Posts Tagged: Food

Elderberry Workshop at Riverdance Farms

Outdoors. Social Distance. Face Masks. Elderberries!

Cindy Lashbrook, co-owner of Riverdance Farms on the Merced River, grows organic walnuts, cherries, blueberries and more. Most years, she organizes the popular Pick and Gather Festival with U-Pick, music, vendors, education, and river fun in late May or June when blueberries and cherries are ready to pick. In 2020, due to coronavirus restrictions, there was no Pick and Gather Festival at Riverdance Farms. 

But, with an abundance of careful planning and social distancing, Cindy and her colleague Kathy Anuszczyk invited visitors to the farm in August for a "Make and Take" Elderberry workshop. Lucky participants, including this author, were guided in creating, hands-on, an Elderberry-Honey Syrup/Tonic, from harvesting elderberries to a guided step-by-step infusion. 

Reservations required - Several sessions of the elderberry workshop were offered, marketed through Facebook and other social media. The number of participants for each session was limited to six household groups of people that Cindy and Kathy were able to accommodate at six tables, set up a distance from each other, facing an instructor's demonstration table under a large shade tent. Each participant paid $30, or $25 if the household group included multiple people.

When participants arrived at the farm, wearing face masks, each group was directed to a table already set up with all the equipment needed to make syrup, including gas-fired cook-stoves, cooking pots, spoons, sieves, measuring cups, ladles, picking clippers or knives and colanders for washing berries. In addition, the organizers had set up water drums with faucets as washing stations for the fruit and outdoor stainless steel sinks with hot water for washing pots and utensils.

After Cindy oriented participants using a map of the farm, identifying the orchards, the river and the elderberry trees, everyone took a picking bucket and walked to pick berries. California blue elderberries are often grown in hedgerows and on the edges of farms or on irregular areas unsuitable for crops. Elderberries attract birds and pollinators and can be processed into jams, syrups and other products with nutritional and medicinal value. As people walked, picked and cooked, Kathy explained the nutrition and uses of elderberries.

The Process - Picking was delightful; the trees were laden with large clumps of berries with a distinctive soft blush, ready to be cut and placed in the picking buckets. Each participant easily picked at least two pounds of berries. Returning to the tables, the next step was de-stemming the berries into the colanders. After rinsing and measuring, everyone added water to their cooking pans and set to boiling the berries down as the first step to creating syrup. Kathy distributed ginger and herbs to everyone to add to the berry mixture as it boiled.

When boiling had thickened the berry syrup sufficiently, it was time to press the mix through a sieve into a bowl, separating the liquid from the solids of the berries and herbs. Then a cup of honey was stirred in as sweetener to each bowl of liquid to complete the syrup.

After a little cooling, the mix was ladled into a clean quart jar. Each workshop participant ended the workshop with a jar of elderberry syrup (not processed - these needed to be kept in the refrigerator) and a recipe to take home. Of course, everyone had a chance to buy more berries, honey, or other products if they wanted.

To learn more about growing, harvesting, marketing and using California blue elderberries, see the newly-created UC SAREP California Elderberries website.

Farms and ranches sell direct online - Please help grow connections!

Communities support their local farms and ranches
During this COVID-19 emergency, as most agritourism operations have canceled events and on-farm activities, many are refocusing on direct sales - selling  to their local community members directly through on-line sales, CSAs, and pick-up and delivery services. UC SAREP is helping consumers purchase directly from local farms and ranches by sharing connections to local farmers all over California on our UC Agritourism Directory, www.calagtour.org.

The new webpage, COVID-19 Shelter-in-Place Direct-from-Farm Resources, includes information and links to local agricultural and community organizations connecting consumers with farms and ranches offering box deliveries, farm stands, online ordering, delivery and pickup services, organized by region.

We need you! Please help grow these connections
Resources for connecting with local farmers and ranchers in many California regions are not yet included on this website. We need your help!

If you are an organization promoting local direct sales by farmers and ranchers, or if you are an individual farmer or rancher who would like to be included on this page, please contact Penny Leff, UC SAREP agritourism coordinator, at paleff@ucdavis.edu.

Farmers' markets open as "Essential Services"
In many areas, farmers' markets remain open, with major adjustments for social distancing and sanitary protection for everyone involved. These farmers' markets are essential for farmers as well as consumers, and are a wonderful way for community members to support local farms, but some have changed hours or limited their seasons. Please check the website or Facebook page of your local farmers' market before you visit to learn of any changes.

The Ecology Center has a great tracking tool which allows users to search for farmers' markets and filter for Market Match and EBT acceptance: https://ecologycenter.org/fmfinder/

 

 

 

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