Pacific Northwest Blueberry Bonanza, Urban Gleaning, and other almost free food

Jam! Cobbler! Smoothies! Muffins! Blueberry Bites!

We found a U-Pick blueberry place (orchard?) in far South East Portland, spent an hour picking, and got 10 pounds of blueberries, $1/pound.

They were so tasty! I made 5 half-pints of jam (my first attempt at jam, no pectin, using agave not sugar), and ate the rest of them.

They were so good, that we went back a few weeks later, and got 15 pounds! These had much more blueberry-ness, they were riper (some too ripe), and made sweeter, more jam-y jam (6 half-pints, I used honey to sweeten the jam, 1:5 honey to berry ratio). The rest of the berries I froze for the winter, for making smoothies. They are certainly cheaper, and much tastier that store-bought blueberries.

This year I also got free walnuts from someone Eric works with. They needed to be shelled, but they are very tasty, much more tender than store bought. We’re getting plums from the same friend, and I’m really excited. I tried doing some Urban Gleaning this year, but didn’t have enough buddies and only found a few cherry trees and a plum tree by my bus stop. The plums were bitter and didn’t pit well, so I couldn’t freeze or dehydrate them.

Next year, more urban gleaning, and maybe I’ll by an extra freezer to store more extra food.

Gardening this season

What’s more local than an urban CSA powered by bike? Growing vegetables in my own backyard! Since moving in to the new house, I’ve transformed the covered trash pit into a compost-rich bountiful 10’ x 7’ garden plot.

When we moved into the new house, there was a covered patio/thing in the backyard, that we believed was a garden plot that was covered and converted to a patio, or just covered for the winter. In early spring I started demolishing the cover, which, I discovered, was rotted, pressure treated plywood covering a rotted wood frame. Underneath the cover was an assortment of trash including broken glass, parts of styrofoam coolers, ash from the fireplaces inside (with parts of burned things like credit cards, rusted nails and pieces of metal), big rocks, broken pots, coils of old cable, and decomposing netting. The highlight was a folded up piece of carpet 7’ long, buried 3’ deep, diagonally through the garden.

I was expecting a lot of produce from my CSA, so I just planted a few things in the relatively small plot. I planted carrots,

Datura

Tomatoes (from Eric’s Mom, from Germany seeds)

And many volunteer plants from the compost: Pumpkins, zucchini, and squash (acorn-like, but some albino and some technicolor).

The zucchini took over the garden, and then the yard. I started making and freezing zucchini cakes (like latkes).

I also planted parsley and basil.

A week ago, I just cleared out half the garden and planted carrots and lacinato kale for a winter crop.

All in all, I wish I had more carrots, the zucchini and squash took over too much. And I miss tons of fresh peas. So I have big plans for next year, and I’m looking forward to fresh carrots and kale this winter.

Community Supported Agriculture in Portland

This year I’m part of a Community Supported Agriculture call Sunroot Gardens, with my farmer, Kollibri Sonnenblume.

It’s been great to have very local produce, and to have a good relationship with my farmer. Every week I get fresh, beautiful produce from South East Portland, grown in urban Portland, transported and cared for by a farmer on bike.

There are tons of CSA options for the Portland Area, but I chose Kollibri because of his urban, bike-powered gardening (that was competitively priced with other CSAs in the area).

Willamette Weekly Article

Edible Portland Mention

East PDX News Write-up

So far this year I’ve got a very wide range of fresh, delicious veggies each week, from radish pods (seen above), garlic spears, lambs quarters, salad mixes, beautiful multicolored carrots, string beans, french beans, green beans, potatoes, multicolored beets, green onions, red onions, leeks, garlic, basil, rosemary, pattypan, zucchini, spinach, english peas, and even a taste of homegrown tobacco.

I’m also very excited about the Staple Crops project, which is not part of the CSA shares, but an extra project growing grain. I’m hoping to volunteer next year to help the harvest and processing, Kollibri says about the project:

Much attention has been given over to growing vegetables and scoring fruit in the city, and many creative approaches tried out; yet those foodstuffs comprise only a small percentage of the typical human diet, which is heavy on grains augmented with proteins (the majority of it vegetarian). The less-than-an-acre plot we harvested on Saturday is part of one attempt to address this issue.

The only things I’d like to get more local easier is meat (especially rabbit and pork) and eggs, oh, and honey. There’s a meat CSA in Estacada that I am thinking about joining for the meat and eggs portion.