Harvest Monday Mar 20, 2023

Posted on March 20, 2023 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. The greenhouse is still keeping us supplied with plenty of greens these days. It will eventually heat up in there later on and the greens will suffer, but so far the cool weather and lengthening days have made for lush growth. Hyper Red Rumple Wave lettuce is coloring up for me nicely, and I am pleased with the Green Forest romaine which I am growing for the first time.

Hyper Red Rumple Waved lettuce

Green Forest lettuce

Redina is also doing well, though it’s not quite as deep a red color as Hyper Red Rumple Waved. The leaves are big and tender though, and perfect for sandwiches or salads.

Redina lettuce

I’ve got an assortment of mizuna and pak choi growing in small containers in the greenhouse. Purple Magic Epic High pak choi is a mouthful to say (and type), but has the deepest purple leaves of any I’ve grown so far. I’m harvesting them individually for use so the plants keep on producing. Miz America mizuna has deep reddish purple leaves, and Mizspoona Salad Select has dark green leaves and has long been a favorite of mine. Both have done quite well in containers for me and add a mild mustardy tang to our salads.

purple pac choi

mizuna

I’ve also got arugula growing in containers. I made a cutting to go on pizza we made for dinner one night last week. We used pita bread for a crust, and spread some of my homemade pizza sauce on first. Piled high with arugula and other homegrown goodies like pickled Peppadew peppers from last year, it made for a tasty treat.

arugula for pizza

pizza with arugula

I’ll close with a shot of one of the many birds visiting our feeders last week. A Northern Flicker was eating at the suet feeder yesterday afternoon. I was happy with the photo, considering I was inside and shooting through the window with my Canon DSLR!

Northern Flicker woodpecker

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting!


Posted in Harvest Monday | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Harvest Monday March 13, 2023

Posted on March 13, 2023 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Salad season continues here, and lettuce was the only thing I harvested last week. Several full sized heads kept us well supplied for salads and other things as well. The Salanova Red Butter lettuce isn’t as red as some of the others I grow, but its leaves are soft and ‘buttery’ like its green counterpart. And the oakleaf varieties from Wild Garden Seeds are always colorful additions to our salads.

oakleaf lettuce

Salanova Red Butter

I set out quite a few lettuce plants in the greenhouse beds last December, and they are sizing up nicely now. Starfighter is a bolt-resistant green leaf lettuce that makes fairly large sized heads. The leaves are tender and mild tasting, and we used this head for a batch of wilted lettuce salad.

Starfighter lettuce

wilted lettuce salad

Last fall I fermented a few of the largest collard leaves to be used as wrappers for savory fillings. Last week I used some of them to make bean and cheese enchiladas. I used the collard leaves for half, and used store-bought cabbage leaves for the other half. I wanted to do a taste test to compare the two wrappers.

collard leaves topped with refried beans

I used tomato sauce from the freezer and some of my homemade chile powder to make the sauce for the enchiladas. I baked these for about an hour before topping with cheese and popping back in the oven just long enough to melt it.

ready for the oven

While the cabbage leaf version was more tender, I thought the fermented collard leaves made for a much more tasty enchilada. I froze the leftovers, and freezing should soften up the collard leaves a bit. Overall I was pleased with the results, and I plan to make more enchiladas in the future using the collard leaves. I love enchiladas in general, and using the collards as wrappers is a good way to use the harvest, as well as to get more vegetables in our diet.

tasting one of each kind

I’ll close with a photo of a bluebird visiting one of our feeders last week. This feeder has mostly shelled seeds and nuts in it, which they can easily eat. They also visit the suet feeders we put out. I’ll keep the feeders up a while longer, until the weather warms and natural food sources are more readily available for the birds.

male bluebird at feeder

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting!


Posted in Harvest Monday | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Harvest Monday March 6, 2023

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Last week was mostly all about the weather, as we careened from record-setting warmth to near record rainfall in the matter of days. A storm system moved through Friday, bringing damaging winds and torrential rain. Thankfully we had no damage, but we did pick up almost 4 inches of rain in about 12 hours time. Others nearby were not so lucky, and several tornadoes did a lot of damage to structures.

dumping rain gauge

Everything inside the greenhouse was snug and cozy though, and I cut several heads of lettuce for use last week. Hyper Red Rumple Waved is a Frank Morton introduction from Wild Garden Seed that has colored up nicely for me. It’s one of the darker red lettuces I grow, though not as red as Sea of Red which I am just now starting from seed for later plantings. The Salanova Green Butter is a long time favorite, and makes soft buttery leaves for our salads.

