Farm to Jar: Happy Kitchen Madness

The post title is inspired by my friend Deb Di Bernardo and her "Farm to Cup" philosophy for Roast House Coffee. They work to develop personal relationships with the people who grow the coffee they roast and with the people who ultimately drink it. (And their Ride the Edge blend debuted at this year's Bike to Work Week Spokane tastes wonderful--go find some!)

It's the personal touch that makes all the difference.

Today we had an intense "Farm to Jar" day. We took off around 9 a.m. for Green Bluff in search of raspberries (not quite ready last week) and cherries (in abundant supply). We're so lucky in Spokane to have over 30 small farms in a 12-square-mile area an easy, beautiful drive from downtown, along with farmers' markets in different neighborhoods several days a week.

The young 'uns picked like troopers, although they were disappointed not to find Bings hanging in clusters like grapes the way we did last week at Hansen's. Plenty of pie cherries though! And plenty of stupidity on my part--went off without putting on any sunscreen and paid the price for four hours of picking in the hot sun.

Once home with pounds and pounds of sour cherries and raspberries I went to my happy place: making good food for people I love.

The kids retreated to the cool basement, where they watched movies and pitted the cherries.

Meanwhile I steamed up the kitchen: got bread dough rising; made two batches of raspberry jam; started dough for homemade pizzas to be topped with veggies from Thursday's South Perry Farmers' Market (Facebook page); baked a cherry pie; baked the pizzas; baked the bread; and wrapped up a long, hot day making sour cherry jam.

When we bite into a slice of fresh bread with fresh jam we'll taste that personal touch.