I drive by a small u-pick peach orchard on my way to work. During the summer months I enjoy watching the peaches mature, becoming more orangey-gold as July turns into August. One early morning in mid-August I notice there are cars parked along the road starting at the orchard gate and continuing in a line for about half a mile. Car engines are turned off, whole families sit quietly together waiting for the orchard to open. Peaches may be one of the only foods that everyone would agree are best eaten in season. I believe that’s why those families wait so patiently every year to pick their bucketfuls of perfect August peaches. Peaches that have spent most of their lives in coolers, and have traveled great distances are not worth waiting in line for. They will never have that yielding softness that only a ripe peach has, nor the juicy, sweet-tart perfection of an August peach. I have been lucky to live most of my life in places where peaches grow in the summer, and my favorite peach recipe remains unchanged over the years. Here it is. Get a sharp knife, peel the peach and then cut along the suture from stem to blossom end, continuing up the opposite side. Twist the two halves gently. A freestone peach will separate easily and be ready for slicing. A cling variety will need to be sliced from the pit. Next eat the peach and savor the deliciousness. Sometimes I like to expand on this simple recipe, by making crepes and creme fraiche to eat with my fresh sliced peaches.

Fresh Sliced Peaches, Johnny Cakes, Creme Fraiche, and Corn Butter

Alice Waters recipes for Peach Melba or Peach Shortcake are also simple variations on the sliced peach . As she says, “Most of our (Chez Panisse) peach desserts are simple preparations designed to enhance the natural characteristics of the fruit.” I cannot argue with this perspective. My other favorite peach recipes were created by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson for their book, Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More. The recipes for Caramel Peach Grunt, Gingered Peach and Blackberry Pandowdy, or Summer Fruit Trifle should be distributed to all those families waiting for the peach orchard to open. They know a good peach is worth waiting for, and they, too might enjoy an old fashioned recipe when they get their fill of peaches eaten right off the tree.

Dave Belzberg is no georgia-peach-growing great grandmother. But given the right mood and circumstances, his peaches just might bring tears of joy and delight to your eyes. They are really that good.

Dave has been growing his organic peaches at Rolling Hills Farm in Southern Oregon (Griffin Creek area) for almost 24 years. Before moving south to the Rogue Valley, Canadian-born Dave grew plums up in British Columbia for 10 years. That gives him almost 35 years of experience in the orchards!

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When Ken and Susan Muller first looked at the Rogue Valley with their new farm in mind, they saw an abundance of exceptional produce farms and talented produce farmers. Operations like Whistling Duck, Barking Moon, Hi Hoe Produce, Blue Fox, Rolling Hills, and a multitude of others were getting the job done, and doing it well.

But the one thing that Ken and Susan didn’t see much of was poultry. Specifically, high quality pastured poultry and eggs. And so a little over two years ago, equipped with family histories in farming, experience and skills gained from WWOOFing, and a healthy dose of inspiration, Ken and Susan set out to fill this niche and transform Margaret Krout’s (Susan’s mother) seven acres into a bonafide pastured poultry operation.

Today that transformation is complete. The infrastructure is in place, the chicken houses are beautiful, their flocks are growing strong, and their customers are spreading the word. And as a new customer myself, it’s time for me to help spread the word about this amazing local food resource!

There have already been some great articles about Rogue Valley Brambles that are worth a peek: Mail Tribune, Friends of Family Farmers, Daily Tidings. But in this article, I want to delve a little deeper into all the amazing foodstuffs the farm is producing and let you know where and when you can find Rogue Valley Brambles.

FARM FRESH EGGS:

Rogue Valley Brambles’ eggs are truly in a different class. They’re beautiful, rich in color, extremely fresh, flavorful, and sustainably raised. They’re some of the best eggs I’ve seen, and well worth the cost and a trip to the growers market to find them. This is what sets them apart from the rest:

COLOR – Ken and Susan’s eggs are so beautiful you’re almost tempted not to touch them. Many of the rare breeds that they raise (Araucana, Wyandotte, Buff Orpington, Delaware, Polish, New Hampshire,Cochin, Jersey Giant, and Gold Sex Link) lay eggs with unique and beautifully colored shells. The blue eggs from their Araucana hens are particularly striking………

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-Ernest Hemingway

Wooldridge Creek Vineyard and Winery, Applegate Valley

With all the talk about Eating Local, often times the movement to Drink Local is an afterthought. But for those of us that do partake in the drink, choosing local vineyards and wineries is as worthy a cause as choosing local farms. Not to say that the bottle of Brunello di Montalcino or that Chateauneuf-du-Pape should be left forgotten and unappreciated. What I’m saying is to think before you drink, and perhaps give the locals a larger portion of your wine dollar. After all, drinking local wine keeps money in the local economy, cuts the number of food miles that the wine has to travel, and supports smaller producers who prioritize stewardship of the land and who often utilize more sustainable practices (L.I.V.E. – Low Input Viticulture and Enology).

