The Last Trailer!

So this was the last of the big stuff. It's now the odds and ends that are left, summer is over now as far as the stress. It rained right before harvest, but not so close to harvest where it did any damage. The rains did devastate our early variety (we only have 100 young trees), but spared our major crop, (the Bings)(about 2000 trees). I should have taken a picture of us sorting the Chelans....it was NOT fun....but fortunately, by the time I got my hands into that process...we were down to only 500 pounds to do or so. We sold every single cherry of the Chelans, but did not pack them out, kept them for our sales here locally. Our bings were HUGE, and no splits.....and all those bins, filled and gone! Yippee! Today, we are taking the kids to Toy Story, 3D......sort of a "yippee" after the season...

Next, it's apricots....my last picture...those wood bins...are to store apricots....(the truck brings empties and takes away full ones)...we have probably pounds wise....twice as many cots than cherries....1/2 the crew stays and moves right into those orchards....what a life!

Now that things are settling down...I REALLY want to do something crafty...REALLY really REALLY really REALLY really!!! Hopefully, I'll blow off the "dust" (figure of speach, my studio is actually pretty clean right now due to lack of activity! :( and get busy on SOMETHING.... after Toy Story 3D...I KNOW I'm going to want that new Cricut Cartridge coming out in July!!!

Trudi

The Cherry Process

I'm actually having fun with these pictures. My contribution to the overall process is MINOR...In fact, today, I reflected how little stress the whole season was...like it passed all around me...but, I'm sure it was stressful for my husband...that, or he has it so organized that it's actually easy. I've had as many as 20 people working for me during a busy "candy" season...and that isn't easy..so for him to be able to pull all of this off with 40-50 employees.....I can't see how painless this can be....but, it seemed to be....so, I won't question it....in the meantime...a few more pictures...I have more to share...but, for now...this is it.

I'll bet many of you never imagined the "process"...or maybe you have...or maybe you don't really care! But, it really is a process...from the first blossoms in early March to now...when the precious fruit gets picked and sent out to stores...as we speak, our cherries are on their way to markets overseas, across the country, and probably a bit locally too....once it leaves us....it's a whole different process!

The commercial season officially ended today at about 9 a.m. when all the pickers were paid and sent on their way....I did take semi truck pics though, tomorrow or over the weekend...I might share! I want to do something craft related...but, am a bit tired, and was reminded I have to finish a pie cherry tree tomorrow and a rainier tree or 2...it's all for sales at the place now, so it's up to me...the big stuff is over! I guess I'll be up with the chickens tomorrow! NOT....we don't have any chickens....I'll wake up when I wake up...just make sure it's before we open for sales.

Trudi

Cherry Harvest 2010

Yesterday, while fiddling with my Cricut Gypsy, which I think is the cat's meow...just luv my little Gypsy....and I have yet to cut with it...I like it to design and see what the new cartridges are like, portably that is...anyhow...daydreaming as to how to get out of my creative slump...it dawned on me...I need to work on something NEW...I've been doing swap things, gifts, etc...but nothing NEW for ME...so...idea jumped into my head....and in the process, I think I need to invest in one of the new cartridges....the "Freshly Picked" one.

I grew up on the very farm that my little family now depends on for livlihood...(that and our specialty food business)....and as I reflect how it was THEN and how it is NOW...I'm sad to say, I don't have pictures of the THEN days....but I can have them for the NOW....so my children can share with their children years to come...

So, today, close to the last day of cherry harvest....I grabbed my camera, my kids, and tried to document the day. Of course there are little distractions along the way...but, I have a few pictures to share! I'm running to the next place to be...I will elaborate later, add pictures later, and hopefully have a scrapbooked paged to share soon! yeah right....

Oh, my daughter had the liberty to use my camera...I do NOT like the way I look...but, cameras don't lie? PLEASE tell me I don't look like this! I've taught my children to NOT be vain...you are what you are...so, I'm reluctantly posting an orchard picture of ME....oh well...someday, I'll show you the all decked out me....it's quite the opposite, but, I am what I am...and...I'm ok with that! So, orchard me it is!

Next post...cherries 101....I'm showing you the light skinned ones, Rainiers, and the Bings (the ones that we are shipping out, our field man told us today that some are already being shipped to the stores, Japan, etc...)....

