Amazing judges for upcoming pie contest
Mark your calendars: the annual Festival of Fruit at Piper’s Orchard is just around the corner. The event takes place Sept. 18 from 10 to 2 and features cider making, talks about the history of the orchard, and fruit identification (bring an apple from your tree to find out the variety!). City Fruit, the Seattle Tree Fruit Society and Friend’s of Piper’s Orchard have put together the event.
We’ll also be hosting an apple pie contest–anyone can enter so feel free to bring a pie–and we have some stellar judges lined up. The judges include (in no particular order):
Jon Rowley: Jon is perhaps best known as the man behind the marketing of Copper River salmon. He organizes the Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Competition, which he calls “an annual dating program for West Coast wines and oysters.”
Jon also works with farmers, restaurants and retailers to improve the quality and distribution of fruits and vegetables. He’s a common sight at weekend farmer’s markets, using his refractometer to measure the sugar in fruits.
He’s a pie maker himself, is a contributing editor at Gourmet magazine and is listed in the “Who’s Who of Cooking in America.”
Lorna Yee: Lorna is a fixture of the local food scene. She’s a contributing editor and the “Key Ingredient” columnist for Seattle Magazine.
Lorna recently published her first cookbook, The Newlywed Kitchen: Delicious Meals for Couples Cooking together, and started her popular blog, The Cookbook Chronicles, to showcase recipe testing for the book.
For a taste of Lorna’s style, check out her sour cherry coffee cake with toasted hazelnut and oatmeal streusel recipe. Yum!!
Tracey Bernal: Tracey has worked as a pastry chef and cook at Campagne, Café Septieme, the Palace Kitchen and the Dahlia Bakery. She is currently a gardener in ornamental landscaping, with a particular interest in edible landscaping. She’s got five types of apples in her yard.
Tracey has been a pie judge at past contests at the Festival of Fruit and is active in the Seattle Tree Fruit Society.
Dr. Bob Norton: Bob is the region’s foremost fruit tree expert. Around 1964, Bob started the Washington State University tree fruit research center in Mt. Vernon with the purpose of bringing about a revival of growing tree fruit in western Washington.
Bob has been a judge at previous pie contests at the Festival of Fruit and brings a unique talent to the judging. That’s because he’s one of the few people who can identify some of the many varieties of apples in our region.
In addition to being a judge, Bob will give a talk at 10 a.m. about hard cider making and will help identify fruit that festival attendees bring in from their own trees.
Tell your friend’s and mark your calendars! It should be a fun day.
Foot Sock Party: Piper Orchard
Over the weekend, Don Ricks led a buch of volunteers at Piper’s Orchard in placing foot socks on fruit to help protect against apple maggots & coddling moths. The idea is to increase the yield of some of the historic varieties in the orchard there.
I went along to learn how to propertly put foot socks on and lend a hand in pretecting this valuable fruit. You can check out some photos on our Facebook page and below is a video of Don explaining how it’s done:
Latest Pest Report & More Chances to Volunteer
As we’ve mentioned previously, our resident fruit tree pest expert, Don Ricks, is constantly monitoring the situation in Seattle. We hope to save
a good number of apples and pears from infestation this year, allowing us to put that fruit to good use for the first time. And latest word is that the codling moths have been seen flying around a few Seattle neighborhoods. So getting these footies on to the fruit in the coming days is very important.
We could use your help!
There are a number of opportunities to help apply foot socks to small fruit. The more fruit we cover, the more fruit we can use.
Saturday, May 22
- Bellevue, Holy Cross Lutheran Church (map), 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. For more info, Roger Ledbetter: (425) 888-0644
- Wallingford, Good Shepherd Center (map), 9 a.m.-1 p.m. For more info, Don Ricks: DonnieAppleseed@yahoo.com
- Carkeek Park, the Piper Orchard (map), Noon-3 p.m. For more info, Bob Baines: (206) 684-4075
Sunday, May 23
- Magnusson Park (map), 10 a.m., For more info: timothykeller@mac.com. Seattle Tree Fruit Society will be applying foot sox and Linda Saturnak may be selling them.
Wednesday, May 29
- Good Shepherd Center (map), 9am – 1pm, For more info, Don Ricks: DonnieAppleseed@yahoo.com
Saturday, June 5
50% Off Bare Root Fruit Trees, Shrubs and Veggie Starts
This is a great chance to grab yourself some bare root fruit trees or fruiting vines. And many of them are only $10.
It’s a first come, first serve basis.
We, the people, are doing so much good!
Alleycat Acres posted a great story about The Ground Up Project with whom they are going to partner at the Yesler Terrace housing group. Will Allen visited with them when he was in town. They are creating plans for a green community that suit and reflect the structure of this residential shape and form, not some generic ideal. They are involving and training teens. Check them out! Offer to get involved, lend a hand, be engaged!
Seattle Good Food Network Meeting: March 18
The Seattle Good Food Network (SGFN) will have their next meeting this Thursday, March 18 from 4:30-6pm at the Douglas-Truth Library (map). You can get a glimpse of the agenda here.
In 2009, members of the Seattle-King County Acting Food Policy Council formed the SGFN to focus on food systems issues in the greater Seattle area. It is open to all people and organizations including individuals, community groups, non-profits, businesses, and government that want to support the good food movement in the Seattle area.
If you can’t make this month’s meeting, don’t worry – meetings are held the third Thursday of each month from 4:30-6pm at a rotating location. Please contact Kara Martin at kara@martinandsanders.com or 206-850-2877 if you would like to join the network’s listserve or would like to learn more.
Hope to see you there!
Historic Orchard Gets Pruning
An historic orchard owned by the Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Bellevue received a major ‘haircut’ Saturday, Feb 13, thanks to Don Ricks of City Fruit, Holy Cross volunteers, and a crew from the Compass Center Lutheran fellowship in Seattle. The church has decided to renovate more than 20 apple, pear, quince and plum trees on its property – and to create a major garden plot — as part of its effort to grown more food.Referring to itself as “the Church in the orchard,” Holy Cross volunteer Janet Farness writes: “It was a joy having City Fruit and Compass Center partner with us as we embark on the journey to revitalize our orchard and create some Pea-Patch gardens — all for food growing. May the fruit and food abound for all!”
By the end of the day, orchard prunings obscured the volunteers. Additional photos on our Facebook page.
Exciting news: Will Allen is coming to Seattle!
Will Allen, the CEO of Growing Power, will be speaking and touring potential urban farmland on 3 February 2010. And of course, we plan to boast about our urban orchard and get some tips on making our success-so-far even more widespread. If you don’t know about the incredible project that became Growing Power, be sure to click on the link….you will just be bowled over with amazement and ready to roll up your sleeves! There is also a meeting for interested people in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood:
Earth Day Tree Tour with Arthur Lee Jacobson
Arthur Lee Jacobson
Arthur Lee Jacobson is a longtime friend of Seattle’s urban plant life. He’s spent his entire career learning about plants in Seattle and teaching Seattle residents about the plants that surround them. In honor of Earth Day, Jacobson will lead a walking tour of Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park Sunday, April 25. He’ll guide a small group through the park’s collection of rare and significant trees. While the park is not centered around fruit trees, this is a great opportunity to learn about our local tree population.
This tour will happen rain or shine. The tour occurs on Earth Day, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased in advance for $5.00 online, at the Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park Seattle location, or over the phone by calling (206) 362-5200. Ticket sales end on April 21st, 2010. Get yours early, this is bound to sell out. Proceeds from ticket sales go to the Arboretum Foundation and Plant Amnesty.
