It's Raspberry Time!

Our raspberry patch on the farm is on strong right now. I suit up in long pants and a long sleeve shirt every third day or so to walk among the bramble and pick ripe berries.

My dog, Harvey, usually likes to stop by for visits while I'm picking- he loves to eat fresh raspberries! He has figured out that the red ones are the ripe ones and will walk along and snack on them right off the cane... 

when he's not getting them from me, that is! 

Raspberries are, of course, delicious eaten plan or on cereal or with ice cream. I've also been trying to incorporate them into some cooking. One evening I made a delicious salad inspired by THIS ONE from Cooking Light Magazine.  It's called "Grilled Balsamic Chicken Chicken Salad with Spiced Pecans." I changed the recipe by marinating the chicken breasts in raspberry vinaigrette and some fresh berries, then grilling them. I served it on a bed of fresh greens from our garden, rather than arugula. I did use the spiced pecans the recipe called for. I also added fresh raspberries and feta crumbles to the finished salad. We just used more raspberry vinaigrette rather than mixing up the dressing that the recipe called for, too. End result was really good! Jeff and I both really liked it. 

Raspberries are delicious showcased in baked goods, too. Carol made a raspberry jello pie in a graham cracker crust that we all enjoyed. I made lemon pound cake and threw some berries in the batter before baking. I also made a traditional raspberry pie...

 The recipe is from Jenna Weber, who used to host a lovely blog called Eat, Live, Run. I found her recipe for raspberry pie on the PBS website (via Pinterest). It was the perfect recipe and a fitting showcase for raspberries! Here's a link to the recipe I used: FRESH RASPBERRY PIE.

 The crust was exactly how a pie crust should be. If you're a pie baker, you likely have a preference as to the ratio of butter to shortening-- this one was all shortening, but I used butter flavored shortening, which seemed like a nice compromise. I loved how this crust turned out! Might become my new go-to crust.

The filling recipe was great, too. Fairly simple- just berries, sugar, lemon juice, and a bit of cornstarch to thicken. Again, the end result was lovely. I was happy that the filling wasn't runny but the sugar and cornstarch didn't overpower the raspberry flavor. Definitely a winner. I have been trying to practice my pie baking over the last few years and I feel like this one was a home run, so I'm happy! Credit the good recipe from Jenna!

Plus, the berries were picked the morning I made the pie. From on the plant to in the pie in only a few hours. Can't beat the freshness and use of local ingredients here on the farm! Delish!

What are your favorite ways to eat, cook, or bake with raspberries? Let me know if there's something I should try!

Transitions

It was cool yesterday evening.  Tom had eaten his dinner and left and I was waiting for Jeff to come in for his turn.  I crawled up onto the hood of our white pickup and watched the combine crawl closer, the evening sunset warmed me while crickets and grasshoppers sang an impatient staccato chorus.  I felt an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction, of contentedness.  This is where I am supposed to be, and I am happy.

Today was my last day at my raspberry picking gig.  The berries have certainly tapered off.  Where I was making $90 a day and only picking on side of one row, today I picked on 6 rows and only gleaned two gallons ($30).  But I suppose my wages were earned in other ways as well-- delicious meals at noon, the odd extra produce from the rest of the garden (2 HUGE zucchinis, and a pound of green beans), connections made with other pickers and wisdom gleaned from conversation.  And that certain satisfaction that can only be earned by hard work.

So now, I'll enjoy my weekend, help where I can around the farm, and seek my next Hi-Line adventure. Already the second half of August, and although it feels like summer just began, it also feels like it's nearing its end.  Nights are cooling off quite a bit already.  Football and hunting season are just around the corner.  Though harvest continues to roll on, transitions are all around.

Seniors

Picking raspberries again this morning, we had a crew from the assisted living facility in Chester 'helping'.  It was a field trip, more or less, for some of the more mobile residents, and probably the highlight of my day. The two residents whom I had actually met before and remembered were Elvin and Dr. B.

Elvin did not pick many berries, but had a ball driving everybody else around the field on a golf cart.  He doesn't walk well anymore, so this gave him a way to be helpful.  As a retired farmer, I think driving the cart probably makes him reminisce about days gone by.  A lot of farming is spending time in vehicles, after all.

Dr. B is a retired doctor who lived and worked for many years in the area.  My mother in law told me today that I'm an official Hi-Line girl now that I have my own Dr. B story.  He really enjoyed picking berries- he had a huge a smile on his face the whole time he was there.  He was really getting into it, too, moreso than the other seniors. He did not want to leave!  When it was time to go, the staff were calling to him to finish up, and by now he had gotten himself in the middle of a row of raspberry bushes-- amongst the canes, surrounded.  The staff lady asked him how he got stuck in there and he replied, "Well... one step at a time!"  I was the nearest to him, so I offered him a hand getting un-stuck from the bramble-- he was afraid he'd trip and fall on me!  What a delightful man!

I had introduced myself to the daughter of one of the seniors and she knew my name, once I said it.  Being the new girl in town, everyone knows who I am, but I don't know anyone else, though I meet more and more people each day. I said my name and she immediately asked me, "How is your dog doing after his snakebite?"  Just another example of how news travels through a small community. I had never met her prior to today, but she knew enough about me to ask about my dog!  Turns out she is friends with our landlord, whom we had told about Harvey's bite right away.  All the same, it was really nice of her to ask about my dog.

Speaking of Harvey, he is doing really well.  The vaccine has helped him recover quicker than normal. He just has a little more swelling on his neck to go down, but overall, he is back to his normal, energetic self! :)

Five Senses of Raspberries

I walk through the gap in the tall lilac hedge to see row upon row of ripening raspberries stretching before me.  The sun has been up for an hour and a half and the morning light is still golden on their leaves and berries. I walk to my place at the beginning of a row, my milk jug belted around my waist, and set down my tray.  I will pick raspberries and place them in my milk jug. Once that is about half full, I pour them into my tray, which is lined with 8 pint-sized berry baskets.  One gallon total.  I earn about $16 per gallon picked.  Only pick the ripe ones!  Dark purple-red, fresh fuchsia berries-- plonk! plonk! into the milk jug.

The sounds of other pickers visiting, and the occasional welcome breeze rustling leaves and branches through the canes.  Early on, the insects swarm around the rows: mosquitos, gnats, flies, bees, grasshoppers. They create a busy hum as our fingers work quickly to pluck those dark red fruits.  As the day heats up, the breezes feel better and the insects retreat.

Reaching between stalks to find berries hidden beneath leaves, I get scratches along the backs of my  hands. Small thorns lodge in my fingertips.  I reach for plump, ripe berries-- they pull away easily.  I must have a soft touch-- don't squeeze them!  Sweat on my back and burning in my legs are my currency of toil and the reward is baskets quickly filling.

The berries have a buttery sweet candy smell, made sweeter in contrast to the cool dirt surrounding each row, and the sharp smelling dill growing rampant at row's end.

I steal a berry here and there-- only the broken or smashed ones, though! They are so sweet as to taste artificial.  Am I so used to raspberry flavor that the real thing doesn't seem real, it is so good? But these are the real thing, and they are superb.

Today, at my late-summer gig, I worked from 7:00am to 2:15pm, with a half-hour break.  I picked only one side of one row of berries, and filled 46 pints-- about 6 gallons. I made $90.  The cash is nice, but almost more than anything I enjoy seeing my labor quantified in pints and gallons-- visual proof of the work I have done.  I don't foresee a future as a migrant worker, and I will be glad once the season is over.  I will feel good about what I have done once the weeks of ripe raspberries are complete.