August of dog days, blackberries, heirlooms ripening at last. Festivals and a frenzy of summertime events and the slant of the sun, hinted at in July, now undeniable. It is a summer of beautiful clouds, many days with rain, and not very hot temps.
At les collines whatever the weather high summer continues, with a recent beautiful batch of Shiro and red plums from fellow Great Barrington Farmers Market vendor Maynard Farms of Ulster Park. We are so glad to have Plum Jelly, we were without last year due to the freeze of stone fruit.
Blackberries from Greig, blueberries and black raspberries from Samascott are in now and combine for that dense, dark, 3-berry pie flavor Black & Blue, my favorite for breakfast with fresh ricotta and toasted almonds. Lavender continues to be a summer favorite, and customers have been telling me they love it with lamb– mix with Dijon and fresh rosemary to glaze, or serve with.
Local yellow and red onions coming in now from Markristo Farm slow simmer for our new batch of aromatic Onion Confit. Markristo also provided us with most of the Indigo radicchio for our Grillsdale offering, Meyer Lemon Rosemary Jelly glazed BC salmon, on grilled radicchio topped with tapenade. We were one of 11 chefs (cooks, in our case!) cooking last Saturday for 500, definitely intense. But a lot of fun and in a gorgeous setting.
Keeping it local, among others an appearance at the market at Falcon Ridge, a cocktail demo at Hillsdale Fine Wines and Spirits and a preserves and wine tasting at Domaney’s in Great Barrington have kept us hopping; we’ll be tasting at the Berkshire Co-op this Saturday right after the Great Barrington Farmers Market.
But back to jelly news…sweet and jalapeño peppers in now from Common Hands means Hot Pepper Jelly is back and in full swing. Concords and crabapples soon. And in a few weeks we are looking to try our hand at a Pumpkin Preserve, stay tuned.
Seems right to be thinking pumpkin now as the weather this past week, while spectacular, is more typical of September than August, with some very chilly nights and just barely sun-warmed days We’ll take it xo 