Trudi

Ribbon!

This week, our ribbon rep stopped by our factory. He visits us 3-4 times a year, and we do our holiday buying...we have to think 6 months ahead, so this visit we were thinking obviously Christmas, but Valentines Day and Easter as well. Lately, I've been receiving numerous packaging catalogues and am seeing consistently Grinch colors are IN this year!!! That, and magical whimsicial colors. I'm wondering if the Alice In Wonderland craze has prompted all the fun wild trends, I for one, LUV it...

Every June, we start making our merchandising decisions, in a few short weeks, I'll be working on our holiday line. Last year, we stayed pretty close to tradition...holiday red and green....the year before, it was all old fashioned....hunter green and burgundy...this year...I'm going Grinch. Of course, we will offer "tradition"...you can't go wrong with tradition. BUT...I fully intend to promote and design with some of these fun Citrus Green colors. Of course, we have fun ribbon coming our way....we managed to impulse decide...it's kind of hard not to when it is right in front of our face!

A few years back....like 5 or 6 year ago.....a Christmas card I designed for a swap I was in...was done in Grinch colors. I liked it enough to make my daughter's birthday party invites similar...she's a holiday baby...so, we had a Christmas theme....I found my extras and thought for grins...I'd post the card for you all to see. My new ribbon shipment I suspect will be here in the next week or so, perfect timing for us to start our picture taking and making samples for the upcoming Giftshows.

I do have to say however, IF I plan on going Grinch on a personal level this year...I do need to stock up on the Green Galore cardstock (Stampin Up!)....this is one of many colors that are retiring!

I took a couple of pictures of our ribbon supply here in the factory. Each roll you see is a 100 YARD roll...and I only took pictures of a couple stands. (It's a mess, the big stand actually has rolls behind the ones facing out....)This is about 1/3 of the inventory...we literally have thousands of rolls...but, can ALWAYS find room for more!!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend....and it might be too late for me to buy Grinch (Green Galore) cardstock already....for those of you who need to load up before they are gone...you may want to consider it now!!!!!

Trudi

Background Stamps

Last week, I meant to upload a picture of a card I created quite some time ago. I intended to upload it onto the CHF gallery during their first week of summer fun...each week they are featuring a different line of their wonderful stamps. I hesitated to upload this for a couple of reasons. First, I feel that somewhere I have seen something similar done with this background stamp...and I'm afraid subconsciously I may have "cased" it...I don't want to take the credit entirely on my own...BUT...that being said....I suspect with a background stamp like this...a design probably will be similar to others...it's such a nice stamp...it doesn't need much more than stamping it!

I machine stitched vellum over the image (Toile Backgrounder) and stamped a sentiment on the vellum so it would "pop". I think it's the use of the tulle that may have been something I've seen in my mind....the felt heart was cut using my ancient red original sizzix machine...(I have about 75 dies....I will never part with....)and the button...well...that's almost a given with me...if there is a spot on the card for it...I will put a button on it! This is sort of a vintagey feel ... or those french plates....I enjoyed making this card...and the little boy on it...sort of reminds me of my Dad with my Grandma...I have that vision for some reason!

Oh, and the 2nd reason I didn't upload it...I had a CRUDDY end of my week last week...full of shipping stress. It all worked out, but I had an issue with 2 of my overnight shipments...and was on the phone all day Thursday with our shipper trying to get some decent answers. We made the deadline, and the packages were finally delivered a day late....but....in the meantime....it had me in KNOTS. When oh when will this stress get less stress? Yesterday wasn't much better, but I went running at the end of the day and got some of that negative energy out...Exercise really does a body AND soul good....

Have a good day!

Trudi

My Recipe

So, I found my little doodles on my scratch paper of the pasta salad I made using pickled asparagus and gourmet wine vinegar. I have a customer, who owns a very large specialty food & gift shop http://www.simplynorthwest.com/index.html who is writing a cookbook. She asked her suppliers to supply recipes....so, considering what she carries in her store that is ours...I started pulling out recipes. She carries a huge amount of our novelty line, but she also sells a few of our wine vinegars and huckleberry products. So, keeping that in mind, I'm forwarding recipes to her using those products out of our line.

