Harvest Monday June 25, 2018

Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. I pulled the last of the kohlrabi last week. I lost quite a few of the big Kossak variety due to rot. Still, the spring plantings of all the ones I grew made over 32 pounds of kohlrabi, so I am not complaining! One of the biggest of the Kossaks weighed 2.5 pounds. These are great for fermenting, though they are good for fresh eating too. I’ll plant more kohlrabi this fall, and they generally do quite well for me then. Until then we have a few left in the frig plus plenty of those I fermented.

These last purple skinned Kolibri were a little wonky looking, but still quite edible. We’ve been enjoying eating these raw, with a little yogurt and tahini dip.

I’ve also lost several heads of cabbage due to rot. I cut several that weren’t quite full sized just to make sure I have enough to make a few jars of sauerkraut. In the below photo it’s Conehead in the middle flanked by two heads of Stonehead on each side. It’s a bit under five pounds total there.

I cut one head of Tendersweet so I would have enough to make three quarts of kraut. The flathead Tendersweet is sometimes prone to splitting in wet weather, but this one was solid and weighed 2.5 pounds. I also like Tendersweet for fresh use and I have another head still growing.

We got the first ripe tomatoes of the year, and they are Red Racer. These are great for salads, and that’s how we used these first ones. They are hanging out with the first of the Patio Baby eggplants. Both are AAS Winners, and both have become favorites here.

I got another cutting of broccolini last week, as the plants are making lots of side shoots. I’m growing Apollo and Artwork again this year, and both are doing well.

The cucumbers are starting to fruit both inside and outside the greenhouse. The first one I got was a pickler called Excelsior. It’s hanging out with a Clarimore zucchini in the below photo, which wound up in a frittata.

I addition to making plain sauerkraut, I made a batch of Garlicky Dill Picklekraut which was one of my favorites of the ones I made last year. It has chopped cabbage, cucumber and onion, 3 cloves minced garlic, 1 tsp dill seed and a heaping Tbsp of fine sea salt all mixed up together. The proportions of veggies vary depending on what I have, and this time it was mostly cabbage with a little cucumber and onion since one cucumber was all I had. I’ll stuff it in a quart jar and let it ferment for a couple of weeks. When it’s done, it tastes just like a Kosher dill pickle to me! Mixed krauts like this are a good way to use odd lots of veggies, and another one I like to make is called Curtido which has cabbage, onion, carrots and a hot jalapeno or two. It’s popular in El Salvador, and if I get more cabbage I plan to make a jar of that too.

I got the last of the gooseberries picked last week. I never got around to netting them this year, but the critters left them alone. We got plenty, and I made another small cobbler with these. Many of them were ripe, which gave it a bit sweeter flavor than when I use mostly the green ones. The varieties we have planted include Amish Red, Captivator and Hinnomaki Red.

And last but certainly not least, the bush beans are starting to bear. I planted the green snap bean Derby and Purple King this spring, and both started blooming and bearing at the same time. We roasted these in a cast iron skillet, tossed first with a little olive oil and salt. I love this treatment with the young snap beans, and it is an easy and tasty side dish.

And I’ll close with a wildlife note. The bluebirds wasted no time in starting a new nest after the snake incident last week. This time they nested in the box with the predator guard mounted, so hopefully things will go smoother for them this time. The nest isn’t quite finished yet but the female has been working overtime to get it done!

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 of any size or shape you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting!