mesh liners, too.

While this batch of both fruits is delicious, it is not shelf stable, so I’ve given Aaron the directive that the fruit must be eaten within the next couple of days.  I had barely gotten the words “must be eaten” out of my mouth when he made a beeline for the kitchen to make Scottish oatmeal, which is an excellent base for dried fruit.