Featured Fruit — Blueberries

Blueberry –Vaccinium spp.   Related to azaleas and rhododendrons, blueberries need a highly organic, cool, moist, well drained soil with a pH between 4.5 and 5.5.  Tiny, urn shaped white or pink flowers decorate the plant in spring, followed by green berries that turn blue when ripe.  Roots grow very near the soil surface, so…

Read More

Apple Recipes from the 2001 Apple Tasting

Apple Pie Bars from Teddy Tebo   Filling 4 cups pared, cored sliced apples (1/8 in. thick) 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup flour 1 t cinnamon 1/4 t nutmeg 1/4 t ginger 2 egg whites, slightly beaten     Crust: 2 cups flour 1/2 cup sugar (optional) 1/2 t baking powder 1/2 t salt 1…

Read More

Featured Fruit: Rhubarb

Rhubarb – Rheum rhabarbarum Rhubarb is an easy to grow perennial if planted in well drained soil.  The stalk is the edible portion (the large leaves are poisonous) and comes in varying shades of green to red.  Longer stalks can by obtained by blanching young plants in the spring using a cardboard box with the…

Read More

Featured Fruit: Strawberry

Strawberry – Fragaria Strawberry plants are composed of sets of three saw-toothed leaflets growing on slender, 8-20 inch tall stalks.  The berries can be white, pink, or red and are fleshy and juicy.  Strawberries are generally self fruitful. There are three classifications of strawberries based on when they flower and produce fruit.  June bearers start…

Read More

Featured Fruit: American Red Currant

  American Red Currant (Ribes Triste) These , straggly, thorn free shrubs grow 1 1/2 feet to 5 feet high with  reddish brown shreddy bark.  The smooth leaves have 3-5 toothed lobes, and may or may not be hairy underneath.  The fruit is ready in late summer, drooping in clusters from the stems just below…

Read More

Featured Fruit: Spruce Tips

White Spruce is found on well drained soil on south facing gentle slopes and along the edges of rivers and lakes.  Black Spruce grows on north facing slopes and in lowlands that are underlain by permafrost.  Sitka Spruce grows in coastal areas.  Collect the new, bright green, soft growth on the tips of well established…

Read More