In 1989, my Mom and I published our very own cookbook, "Adams Place Cooks with Flavored Vinegars"...and have had it printed now 3 times. It was fun coming up with all of these recipes way back when....and both Mom and I took a bit of a walk down memory lane peeking at some of them today! Most are dishes we cook over and over and over ... like Pot Roast browned in Raspberry Vinegar....and my Dad's traditional Cucumber Salad, passed down from generation to generation...he learned it as a little boy from my German Grandma who came to this country when she was only 15!

The recipe I'm sharing today...is one that I created last week....a close friend of mine is a caterer. Taste testing at her house a couple of weeks ago...I fell in luv with her pasta salad....I took that taste home in my mind...and this is what I came up with. It's addicting!!!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup grated FRESH Parmesean Cheese

8 marinated artichoke hearts (cut in smaller pieces) (I cut them in 1/2)

3-oz olives, sliced (I took whole olives and cut in 1/2 or 1/3's....a little more olive than presliced)

1/4 cup salad oil

1/4 cup Adams Place Walla Walla Sweet Onion Wine Vinegar (or other flavored vinegar)

6 cups cooked pasta

Fresh basil (torn in little pieces)

Johnny Seasoning salt (to preference)

Diced Tomato

1/2 cup pickled asparagus cut in bite-sized pieces

Cook pasta al dente, drain. Cool pasta and add the remaining ingredients, season with Johnny's to preference!

I have a big wingding going on this Friday night....I will be bringing home a bottle of Walla Walla Sweet Onion Wine Vinegar (I used mine up!) and making this! I like the large Rigate pasta but all pasta is good....the little cork screw shaped ones would be good too! I'm not a gourmet cook...so, not sure of the names...when I opened my cupboard I got a quick lesson on names of pasta! The rigate pasta is about an inch long, straight hollow tube shaped piece! LOL!

Trudi

Pickled Asparagus

OK...if my creative time is going to be deprived by pickling asparagus...I better at a minimum....show you what my day was like. I did get a chance to go for a 4 mile run...but beyond that...I've been consumed with THIS! I managed to get 40 pints...and I better be eating this stuff all year...or be invited to a lot of parties....(we always wrap deli ham with cream cheese and pickled asparagus...people now expect us to bring this....) I actually could have done more...but decided to eat it fresh this week...a couple of nights of bacon wrapped baked asparagus, maybe a stir-fry and probably cooked the old fashioned way...al dente with margarine and salt. I just had to give up...I know I'll be left with oodles of it next year...I just know it...but yesterday was our official last day of cutting...so...I had no choice!

I did create a new pasta salad recipe...that uses the little pickled ends...one of my customers is requesting the recipe (she is publishing a cookbook with products from our region...this recipe does call for one of our items...but, I also included pickled asparagus, which we do not do commercially, however...there are manufacturers around our region who do...so, this recipe is a MUST for her book!)...so, tomorrow, when I'm at work...I'm going to create the recipe on paper...I'll post it then as well...it was pretty good (I made it last weekend)....I even figured Weight Watcher points for it too! I have to be honest...my friend who is a caterer...made something similar...so...I kept the taste tucked in my memory and then came home and tried to COPY!!!! Anyhow....I did 40 pints...would have been 41, but one of them broke in the canner....

toodles...

Trudi

Itty Bitty Scrapbook Pages

A conversation came up recently as to which size pages do we prefer to scrap? I started out doing 8-1/2 x 11 and RARELY do that size anymore! I prefer 12 x 12 pages, and almost always a 2-page spread....but....I have done them in all sizes....and I have to say.....my little itty bitty book was one of the funnest sizes EVER! I think it's 3-1/2" x 3-1/2" or so....I didn't measure...I mentioned to a friend I would upload my pictures today and I have my book at home!

This was a FUN day at the Pumpkin Patch with my 2 little kidlets!

The little box and chipboard book is a (retired) product of Stampin Up! I did order extra before they were discontinued....but not nearly enough! I would have liked having a dozen or so on hand....these are fun to decorate and give away as gifts at showers! (Sorry about the quality of the pictures...these were taken YEARS ago!)

Busy week this week....but, my energy level is on high gear...and my TV shows are over for the most part...may that I get some craft time in! I hope so!!!!

Trudi