~Farm Friday~

Today, I kind of felt like a farmer...and it was fun. I have to say that I just absolutely love this time of year in Oregon - berry picking, gardening, harvesting produce, warm weather. I mean seriously - nothing beats this! Anyways, my good friend Stacey and I hit up West Union Gardens this morning to do some raspberry picking. The berries there are so huge that they almost look like blackberries, or even small strawberries. We got to talking (of course!) and just kept picking. :) I think I ended up with around 9 pounds, which means we'll have lots of yummy jam, frozen berries, fresh berries, and probably some pastries or baked goods of some sort.

After berry picking, I picked up the dog, headed over to Nike for a trip to the garden and a chance to see Dustin over his lunch break. Have I mentioned that I love being home and having the ability and flexibility to do that? Thanks honey for working so hard for us. :) Anyways, after we wore the pup out with a long walk in the heat, we walked to the garden. It had been almost a week since we were there last, so I needed to do some harvesting. We, of course, had more lettuce and strawberries. The lettuce is starting to wilt and go limp with the heat, so we picked a bunch and will pick the rest early next week. I should have captured via photo the size of a few slugs camping out on the lettuce - gross! Those pieces got tossed in the compost pile ASAP. Anyways, we got another pound or so of strawberries, as well as our first carrot and green onion. I picked a bunch of basil as well. I can't wait to start harvesting tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, brussel sprouts, and more! Plus, I'm already starting to think about what I'll plant next when these things are ready.

With all this "pick your own" and "grow your own", I'm getting to spend time making a lot of things from scratch this year, which I love. After the strawberry jam turned out so yummy, I plan to make a berry jam of several kinds this year - raspberry, blueberry, and blackberry for sure. And that yummy jam taste fantastic when mixed in with my homemade yogurt. Oh delicious! I'll be using the basil we picked today to make homemade pesto - oh, how I love thee! In fact, it'll go on the homemade pizza tonight. :)

So, to say the least, I am absolutely loving life as a housewife, homemaker, and wanna-be gardener!