Hyper Red Rumple Waved lettuce

Salanova Green Butter lettuce

Strawberry Oakheart is another Frank Morton creation and we used some of it on a salad we had for lunch one day. This one had cheese and nuts for protein, and was topped with some croutons I made from leftover sourdough bread. I freeze any ‘wonky’ homemade bread slices I have for use as croutons. I crisp them up in the oven as-is, and the flavorful bread makes a tasty topping for salads and soups.

salad creation

It’s my first time growing a green leaf lettuce called Grazion and so far I am impressed. The leaves are thick but tender, and it has made nice sized heads. It will be hard to choose between it and other green leaf varieties like Bergams Green and Starfighter. I have all three growing at the moment for comparison. So far all three are doing well.

Grazion lettuce

In other news, our two Merrill magnolia trees are blooming, and they are the earliest of our trees to flower. They perfume the air with their sweet scent for a couple of weeks and then they are gone. They are blooming about three weeks earlier than last year, and along with the blooming daffodils it tells me we might have an early spring this year. That said, I have seen snow here in March and even April so sometimes the early indicators are mistaken!

Merrill magnolia tree

 

magnolia blooms

closeup of bloom

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting!


Posted in Harvest Monday | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Harvest Monday February 27, 2023

Posted on February 27, 2023 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Salad season has begun here, and I made two modest cuttings of lettuce from the greenhouse this past week. The plants are beginning to size up now, though still not quite full sized. I cut red and green oakleaf types, and a red leaf lettuce called Hyper Red Rumple Waved.

green oakleaf lettuce

red lettuce

Some of that was used to top fish tacos we had for dinner one night, and it also went on bean tacos one day for lunch.

fish tacos

I’m already getting ready for the next wave of lettuce. I transplanted lettuce seedlings one morning, plucking them out of the plug trays and setting them into 3.5″ pots. That makes for big plants with a well established root system that take off quickly when set out.

potting up lettuce seedlings

In other news, it has been over 10 years now since we put up new fencing around the vegetable garden, and the chicken wire I put around the bottom is badly in need of repair. The wire keeps out rabbits and other small animals who could easily slip through the holes in the galvanized fencing. Right now they could get through in a number of places!

hole in chicken wire

I am running two foot wide chicken wire around the perimeter of the garden, lapping about six inches down on the ground and the rest up on the fencing material. I am securing it all with zip ties. The zip ties usually need replacing before the wire, though I am using ones that are supposed to be heat and UV resistant. It’s not hard work to run the wire and secure it, but it is time-consuming for sure. I’m about half way done and hope to finish soon before planting season begins.

chicken wire

securing with zip ties

And in the shade garden, the hellebores are still putting on a show for us. We only have a few planted, but they brighten up the area in early spring. The deer also leave them alone, which is a big plus since they tend to eat a lot of things we plant. They are definitely blooming earlier than usual, which I think bodes well for an early spring.

hellebore

Anna’s Red hellebore

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting!

 

 


Posted in Harvest Monday | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Harvest Monday February 20, 2023

Posted on February 20, 2023 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Thankfully I am mostly recovered from oral surgery and back to eating a more typical diet now. That meant I could cut some of the greenhouse lettuce for a salad one day last week. Strawberry Oakheart lettuce added color, and Bauer oakleaf added loft and volume. I also cut a bit of the Beka Santoh (a loose-leaf Chinese cabbage) for added flavor. For a treat I made a homemade ranch style dressing for the occasion instead of our usual vinaigrette.

salad greens

For another meal we needed lettuce for a sandwich, and the Green Forest romaine supplied us with enough leaves for that purpose. It’s my first time growing this variety and already I’m impressed.

Green Forest lettuce

I also cut some of the greenhouse mizuna to go in a frittata we had yesterday, plus a bit of the purple pac choi. Both these do well in containers, which is how I have them growing  since the bed space in the greenhouse is limited.

mizuna

In other news, the early daffodils are blooming now, which is a sure sign that spring is on the way! Of course, it promptly turned cold again, since winter is not nearly over for us yet. Regardless, it is a treat to see some color outside to brighten up the grey and brown shades of winter.

early daffodils

I also participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count last week. I saw eight species of birds at our feeders and around the yard. We have at least six different woodpecker species that visit us from time to time, but I only saw the smallest one (Downy Woodpecker) for the count.

Downy Woodpecker

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting!

 


Posted in Harvest Monday | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments