Delicious, amazing and fantastic!  Everything that you would expect from Raspberry Jam; plus, no seeds!  Woot!  Woot!

Whitney and I headed up to Auburn on one summer morning, and picked these from a U-Pick Farm ourselves! We had lots of fun picking the berries, and there were so many on the bushes that we picked over 30 lbs. in less than an hour!  Before it even got SUPER hot (it turned into a 100°+ day).

Grown in the rolling foothills of true California Gold County in the small town of Auburn. These organic raspberry bushes have never seen a drop of pesticides or fumigants. Grown at an organic U-Pick Farm ran by an awesome Husband – Wife Team that has been in operation since the 1980s, each raspberry was selected by yours truly!

Some of the peppers that I have started late have really taken off, like this cubanelle.

Some of the Listada de Gandia eggplants were eaten up by caterpillars and other insects (aphids?) while we were gone, but I found this Garden Hero doing its job.

Predator on the prowl

Have a new product that I am really excited to share and the story behind it.  I need to take some photos and will post later this week and get it on Etsy.

Vegetable Garden, July 18, 2011

This is currently my Garden for 2011:

Tomatoes

Copia – slicing tomato named after the now defunct COPIA center in Napa.  Developed in their gardens (which were AWESOME!)

Juane Flamme – French orange fleshed globe tomato – tons of tomato flavor

Yellow San Marzano – this might be a new strain, from right here in Sacramento!  Let’s hope that out of the three that I planted that one stays true to the fruit!  They were gorgeous San Marzano tomatoes – just a bright yellow!  A little more acidic too- which I liked in sauce that I made with them last year.

Red Zebra – Oldie but a goodie heirloom

Hartman’s Gooseberry – Yellow cherry type tomato – good for eating right off of the plant

Beam’s Yellow Pear – Yellow pear type tomato – great for salads

Then I have my Ajicito Plants in the front purple pot (aka Aji Dulce, Cachucha Pepper) that I overwintered in my home, since they are so special to Puerto Ricans!  Looking lovely and sprouting tons of flowers.

Crecer Hijo de puta! Crecer!

My strawberries are doing very well too- their second set of fruit should be ready in a week or so.  And the Rosemary bush completely hacked back to allow as much light to the tomatoes as possible.

And then in the black tray in the front, I am trying to grow more Ajicitos, my favorite eggplant: Listada de Gandia, and just some extra herbs like oregano and cilantro.  I know it is very late to grow from seeds, but I figured, why not?  After all the craziness of this growing season, I think anything is possible.  So I am crossing my fingers for the peppers and eggplants, but prepared for nothing to happen.

Well that about covers it- excited to see if by next week the seeds will sprout in these high temps.  Also, Whitney’s Gladiolus and Lily bed sent up its first flower spike.  If you know anything about Whitney, of course it is purple!

Purple? Surprising!

Vegetable Garden, June 27, 2011

I have been waiting for this jam for over a year!  Last year, unfortunate late spring storms pretty much decimated the organic apricots in Northern California, and those that were left over were either hit with diseases or were outrageously expensive.  So last year, I made no apricot jam.  I ate the last of 2009′s jam early this year and I was definitely sad that there was no more to take its place!

Surprisingly, this year the apricots were once again hit by late storms, a freak frost, etc. but somehow persevered and I was lucky enough to get a couple dozen pounds of primo organic fruit from a great family farm out of the Stockton, CA area.  I have to say that this is the best batch of apricot jam that I have ever made.  And really I had very little to do with it; the fruit is just amazing.  Perfectly balanced sweetness and tartness and a lovely strong taste and aroma of apricots.

$6 a half pint.

And here are a couple of recipes for using Apricot Jam in desserts:

Apricot Jam Cookies (with a ginger kick!)

Baked Brie in Puff Pastry (super easy dessert! just substitute with apricot jam!)

Whitney and I have been keeping busy with multiple graduations (Congrats Sam, Rosalyn & Keegs!), seeing family and friends (yes, you “No-Name”).

Since Summer actually decided to come out and play and kick Spring’s ass last week, a lot of fruit is coming into season!  Finally!  We are close to a month and a half behind up here in Sacramento/Northern California.  Though this means lower crop yields for some fruits, it usually extends the season.  So it is time to get my ass in high gear and to making some new stuff for the Etsy Shop and to share with friends and family.

I have a favorite jam that will be out next week!  I’m excited because it is DELICIOUS!  Can’t wait.  Here are some random pics in the mean time.

Mostaza en flor. It's everywhere

A rice paddy.

The survivor tomatoes that sorely need to be planted into the ground

A canna blooming

Another unspecified wildflower of Whitney's

I started my garden seeds indoors in January of this year and they were attacked by aphids from one of Whitney’s house plants I think.  So I started over again at the end of February- put them outside in their flats in late March and then a freak cold snap came during the day and basically killed them all off.  Being the ever persistent guy that I am, I tried YET AGAIN!  This time in the beginning of April.  Most of the seeds didn’t germinate and several died.  So basically my garden is going to suck this year and be super behind.  So far I have several varieties of tomatoes hanging on, but no Puerto Rican plants germinated/lived the 3rd time around.

But since we had hail (marble sized!) over the weekend, I am happy that everything is still in their flats and peat pots.  Hopefully this weekend I will get some plants from Farmer’s Market, and I can cobble together a small garden this year.  Bleh.

At least Whitney's wildflowers are doing well. I have no idea what this one is. I think it is from Seed Saver's Exchange.

The lilies finally started blooming this week.

This is my offering to all the marmalade-haters out there!  Though I love marmalade, sometimes you just don’t want to deal with the rind or bitterness of marmalade.  This offers all the great orange flavor with none of the bitterness.  Sweet and well-balanced!

These organic oranges came from Whitney’s friend’s garden in Davis.  I really appreciate the windfall of the oranges and the fact that she keeps an organic garden.

And since my Blood Orange Label was a labor of love I adjusted it and used it for this one as well.

As always, $6 for a half pint.