Wow, hard to believe that we are just a few short weeks past the end of summer. The summer may have been fleeting, but the crispness of fall and all the beauty that surrounds us is really incredible right now. So don’t mourn the change of seasons, enjoy the changes and make the most of them. Kick your feet through some leaves, smell the fresh, cold morning air and look at the mist in an early morning spider web; there is a lot to like about this season, so don’t miss it!

This week we featured...

Heirloom Apple Festival

Fall is the season for apples and while the number of varieties of apples have grown, sometimes the older varieties have the best flavor. This week we had a chance to stop by Smith Berry Barn (503-628-2172) to preview their 17th annual Heirloom Apple Festival on October 16 & 17 from noon to 4 each day. These apples are the older varieties that were used to create the varieties of today. Joelle even had William and Judy try a couple of varieties at the end of the show including King, Macintosh, Gravenstein and Jonathan. During the 2 days of the festival you can enjoy caramel apples, hot apple cider and home made apple pie. You can also enjoy hot off the grill treats from Boy Scout Troop #3. There is live music, a treasure hunt and friendly alpacas. It is a nice little drive to Smith Berry Barn, stop by and enjoy a little bit of the country!

Homemade Applesauce

It is apple season and that means it is the perfect time to enjoy the bounty of the season with fresh applesauce. Joelle from Smith Berry Barn (503-628-2172) let us know that she had a simple, easy recipe that anyone can make in a short period of time. We caught up with her in her kitchen where she was busy preparing apples with an apple peeler/corer/slicer. This is a neat gadget that does all 3 jobs at once. You can not believe how great it works. They carry them at Smith Berry Barn and she swears by them. She had picked 2 different varieties of apples, Liberty and Macintosh. She picked both because of their firm texture (which helps in the peeler/slicer) and their different complimentary flavors. After preparing about 16 apples in a pan Judy added lemon juice, brown and white sugars and a cup of water. We then cooked it on the stove for about 20 minutes while we stirred and mashed it. Then we ran it through a food mill (or a strainer will do) to even out the consistency. You can serve it while it is still warm or freeze it to enjoy later this winter when you need a reminder of those wonderful flavors of summer.
To get into the ‘apple’ frame of mind you can stop by Smith’s this coming Saturday and Sunday the 16th and 17th to enjoy the 17th Annual Heirloom Apple Festival from noon to 4pm. There will be apple sampling, live music, tasty apple treats, and lots of kid friendly festivities. Don’t miss it!

Fall Berry Plants

The arrival of fall is not a reason to be sad at the loss of garden blooms. For most plants the showy blooms have given way to the resulting fruit from those early season blooms. This bounty of fruit is all over the garden. Lee Powell from Garland Nursery (1-800-296-6601) joined us to share some of the most unusual fruits he could find in the nursery. The first plant he pulled out was the Crabapple ‘Sugar Tyme’. This one had wonderful white flowers in the spring and now it is blessed with a plethora of pinkish to red tinged berries. Next we saw the Chionanthus, or White Fringetree. This one has almost olive looking fruit and is a total reversal from the delicate white lacy flowers in the late spring. We moved to a vine next. This one was the variegated Porcelain Vine ‘Elegans’. The berries on this one range from a red, to blue, to a metallic purple, plus you have the beautiful variegated foliage too! William had a taste of the next plant, the Himalayan Honeysuckle (Leycesteria). This plant has long, hanging burgundy blooms that get a fruit that tastes like burnt butterscotch or caramel. Not so yummy! The next plant is a new introduction, the Vibernum ‘Brandywine’. This one has bunches of pink and blue berries that form in clusters on the plant. Finally we saw the ‘Dr. Seuss’ tree (as Lee called it). This Dogwood called ‘Satomi Red’ has very large berries that start as pink flowers in the spring and end up as large, spiky, edible fruits.

Make Your Own Tea

Did you know that you can grow your own tea? Most of the tea in the world comes from one of 2 different varieties of Camellia, the sinensis and the assamica. We dropped by the Tao of Tea (503-736-0119) at the Portland Classical Chinese Garden (503-228-8131) to learn more about tea from Veerinder Chawla. Veerinder told us how you can grow harvest and create your own tea. For the best tea you will need a camellia that is at least 4 years old. Then you will want to harvest the brand new growth off your plant in the spring. Depending on what type of tea you want you will need to also process the leaves. For white tea it is a relatively simple technique of drying the leaves, for darker teas it is a more complex task. Your chance to learn more is coming up this weekend on the Sunday the 18th. Veerinder will be holding a class at the Portland Classical Chinese Garden at 1 and 3 pm on how you can grow, harvest and brew your own tea. It is part of their annual fall plant sale. You can actually buy the camellia plants to get yourself started! The plant sale is only on this weekend, but you can enjoy some wonderful tea anytime you visit the garden at the Tao of Tea. They will also answer many of your tea questions.

Grilled Stuffed Peppers

Grilling season is in full swing, really! We found a recipe that uses fresh fall green bell peppers from the garden. First we stopped by Bauman’s Farm and Garden (503-792-3524) to pick up the bell peppers. Brian filled us in on the differences between the different colors. One thing we found out is that the red bells tend to be a little sweeter than the others and that the more color in the pepper, the higher the anti-oxidants. With the holidays coming up you should check out the great selection of fresh fall fruits and vegetables at Bauman’s.
Next we took the peppers to Jerry from Gartner’s Meats (503-252-7801). He had a recipe for grilling peppers on his Traeger grill. He made an easy stuffed pepper recipe by using the ready-made Gartner’s meatloaf. This is already seasoned so he just stuffed the peppers and put them on for about an hour until they reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees. The other trick we learned was that he used a muffin tin to hold the peppers upright. The tin was also placed in a shallow metal pan with a little water in it. This kept the peppers nice and moist. They were delicious!! If you are really busy you can just buy the peppers already stuffed at Gartner’s.