Season 2009 - Week 6 - Notes from Montgomery Place Orchard

Of course we hope that you enjoy your first fruit share from Montgomery Place Orchards. If you would like to see some pictures of our farm, please visit montgomeryplaceorchards.blogspot.com. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to call or e-mail us.

Your fruit this week includes black raspberries, blueberries, and sour cherries.

Sour cherries are also referred to as tart, red cherries, or pie cherries and are usually not eaten fresh but used in recipes. Because they are so perishable and the season is so short, you never see these sold fresh in a super market. Please refrigerate the cherries immediately and use within 2 days. You can freeze them by spreading them out on a cookie sheet and freezing for a few hours and then place them in freezer quality plastic bags.

Sour Cherry Sauce (makes about 2 ½ cups)

3 T brown sugar

1 T cider vinegar

3 t corn starch

1 t vanilla extract

½ t. ground cinnamon

1 pint fresh red sour cherries pitted

1 cup apple juice

Combine brown sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon in a medium saucepan. Mix in apple juice, cider vinegar and vanilla extract. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Cook for another 2 minutes. Stir in red sour cherries and heat thoroughly. Serve warm with ham or pork or spoon over dishes of ice cream for dessert.

The term ‘true blue’ has to come from blueberries. They are such a wonderful, dependable fruit. They are a little picky about what soil they grow in but that is about it. They bloom late enough that we don’t have to worry about spring frosts, too much rain doesn’t seem to bother them and too much sun just makes them sweeter. The season is just about the entire month of July, so plan on eating some more of these next week.

This week our farm has been ‘in the black’. We always feel like we have been hit by a black raspberry tsunami the first week of July. But, we love it. EVERYONE”S hands are black from working with black raspberries. They are being harvested every day and then turned into jam or vinegar. Everyone’s teeth are black from eating soo many. This season is short though, usually only 10 days so like us, enjoy them while you can.

We have learned as farmers that we can do everything right but in the end fruit is just a gift from Mother Nature. We hope you enjoy our harvest as much as we do.

Doug and Talea Fincke and everyone at Montgomery Place Orchards