Fruit Loopy

Earlier this week, two of my newest friends and I made the trip to Hood River to tour the farms and orchards known as the Fruit Loop.  The three of us are recent graduates of the master food preserver program, so the plan was to get some fresh produce to bring home and can.

It was a beautiful drive (as usual), and we had some spectacular views.  Once there, the fruit was amazing.  Who knew there were so many different kinds of red cherries?

We stopped at The Gorge White House, and while we passed on the wine-tasting (I know, I know - who are you and what have you done with Carolyn?), their U-Pick flower area was amazing.

Hood River itself was a charming place, and I'd like to go again someday  - but this trip was all about the fruit.  Oh, and the lavender farm....

Mt. Hood

It's also possible to see Mt. Adams, for which our street is named, from the Fruit Loop, which was kind of cool.

The various fruit stands were wonderful, and the people friendly and helpful (except the cherry man, who shall remain nameless because I can't remember his name, but who had the best price on cherries in the valley) which made the trip even more worthwhile.

Grandma Mary's Fruit and Produce Stand historical pic.  Grandma wasn't at the stand that day, alas.

We found some wonderful peaches here.

Draper Girls garden area

I wish I had taken pictures of the fruit before I started processing it.  Suffice to say I turned ten pounds of blueberries into this:

...and then some.

and this:

Three overflowing pints of marionberries into several of these:

as well as some sugar-free puree, and five pounds of cherries into even more like this:

And check out this incredible cherry pitter!

My grandkid is going to have fun with this some day

and apple peeler/corer:

Regrettably, this did not work for picking cucumbers.  Poop.

So I'm worn out from canning (not even thinking about the peaches yet), but I believe standing up for six and seven hours at a time burns more calories, right?  Many thanks to my newest buddies - I hope we do make it a monthly event during growing season.

These ladies rock.

And here I am rocking week 5 day one of the Couch to 5K program:

Ten pounds from goal.

I do have to say, though - the next time I want to buy ten pounds of blueberries - somebody please stop me!