Not-Yet-Ripe-For-The-Picking in the Pacific Northwest

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when Washington replaces its winter weather with spring, June will be uncharacteristically wet and cold. I can handle biking in the rain and bundling up in a fleece, but I find it difficult to cope with the disappointment of unripe berries. This month's Mac Attack Challenge was "Walk on the Wild Side." While I believe this refers to a jungle theme, I had decided to run with the wild - that is, wild berries.

This would be a RIPE salmonberry, not the paler version I turned into jam today.

Our local newspaper had a whole article on local edible wild plants, which mentioned this little salmon-colored raspberry-like fruit located in some of the wet, woody areas nearby. On my runs for the past few weeks, I passed a stand of some golden salmonberries waiting to ripen in the sun. Unfortunately, we were missing the sun part of the equation. So my berries languished in the rain, and my hopes and dreams of creating a vibrant Wild Salmonberry Macaron were washed away.

Well, not quite. The lovely orangey berries were too tempting, so I collected a few and concocted enough jam to fill a single macaron. I made some rather lumpy coconut shells (too much coconut, eh?...they taste delightful, though), and filled the remaining with a chocolate ganache. There could have been worse endings to my predicament.

These macarons are extra special because of the chickens that laid these multi-colored eggs! As I mentioned a few posts ago, I spend one day a week helping on a local farm. They happen to have some little layers that produce spectacular eggs!

I also have to say that I feel amazingly lucky to be working with them (not the hens, the people), as they are so enthusiastic and work so hard. This brings me to the second topic I wanted to discuss - Pacific Northwest Agriculture. I can't remember if I shared this with you before, but starting a week from Saturday PBS will broadcast Good Food for a short period of time. This film documents some of the agricultural endeavors taking place in this region - particularly the revitalization of the family farm and the growing power of farmers markets. It highlights some of the challenges farmers face - both financial and ecological - and showcases several farms overcoming these. If anything, I felt comforted and inspired after watching, and now consider myself extraordinarily fortunate to live in an area that has such a wealth of conscious consumers and farmers ... and truly Good Food!