2011 upick chronicles (x2)

There has been a definite shift in the angle of the light in the last week and a half and the quality of the wind, which corresponds nicely with Lammas (half way between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox). This seasonal shift has been noticeable in the berry fields as well. We picked raspberries a few days ago and then picked a pint or two each of boysenberries, marionberries, black raspberries (black caps) and sylvan blackberries today. There are still a few berries on the vines but rather than sharing space with flowers and honey bees, they are surrounded by unpicked drying berries and yellow jackets enjoying the sweetness of the season. The rows, once easy to walk through, are now overgrown.

The weather was overcast and cool when we first arrived at the upick late this morning. There were also so. many. blackbirds flocking. By the time we left, a little over an hour later, there was sunshine with fluffy cumulus clouds filling the sky.







Our upick on Wednesday was cut short by the hot dry weather. I had us there much later in the day than I normally would have, had I known how hot it was supposed to get.

Before going to the upick on Wednesday, we went to the farmers market in downtown Portland. It was a quick trip to pick up my first tomatoes of the season. It was also a reminder that peach season has begun! (After the market, we walked up to the food carts for tacos and frozen yogurt. And this it was off to the upick. A summer-food-filled day.)

picture summer- day 26 {silhouette of summer}

Working on silhouettes. Happy that the sun came out to play today.

picture summer- day 21 {spacey}

White cat, black berries.

picture summer- day 18 {play time}

Blueberry season!

picture summer- day 20 {order}

Drying red clover for winter teas.

picture inspiration- week 21 {From the Heart}

Garden Fuschia.

picture summer- day 15 {picture postcard}

Portland- City of Roses!

picture summer- day 14 {summer breezes} again

2011 upick chronicles

Today we were back at West Union Gardens to pick black raspberries (black caps), yellow raspberries and red raspberries. We picked a little over a flat mixed of all three berries. They were all great for picking but the red raspberries were at their finest! I'm hoping to go back soon to pick some more. Eva and I made raspberry and tayberry jam with most of the berries (the ones we didn't eat) that we picked on Saturday. Eva also wants to pick currants the next time we go.



Gooseberries, which we did not pick, but which we tasted.



Yellow raspberries.



Funky VW bus also found at the upick.

Picture Inspiration- week 20 {excavation}

{Coming in during the middle of this weekly class...}



Excavation- dig deep and discover what you enjoy taking photos of the most. This photo sums up quite a bit of that- my kids, {lately} Eva in her big sun hat, places we go, and {of course} the upick {and all the fruit found therein}.

2011 upick chronicles

Today Eva and I went to West Union Gardens for their first day of upicking. We picked a mixed flat of tayberries and raspberries. I must say, a flat fills up so much more quickly when Eva is picking as well! The tayberries were particularly easy to pick. The raspberries were just getting started and a little picked over at that.

picture summer- day 9 {the shape of things}

Berries and berry boxes.

picture summer- day 7 {so subtle}

Playing around with the changing blueberry colors, I found this guy taking shelter on a few of the pinker berries. Samuel is in the background checking out a baby garden spider.



On the way to *blue*.



I love the delicate peachy-pink of these succulent flowers, particularly with the vibrant purple in the background.

picture summer- day 2 {splash}

Water + tea + sunshine = sun tea!

(This was Choice's NW Blackberry tea. I had one package left and chose it because I remembered how the red color seeped through the water. Drinking it also reminded me how much I like berry/ fruit teas during the summer. Somewhere along the way all of my teas have become extremely practical. Sometimes this happens. Now I'm ready to swing back the other way a little bit and write blackberry tea on my grocery list for this week...)

picture summer- day 1 {here comes the sun}

So I had so much fun with Picture Color that I decided to sign up for another class with Big Picture Classes. Picture Summer is another email-a-day class but this time self paced and with a focus on summer rather than color.

Here we go. Day 1.

picture color- day 2 {iconic color}

picture color- day 29 {sunrise, sunset}

Well, there was no visible sunrise or sunset but I caught some blue skies poking through.

picture color- day 28 {color of happy}

It's like fireworks *and* sunshine...in Pink and Purple!

2011 upick chronicles

More strawberry picking yesterday, this time with friends. I picked 6.8 pounds of hood strawberries and noticed that the picking had definitely slowed down from a few days before. My feeling is that a few more days of sunshine and a little more heat will help ripen them up to make for easier picking {again} next week.

picture color- day 19 {color of calm}