Summer Berry Picking In Zelma Rose
Kicking off summer AND June (um...how are we already half way through the year?) with a day at at the berry farm with my sweet silver fox and my darling new ZELMA ROSE Estero hand woven necklace designed by artist Lisa Anderson Shaffer. The beloved Estero Necklace takes a cue from the great yonder, inspired by the deep shades of desert flora across California. Big skies, miles to wander, and rich with color, the natural beauty and intrigue of our California deserts evoke a love for adventure.
Each Estero Necklace is hand woven in an original pattern of knots and weaves designed by Lisa to create a stand out necklace that is beautiful, durable, lightweight, and incredibly comfortable to wear. Beginning with over 525 inches of 100% cotton cord and hand woven off loom in a deeply textured pattern, the Estero Necklace stands out all on its own, as minimal, but memorable. Hand dyed in small batches then dried in the bright California sun, each Estero Necklace has a unique color and beauty all it's own. The Estero Necklace is available in the classic, natural Ecru, (the one I am wearing) Hand Dyed Desert Rose, Hand Dyed Golden Ochre, and Hand Dyed Cactus Green, and Hand Dyed Graphite. All colors are machine washable too ! Each necklace is made to order just for you from her studio in West Marin, California. It's just the perfect piece for me. I have been wearing it with some bolder pieces in my closet really making it pop. But today I really wanted to match it perfectly with a tea stained dress to make everything seem like one piece and create some mystery to my #OOTD.
Really thrilled for you all to learn more about Zelma Rose in just a bit!
But you loves.... I cannot believe this was my first time to pick fresh berries. It was so fun to see all the kiddos out there too so excited. My parents never did anything like this with me. I mean my mom worked a ton owning her own restaurant but I seriously have zero memories of anything we ever did that was fun and different. I love it when I’m reminded of all the exciting things there are to do in and around town that are quite simple and require no planning. This is the perfect place and thing to do to create song life long memories. The weather is still mildly comfortable and the berries are getting riper by the day. So if you are local to Tulsa..get in the car and head to Owasso Berry Farm. (If you live elsewhere, do some research for your nearest berry farm)
Owasso Berry Farm has rows and rows of delicious blackberries and blueberries ripe for picking right now on Thursday and Saturday mornings through the month of June. All you have to do is grab your pail that they provide you with and start your hunt for the ripest berries you can find. The darker the berry the better according to Lin!
All of their berries are mulched for weed control, cane management, and moisture and temperature control. The fields are mowed weekly, canes are pruned into a hedge row, or on a trellis making maintenance and picking a breeze. All of their blackberry varieties are thornless, so no protection is necessary. They even provide the adorable juice absorbent fiber cartons for transporting!
Berries need to be refrigerated as soon as possible after picking, and generally will last 3-5 days in the refrigerator, just FYI. Or you can do what I am doing and putting them straight into a cobbler.
Blackberries and blueberries are very nutritional fruit. A 1 cup serving (140gm) of blackberries provides 50% of Vitamin C, 10% of Folate and 22% Fiber of your daily requirements. Blackberries are also a good source for Potassium, Calcium and Iron. In addition the compound Ellagic Acid identified as an anticarcinogen is found in blackberries. Fresh blackberries and blueberries are great for cobblers, jams, jellies, ice cream and cereal toppings. They also freeze very well for later use. The only place you can find vine ripened blackberries is a local grown produce stand or a you-pick farm. Blackberries do not ripen once they are picked, and once ripe are too perishable to ship. I had my first vine ripened blackberry today and oh em geee.......I have been doing it wrong my whole life.
You Pick 'em blackberries: $4/lb
Pre-picked blackberries: $5/lb
(1 Pound Equates to a level Quart)
You Pick 'em blueberries: $5.50/lb
Pre-Picked blueberries: $7/lb
Now for more on the beloved Zelma Rose pieces that I am so obsessed with.
From the Zelma Rose website directly because I just love Lisa's Story so much....
I am best known for modern fiber jewelry designs for Zelma Rose and fiber installations. Taught by my grandmother Zelma, I first learned to cross stitch at 9 years old and immediately fell in love with the attention to detail and slow nature of the process. With an intergenerational collection of Anderson family needlework as my inspiration, I have been creating fiber art for the past 15 years. As an artist I have partnered with creative companies like Etsy, ModCloth, West Elm, Minted, The American Museum of Natural History, SFMoMA, and Tiny Prints. I hold a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and a MS from San Francisco State University and I am a 3 time California Arts Council Artist in Residence Recipient, along with an Academy of Handmade Awardee for Best Artist in Needlework.
When I sit down in my studio to design for Zelma Rose, I reference a kaleidoscope of ideas and images. As an artist, I am a hunter and a gatherer. A visual editor, a collector, a cultivator, and a farmer of ideas and design. Sometimes a design will come to fruition in a single afternoon, other times it is the careful cultivation of successes and failures over the span of a year. Some of my designs are a year in the making, when one day everything just clicks. Moments like that feel magical and remind me how much I love the mystery of the artistic process. People always find this strange, but I do not sketch my designs. I write everything down in words in a notebook and then go straight to prototype. This is probably exactly what you are not supposed to do, but I love the changes that take place in the process. By listening to the materials and responding to what they are doing I always end up going somewhere a little bit different then I had imagined. It's exciting, challenging, and feels very genuine. You can read more about my process in this interview with Renegade Craft Fair and hear more on Vickie Howell's podcast CRAFTish.
Each year Zelma Rose donates a portion of our sales to charitable organizations that support quality mental health services to our returning veterans. This year a portion of our sales are supporting Team Rubicon.
I am so smitten. And so honored to own one! (Thank you so much Lisa)
XOOXOXOOOX
SAM