We deal with a lot of harvests here at Happy Acres that need to be refrigerated, especially leafy greens. Up until now we have been using a mix of plastic bags and containers to hold our produce. They are supposedly food safe, but we have been trying to move away from plastic for some time now.
My wife recently dusted off her sewing machine and made us some fabric food bags, based on an idea she got from Lynn over yonder at Wood Ridge. These bags are being tested in the kitchen now, for a variety of things.
Mei Qing pac choi and Yukina Savoy
I harvested some pac choi and Yukina Savoy from the greenhouse this week. They wound up eventually in some Turkey Miso soup I made. But after the harvest, they hung out for a while in a cloth bag in the refrigerator.
greens in cloth bag
My wife made this bag with a draw string, so it can be closed up tightly. That is handy when you want to keep the contents from falling out, or to help keep the moisture in!
bag with draw string
We’ve also used the bags for bread, like this Cracked Wheat boule I baked last week. The bags are going to get a lot of use when the harvests start coming on hot and heavy. I think she is going to need to make us several more!
cloth bags are also good for bread
As for the greens, they wound up in a Turkey Miso soup I made, using some of our leftover heritage turkey from Christmas. We had frozen the leftover meat along with some stock we made from the carcass. I added the greens at the last minute, right before serving. It made for a tasty soup!
Turkey Miso Soup with greens
For more gardeners’ harvests, visit Daphne’s Dandelions and check out Harvest Mondays.