Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related, and anything else that needs celebrating! It is starting to feel like springtime around here, and that is definitely cause for celebration. I’ve actually managed to get some work done outside, and in the greenhouse. We’re getting a steady amount of greens from the garden, mostly from the greenhouse now that I’ve pulled all the kale from the cold frame beds. I made another cutting of the Koji tatsoi, which wound up in a frittata along with some I’Itoi onions I pulled. These perennial multiplier onions are so useful to have, and I most often pull them to use as scallions like the ones in the below photo.
Koji tatsoi and I’itoi onions
I got 10 ounces of Starbor kale from the last two plants I pulled up in the cold frame bed. It looks a lot like Darkibor, curly and fairly compact. It was tender and mild tasting too. I’ve got a new planting of Starbor, Darkibor and Prizm kale in that cold frame bed now, and I want to compare how each of them does in spring and early summer. Along with the kale I filled out that bed with some plants of Pink Lettucy and Vibrant Joy mustard.
Starbor kale
The kale wound up in a batch of kale and sweet potato hash I cooked one night. I don’t have a recipe for this, because it’s really simple to make. I cube the sweet potato, toss it with a little olive oil and salt, then bake in a preheated cast iron skillet at 400°F for about a half hour until done and browned. Meanwhile, I chop up the kale and either steam or blanch it briefly until just tender. Then I drain the kale and let it cool before adding to the skillet once the sweet potatoes are done. I pop the skillet back in the oven for about five minutes to let the kale get hot, then it’s done. I precook the kale because if you put it in the skillet raw it would turn into kale chips! This time I used the Purple sweet potato, which is mildly sweet and crisps up beautifully with this treatment. I add a little paprika at the end and that’s all the seasoning it needs for me.
kale and sweet potato hash
Other big news for me is that I cut the first lettuce of the season from the greenhouse plantings. The first harvest was two heads of the Salanova Butter lettuce, one Green and one Red.
Salanova Butter lettuce
I also made another cutting last week, this time of the green Tango and red Spritzer lettuce. All the lettuce went into a couple of salads I made which we really enjoyed. Homegrown lettuce is the best, and it’s sure nice to have it back.
Spritzer and Tango lettuce
It wasn’t a harvest, but I found some horseradish root that had sprouted on the compost pile. It was what was left of the root after I processed it last fall, and it had decided to come to life this spring. I found two roots, potted them up, and I will set them out later in the bed where I have the horseradish planted. Talk about an easy crop!
sprouting horseradish roots
In late breaking news, yesterday I cut the first spears of asparagus. It’s running a bit late this year, and it’s usually a good indicator of how spring is progressing. Last year I cut the first ones on 4/3, while in 2016 it was on 3/17. These first ones aren’t real big, but there are more sprouting up in the garden and it won’t be long before we get a proper harvest.
first harvest
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!