Our Organic Northwest

Northwest Rich in Berry Varieties

July 15, 2008

"Every child should experience the taste of a sun-warmed strawberry plucked right from its greenery, or a fragrant blackberry picked on a summer morning, for a berry never tastes quite as wonderful as those we popped into our mouths along some dusty road during childhood." Cece Sullivan, Seattle Times Cooking School.

                                     Flickr image taken by RevenueGal.

In The sweet season: Northwest berries on their way Sullivan writes about the many varieties of Northwest berries including wild alpine berries, amber berries, concord berries and brambleberries. There are many blackberry-raspberry hybrids in the bramble family which include olalliaberries, boysenberries, marionberries, loganberries, waldoberries, olallieberries, chehalemberries and sylvinberries.

Gooseberries are a variety of currents, and like many other berries contain potassium, calcium, phosphorus, niacin, dietary fiber and ellagic acid, a natural cancer- fighting substance that  White Currant taken by Vadim Plessky.       does not break down when cooked. Lets not forget about vitamins A, D, and C in those berries. They are great for jamming because of their high pectin content.

In Sweet Season, Sullivan suggests two recipe sources. First is Kathleen Desmond Stang who incorporates our Northwest berries to create delicious recipes in her Northwest Berry Cookbook. Second is Berries: A Country Garden Cookbook by Sharon Kramis which incorporates a variety of fruits and vegetables with images taken by Kathryn Kleinman.

Northwest Berries and Grape Information is another great berry resource where you can learn about varieties of blackberries, cultivated strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, huckleberries, gooseberries and much more.

July and August are prime months for domestic and wild berry harvests, with some available in the late weeks of summer.

If you live in Yakima or travel there, here's a site to direct you to the blueberry harvest.

Lingering Snow, Late Berry Season Brings Unseasonable Bear Complaints

July 10, 2008

Black bear originally uploaded by Kevin Mack

Wildlife agents around the region are fielding more bear complaints than usual this month. Correspondent Tom Banse reports on why bears are busting bird feeders and raiding garbage cans in high summer.

Spring is when bears come out of hibernation hungry. That’s when you should see a lot of complaint calls. But this year, the calls to fish and wildlife keep coming.

Boechler: “Complaints are up right now.”

Jeff Boechler works in the Clackamas office of Oregon Fish and Wildlife. It’s the same story in the Corvallis district, in north Central Washington and northwest Washington.

Jeff: “I think what we’ve got is with the later spring/winter that we experienced this year, the onset or the production of a lot of the natural food crops – particularly berries — appears to be delayed.”

In the meantime, Boechler says bears are trying to find whatever food they can. Dog food, bird seed, garbage, or bar-b-q leftovers could bring an unexpected visitor.

Tom Banse reports.

NW Farmers Growing More Wheat in Response to High Prices

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Northwest farmers are expected to harvest a half million more acres of wheat this year than last. They’re hoping for continued record high prices brought on by a world-wide shortage of the grain. 

The global wheat shortage is a classic supply and demand story. The demand: India and China’s growing economies mean more people there can afford to gobble up increasing amounts of grain and meat. The supply shortage: A nearly decade-long drought in Australia. And in the U.S., high demand for bio-fuel has pushed food crops aside. It’s all contributed to a wheat boom in the Pacific Northwest. Jeffrey LaFrance, is a professor of economics at Washington State University. He says with more farmers growing wheat, less corn, barley, beans and hay will be harvested. But that’s not necessarily bad news.

Anna King reports.