Orchard Fresh Blog
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June 28, 2011
The Dirt on the Dirty Dozen
"An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Or does it? A recent study published by the Environmental Working Group called "The Dirty Dozen," has many people wondering just what they should be eating. The report ranked fruits and vegetables based on the levels of pesticides present in the produce and recommended eating organic versions of these items. I've read several articles on the issue, and wanted to share some of my thoughts.
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June 23, 2011
Blueberry Picking and Baby Blueberry Blues!
It's hard for me to believe this is almost the end of June. Life at the Orchard is running at a regular (sometimes frantic) pace. The number of tractors and equipment buzzing by our door has provided constant entertainment for the boys. The fruit seems to be ripening so fast I can't keep track of what's available. On a daily walk this week, I discovered some ripe blueberries! My boys and I ended up picking about 13 quarts, with their two Aunties' help, and we put most of them away in the freezer. My 15 month old loved picking, or should I say he loved eating while we were picking. He probably ate close to a quart of blueberries and he has officially become the biggest blueberry fan I know (besides me)!
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June 16, 2011
A 'Fruit Hunter' Brings New York City a Taste of Weaver's Orchard
Maggie Nesciur owns an unusual business. She leaves her New York City home early in the morning -4 a.m. sometimes- drives miles away from the city and picks fruit all day. Then, she buys the fruit, returns to the city and sells the fruit to one of the 19 New York restaurants in her network. Or sometimes she drives up to housing projects in Brooklyn, opens the back of her truck, and tells everyone, 'Have some fresh fruit.' For every ten pounds of fruit she picks for a restaurant, she donates one pound to underprivileged kids. When the harvest season is over, she speaks at schools about the importance of eating fresh produce. Maggie Nesciur calls this business Flying Fox and dubs herself a 'fruit hunter.'
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June 14, 2011
Aunt Kathy's Blueberry Muffins
Blueberries are in full swing this week, the boys and I have done a little bit of picking almost every day. We even discovered a secret spot that my oldest son dubbed 'the cookie patch', because according to him the berries are the size of small cookies! This weekend would be a great time to come out with your family to pick some of our blueberries. I'm sorry though-- I think my boys have cleaned out the 'cookie patch' spot but there is still plenty of berries out there --who knows maybe you'll find your own special spot!
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June 9, 2011
Juicing for Your Health
Have you ever tasted fresh juice? I don't mean Ocean Spray, or even the flash pasteurized juice found in the produce aisle, like Bolthouse Farms or Odwalla juices. I mean freshly pressed juice made from freshly picked fruits and vegetables. Don't get me wrong: store-bought juices are healthy and tasty, but there is just no comparison to the taste of freshly pressed juice! One of the main differences in the taste of raw juice is that it is much milder and crisper than pasteurized juices. (Compare, for example the taste of raw carrots vs. cooked carrots.)
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June 7, 2011
Story Time Fun in the Orchard Sun!
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June 7, 2011
Story Time Fun in the Orchard Sun!
By Elizabeth Weaver
Books and fruit make a great combination when they’re a part of our orchard story time! There is no better way to get your kids excited about both books and fruit than to bring them to story time at the orchard.
Miss Linda is going to be telling fruit-related stories every Wednesday until September. Miss Linda happens to be a part of the Weaver family through marriage and is also a local preschool teacher during the school year.
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June 2, 2011
A Taste of Orchard-Fresh Goodness
Last year at this time, my husband and I had just moved back to Berks County from a far-off city. We returned just in time for strawberry season, and I realized that for the five years we lived in the city, I had not ever tasted fresh strawberries. Sure, I'd had rubbery strawberries from the supermarket that kind of simulated a strawberry taste, but not melt-in-your-mouth sweet orchard-fresh strawberries.
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June 2, 2011
Create your own Strawberry Patch Memories
My youngest son is 15 months old and he is crazy about berries! I never knew a kid his age could polish down half a quart of strawberries in one sitting. He's sneaky and fast too, often swiping the strawberries off of my kitchen counter and gobbling them up while my back is turned. Because he is so passionate about berries, I thought it would be entertaining to see how he would react to the bountiful supply of berries in the strawberry patch. So we decided to take a family golf cart ride out to the patch on Sunday night and let our boys loose in the patch. Our little strawberry guy took one look at the millions of berries surrounding him and promptly plopped down in middle of the patch and began eating every berry with in sight-- stems and all! My oldest three year old was also fun to watch. He has more refined tastes and enjoyed walking through the patch inspecting each berry on the plant before picking it to make sure it met his criteria for redness and size. Afternoons like this are what memories are made of.
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June 1, 2011
A Second First
Now and then I've been inspired to take cooking classes. Sometimes, walking past a bustling kitchen store, I'd hear laughter rise on a night it hosted cooking classes, or I'd sample fresh homemade cheese crafted by a friend who attended culinary school, and I'd think of signing up for a class. My time and budget stars never aligned, though, and the closest I came to really educating myself about food was reading a Cook's Illustrated article about making sourdough bread, which I soon decided involved entirely too much commitment to a lump of dough, no matter how tasty that dough would be after daily care. Imagine how happy I was to discover that Weaver's Orchard was hosting absolutely free cooking and gardening classes this summer, the first Wednesday of every month from June-September!