In this article, you will find a list of wine resources specific to Southern Oregon, and Southern Oregon wineries according to AVA (American Viticultural Area). I’ll also point out wineries that are L.I.V.E. Certified Sustainable, and profile Wooldridge Creek Vineyard & Winery (photos throughout blog are from their tasting room, vineyard, and barrel room). Hopefully this information will help people realize (or remember) the exceptional abundance and quality that we have at our doorstep.

Wooldridge Creek Tasting Room

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Perhaps you have have made a beautiful salad with lettuce, beets, and goat cheese, tossed it, and watched  with dismay as the entire contents turned pink! One quickly learns to add the beets at the very end of the mixing, and to just sprinkle the cheese on top.  The ruby red color we associate with beets is betacyanin, a pigment of the anthocyanin family which is very soluable in water!  The very slightest amount of bruising will cause beets to “bleed”.   There is a cure for your red hands and cutting board.  Use fresh lemon juice to clean either.

Actually the Russians  take full advantage of  bleeding  beets to create their deep ruby red  borscht.  The best borscht is offered at a premium price several days after it is made so that the color and flavors deepen.  Try this simple borscht recipe named for Tom Robbin’s Jitterbug Perfume, a book that truly romances the beet……

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THE MAGIC OF MILK

Today, in contrast to this statement, most of us humans view milk as an ordinary commodity. A pasteurized, homogenized industrialized, and subsidized commodity. We “creatures of the breast” (mammals) have forgotten what an extraordinary substance milk really is.

In its purest form, milk is a magical, living fluid that contains all the vitamins, minerals, nutrients and calories necessary for new mammalian life. Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking, puts this fact in a larger context when he states that:

[Milk] gives newborn [mammals] the advantage of ideally formulated food from the mother even after birth, and therefore the opportunity to continue their physical development outside the womb. The human species has taken full advantage of this opportunity; we are completely helpless for months after birth, while our brains finish growing to a size that would be difficult to accommodate in the womb and birth canal. In this sense, milk helped make possible the evolution of our large brain, and so helped make us the unusual animals we are.

The cultural practice of dairying and drinking the milk of other animals (sheep & goats, and later yaks, camel, cattle) is believed to have originated over 10,000 years ago, and has also had a significant affect on human development. Although milk from dairy animals was not as beneficial and suited to us as mother’s milk, its efficient source of calories and nutrients played a major role in the success and spread of early human civilization.

Pholia Farm Cheese

And perhaps most importantly (at least to the culinarily-inclined among us), milk is the foundation from which the myriad of other amazing dairy products are built. Cream, butter, ghee, yogurt, buttermilk, creme fraiche, sour cream, koumiss, kefir, and thousands of fresh and aged cheeses are all derived from milk.

This all being said, we have most likely forgotten about the magic of these substances because most of today’s milk is the opposite of magical……

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Freshly made Curd

It’s been 30 years since my days revolved around the goat milking parlor, but I still miss the fun of making my own fermented dairy products. Occasionally I still make soft cheese for East Indian cookery because it’s so easy and so delicious…..

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In Southern Oregon, Eat Local Week 2009 will take place the week of September 12th – 19th, coinciding with Organically Grown Week throughout Oregon. Ashland Food Co-op has teamed up with THRIVE in organizing a week packed with events: the Eat Local Festival 2009, the week-long Eat Local Challenge, two exclusive Movie Screenings of the food documentary Ingredients, two Local Farm Tours, and more. Ashland Food Co-op, THRIVE, and the other Eat Local Week sponsors hope to build upon the already strong local food movement and get the community excited about and aware of the abundance of amazing local foods found in and around the Rogue Valley.

Over the next two months, I will be traveling to local farms, vineyards and fisheries in search of agricultural (and aquacultural*) excellence – taking pictures, meeting some amazing growers and producers, and learning a few things along the way. You will be able to find these blogs on the Ashland Food Co-op Blog and on Return to Tradition. My partner in crime, Mary Shaw, will be examining another side of local food on her blog, Local Pantry. In particular she will explore local food preservation, traditions, lore, and recipes.

Well….it’s hot, it’s Friday, and there’s a salmon to cured and smoked. I’m off.