Boys 'N Berries

Today we worked more on weeding and watering in the garden this afternoon. It was fairly cool in the morning- in the 60's but it sure warmed up in the afternoon. Since Adam takes a nap in the afternoon this is the time that we have to do most of our gardening work, so we have to work in the hot sun.


In the morning we picked quite a few boysenberries much to Adam's delight. He loved picking a lot of his own berries. Sometimes he would pick one that wasn't very ripe and take a bite or two and then ask me to "hold this." So cute! He sure loves berries! We also picked a few of the snap peas still on the vines.


Later in the afternoon we went out to work in the garden and I noticed the echinacea was blooming in one corner of the garden. It looks so pretty!


Our grapes (pictured above) are also doing quite well and are getting much bigger. We also saw some lettuce and beets (pictured below) growing quite nicely.




We went to work weeding two rows of carrots. This was hard work because the carrot plants are so tiny and delicate and it was hard to spot them among the grasses and weeds that were much bigger. But, we were able to uncover many carrots. Also, we worked on weeding the rows of beans. We haven't gotten the bean poles up yet but we noticed that the beans are starting to put out tendrils and wanting to climb up something so that is a project we need to tackle soon.


My Mom also watered all of the plants. Right now we just have hoses out there so it is a big job to water everything so maybe next year we'll put in some type of drip irrigation system in. While my Mom was watering the potatoes she noticed a potato sticking out of the ground! It was such a great discovery! We were very excited but then quickly covered it up so that it could grow some more. We have decided to harvest our potatoes at the very end of the season so that they have more time to grow.

Since our melon plants are so small right now we have doubts that we will get any melons this season. Our corn is still very spotty but there are a few more stalks that have come up in some areas so we made sure to water them in case there is a small chance of getting a few ears of corn.

Have a great week and enjoy the sunshine!

Farmer's Market Meal!

Yesterday I decided to make a new dish out of some of the lovely foods that I picked up at the Oregon City Farmer's Market last weekend. I had picked up a pork shoulder roast from Hansen Family Farms as well as sugar snap peas and spinach from Gardenripe among other things. Also, I had made some sourdough bread over the weekend. So, I thought I'd make a Cuban pork sandwich.

I combined two recipes & two cooking methods to come up with a delicious combination. I used a dry rub and then combined with a braising method to create the yummy pork for the sandwich.

Below is the recipe and my notes along with some more photos of the process:

Pork Shoulder Roast- Cuban Style:

Ingredients:

1 pork shoulder roast- 3+ pounds

Salt & Olive Oil Rub:

1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons oregano
1-2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper
2-3 tablespoons olive oil

15-20 cloves garlic- finely chopped
1 medium onion- chopped

1/3 cup lime juice
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 1/3 cups orange juice

Combine the ingredients for the salt rub and rub it over the meat. Let the meat rest, covered in the refrigerator overnight.



Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Take the roast out of the refrigerator. Place the garlic and onion along with some olive oil in the bottom of a dutch oven. Put the roast on top of the garlic and onion mixture. Mix the lime, lemon and orange juices and pour them around the roast. It should come up around a quarter of the roast. You will have some left over.

Roast the meat for one hour and fifteen minutes on one side. Flip the roast over and roast for another 30 minutes. Check the level of the liquid. If it starts to get low, replace it with more of the juice mixture. After 30 minutes flip the roast one more time (at this point check for doneness) and if needed roast for about another 30 minutes. If your roast is larger it may need more time to cook.

I refrigerated my roast after this because I was saving it for dinner that evening. It was nice because all of the fat congealed and it was easy to extract the sauce from the pan.


After the roast is done let it cool a bit before slicing. Get the onion, garlic & juice mixture out of the pan and reduce it in a small frying pan for a few minutes over medium heat. Then, slice the meat into thin slices for the sandwiches. Place meat on one side of the bread and then ladle some of the sauce on top. On the other side of the bread I put some spinach, but you may dress your sandwich as you wish.

Enjoy!