Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Once again I relied on an indoor crop to give us a fresh harvest last week. I made two cuttings of sunflower shoots, which I had growing under lights in the basement. I pre-sprout the seeds first in a jar, planting as soon as the roots begin to emerge. To keep the sprouts clean I don’t cover the seed with soil, I just sprinkle it over the top of the moistened potting mix.
sunflower shoots growing
We mostly use the shoots on salads, though they are also good on sandwiches or as a garnish on soups. I haven’t made any green smoothies lately but I bet they would be tasty in there as well.
harvest of sunflower shoots
I also made bread for the first time since we got our new countertops installed. Actually I made buns, and it was a treat to put the dough on the counter and work on it there. I spritzed the counter with a bit of oil to keep the dough from sticking.
dough for buns
golden sandwich buns
We are finishing up the month of February with record amounts of rainfall. So far this month I have dumped 9.31″ of rain from my CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network) official rain gauge. It’s the wettest February on record in our area. I hope it’s not a sign of things to come weather-wise. We’re only about a mile from the swollen, flooded Ohio River but thankfully we are high and dry. Others are not faring so well. I’ve got the rain gauge mounted on the post by the entrance to our garden. It’s a daily ritual for me to go out to the rain gauge at 7AM, dump out the water, and go back inside to record the amount. It’s about time to plant peas here, so I hope the soil dries out a bit otherwise I will be mudding them in!
CoCoRaHS rain gauge
I’ll close with another wildlife pic, this one of a Cooper’s Hawk that showed up at the feeders. I just happened to be sitting at my computer when it flew into the dogwood tree. I grabbed my camera and got the image just before it flew away. All the little birds left the scene when it showed up, exiting quickly before they wound up on the lunch menu!
Cooper’s Hawk
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!
Really beautiful picture of the Cooper’s. I always find them hard to distinguish from the Sharp-shinned, but whichever, they find our feeders a snack bar from time to time (though I did see one grab a chipmunk, which I cheered). The sunflower sprouts look tasty. Where do you get seed that you know is safe for raw consumption?
I get the seed from a natural foods store that carries a lot of different seeds for sprouting (clover, alfalfa, radish, etc). The sunflowers are organic and a black oil seed type packaged for sprouting.
Birds of prey always have the most piercing eyes don’t they?
Yes, I got the impression it could see me through the window. It might have sensed me moving and that’s why it flew off.
I’ve been reading about all the rain that has been falling where you are and was wondering how you were faring and it’s good to hear that you are up away from the floods. You’ve had more rain in a month, probably a week, than we’ve had since the start of the hydrologic year on October 1.
Wow, what a great shot of the hawk. I need one of them to hang out by my garden and snack on some rodents.
The new counter tops are very good looking.
We’re definitely happy with the counter tops too. Today is painting day, so we are getting closer to the end of the project.
Those sunflower sprouts look so fresh and delicious – and that bread, Yum! There’s still lots in the freezer and cold cellar, but it’s that time of year when I am really craving some fresh things to eat.
The sunflower shoots and other sprouts are much welcome here to give us a bit of homegrown fresh veggies.
I looked twice at your phot of the hawk Dave, as it looked like a fat sparrowhawk! Must be the week for hawks being around. I never would have thought of growing sunflower shoots. I must see if I can source some seed suitable for sprouting
They are so easy to grow. Like I commented to Will, I get the seeds at a local natural foods store that has other seeds suitable for sprouting.
I’ll admit to nibbling off last year’s volunteer sunflowers when I find them sprouting around the yard. When you say you made two cuttings of sunflowers sprouts, is that to say that they continue to grow and produce offshoots after you snip them?
Very envious of your rain — Jane Strong @ Close to Home is keeping better tabs on it than I am, but I think we’ve gotten something like 2″ of our average winter 16″ so far this year. And March ends the rainy season for us, unless I’m mistaken. So if you could use your magic wand and rustle up some of your extra rain clouds and send over here, that’d be swell!
I was truly thinking of those who need the rain we’re getting. February is normally a fairly dry month for us, with March and April bringing the spring rains. The weather doesn’t care about needs though, and I suspect these atypical patterns will continue to be the ‘new normal’ around the globe.
So sorry about flooding your board… I just posted the third comment and so long as I don’t navigate away after it posts, I can see my old comments and reply to them, which is what I’m doing now.
Does anyone else have a similar problem, or is it just Dave and mine’s computers that are bickering with each other?
{Dave your blog ate my comment again 🙁 I glad I came back and checked}
Let’s see, what did I say… I asked if you get a second cutting from the same sunflower sprouts, since you mentioned having two cuttings, or if you just meant you had two trays, etc.
Um… oh, and I threatened that better send some of those rain clouds this way! We’re desperately behind our winter averages this year; I’ll take any drop you can send.
I suspect it is the captcha which does it, though I don’t know for sure. I had one tray of the shoots, and harvested in two passes since some were further along. You only get one cutting from each shoot though.
Re: shoots, that’s what I figured, but I just wanted to check — If you’d discovered a magical way to get two cuttings out of one growing, I definitely wanted to know about it! 🙂
re: comment problems, I’ve been tinkering for a few minutes now and have discovered that if I do a hard refresh (ctrl +F5) on the page it will reload correctly, with up to date comments. So it may not be your website or captcha, but rather the way my system caches data, or something. Either way, sorry again for the annoying post succession earlier!
I wondered about caching, but trying to trouble-shoot from a distance is always tricky!
Ok, sorry for flooding your post here… but when I just posted my ‘it ate my comment’ comment, once that posted I saw my old comment and your reply. However, when I hit ‘Home’ and clicked on the post again, all of them are gone once again. The most recent post I see is Kathy’s.
Also, when looking at your home page, this post still says it only has seven comments, which goes up until Kathy’s and includes you replies to Susan and Will.
So weird.
I don’t know if this helps explain what’s been happening when I try to comment on your blog lately.
Great shot of the hawk, Dave. I’m betting that the redwing blackbirds around my house are a match for it. I’ve watched them run a few hawks away from their nesting area in the cattails. It must be great to throw bread on a real stone countertop, the way God intended.
We’re having a wet February as well, but it looks like you’re getting tons more rain. Hopefully the last of the major storm systems will be through this week, and it can dry out a little.
Your sunflower shoots looking delicious as does your bread. I’ve never actually tried sprouting before, although I have mung bean seeds hanging out in the cupboard. We mainly use sprouts in noodle soups, and they’re great in savory crepes.