Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. It was another light harvest week for me. I made a decent cutting of the Vivid Choi pac choi in the greenhouse, about 12 ounces worth. It took several rinses to rid the leaves of aphids, but I managed to get them cleaned up. My wife stir fried them up for a side dish one night for dinner. I’ve started cleaning out the greenhouse to beat back the aphid population. And I’ve taken Michelle’s suggestion and ordered some Pyganic (an OMRI approved pyrethrin) to spray in there. My plan is to get rid of all the affected plants, leaving the kale, onions, chives and parsley, then spray everything down real good including the benches and shelves. Hopefully I can get them under control before I start moving seedlings out there.
Vivid Choi pac choi
My other small harvest for the week is more sunflower shoots. These are so quick and easy to grow, going from seed to harvest in less than a week. I’ve been starting a batch every couple of weeks, and in fact I started some more yesterday. I started more cilantro for sprouts too. Once I get the aphids under control in the greenhouse I will plant some cilantro out there as well.
sunflower shoots
My bread bake of the week is a real treat for me, a Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread that brought back some fond memories. My buddy Dave worked at a couple of bakeries (including Dunkin Donuts) while he was going to high school and college. After he graduated, he bought a local bakery which he ran for several years. He made some killer cinnamon bread there, but I have to say this sourdough version might be a tad better than his. It is loaded with raisins and cinnamon, and made with 40% freshly ground Red Fife whole wheat. This is another great tasting Breadtopia no-knead recipe. The clay baker makes for a crispy crust, and the bread is tasty when toasted too.
Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread
crumb shot of Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread
We’ve been having warmer than normal weather here lately, and thing are budding out and blooming earlier than usual. Our white saucer magnolia tree started blooming last week. And early daffodils are now in full bloom. Our friend Jane reports she has asparagus popping up already! So far ours is still sleeping, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in a week or so. It will be nice to have some fresh asparagus, since we enjoy it as a homegrown seasonal treat and don’t buy it from the grocery. We had a hard freeze Saturday night, but the temps are supposed to warm up again this week and get back into the 70°F range. That should get things popping up again for sure!
magnolia blossoms
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!
Boy, that bread looks great! What a treat it would be for breakfast. I, too, had a problem with aphids in the seed-starting room last year, which I didn’t recognize soon enough. And the anti-aphid soap just made them laugh, in their own tiny way. I finally resorted to Pyrethrin, but it was too late, and the peppers and eggplants were stunted. This year I will be more vigilant.
No harvesting for us this week as we are still using up last weeks harvest. Your bread looks very tasty.
I’m sorry to hear about your aphid problem but it sounds as though you have a good plan to get rid of them! I love that you’re growing sunflower sprouts! I always forget about them as a quick and easy option to add some tasty green to my plate!
Hope you have a wonderful week, Dave!
The bread looks fantastic. We’re lucky to have an organic bakery nearby that makes delicious sourdough including a fruit loaf. I would love to be able to make it like you though (save a few pennies too).
The pak choi leaves are big aren’t they, it was worth the effort washing them. I got some spare mixed salad leaves from the farm I volunteer at, very tasty.
I had an aphid and white cabbage moth (? Teeny tiny flying white things) infestation on my kale over summer. No harvest, it was always covered in eggs. I ended chopping back the long stem and tossing most of the plant out. Hope your method is effective!
I’d not heard of sunflower shoots – they look delicious, as does that bread! We too have had very warm weather recently, completely NOT in line with what February should be like. Makes me nervous, actually as spring weather doesn’t normally arrive around here until late March, early April so there is still plenty of time for freezes and frosts to wreak havoc.