Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. And welcome to HappyAcres.blog, and my first official new post. Tomato season continues here, and it has been keeping me busy harvesting and processing them. I dehydrated a few more last week. I sliced some of the Roma types into about 1/4″ slices before drying. These are good for adding to egg dishes and casseroles as-is, where they will rehydrate as the dish cooks.
dehydrated paste tomatoes
And I dried more of the Juliet tomatoes on Saturday. I cut them into quarters first, though you could also cut them in half. The quarters certainly dry faster, though it still takes the better part of a day. I’ve got the dehydrator set up out on the front porch, which keeps the heat and noise out of the kitchen while it is running.
dehydrated Juliet tomatoes
Pole beans are still coming on too. It’s a mix of Musica, Fortex, Gold Marie and the first of the purple Blauhilde in the below photo. I’ve put quite a few in the freezer now for later eating.
harvest of pole beans
I am also growing the 2017 AAS Winner Seychelles bean this year. The beans are tender and tasty, and this handful got steamed lightly before I put them on a salad. This one’s a keeper, and I plan to give it more space next year.
Seychelles pole bean
Robe Mountain pole bean continues to pump out the pods too. This one has been amazingly productive this year so far.
Robe Mountain beans
Eggplant is still producing too. The sweet peppers have been a bit slow to ripen, but I am getting a steady supply now. Cornito Giallo and Carmen peppers are hanging out with Nubia and Galine eggplant in the below photo. Most of these wound up on the grill, where they make an easy side dish. My wife also used some of the eggplant for a grilled vegetable salad.
eggplant and sweet peppers
Guajillo peppers are starting to ripen now. This is my favorite pepper for turning into chile powder. This batch is from the hybrid Minero, and I dehydrated them whole. The green one fell off accidentally while I was pulling a weed and I dried it too.
Minero hot peppers
The first baccatum peppers are also ripening now. Aji Golden is a hot pepper that makes golden yellow/orange pods with mild heat. These came from a container plant that was covered with netting so I could save seed. I’ve got another plant in the ground and it is loaded with green peppers. Aji Golden is incredibly productive for me, and I hope it’s doing well for those who’ve gotten seeds from me in the past.
Aji Golden peppers
I also got a few each of Sugar Rush Peach, Sugar Rush Cream and the red Kaleidoscope. All are baccatum peppers, and I’m growing the Sugar Rush peppers for the first time. The Cream colored ones were lacking in both flavor and heat, but the Peach ones had a lovely sweet/hot taste. They should make a tasty hot sauce when I have more of them. Kaleidoscope is one of the mildest baccatums I grow, and I most often pickle them or use fresh.
Sugar Rush Peach, Kaleidoscope, and Sugar Rush Cream peppers
It’s not going to be a great year for winter squash here, but a few have ripened so far. Robin’s Koginut and Fairy are two moschata varieties that managed to make a few fruit. The bush winter squash were a total bust, with the vines rotting before squash set on. Thankfully the vining types did a little better, no doubt since they were up off the ground during the rainy spring weather.
Fairy and Robin’s Koginut winter squashes
It’s not a bad year for tomatoes though. Chef’s Choice Pink tomatoes have been starring in many sandwiches lately. Like most pink tomatoes it has red flesh, but it is the clear skin that makes it look pinkish. The large beefsteak tomatoes are big and nicely formed, and have a great flavor.
Chef’s Choice Pink tomatoes
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!
I don’t think we will have a good year for tomatoes here – The cherry ones are fine but many of the larger fruits have Blossom End Rot. Lots of beans in out freezer too. How big are those squash? From the photo and the term fairy I imagine they are quite small.
The Fairy weighs a bit more than 2 pounds, and Robin’s Koginut are 1.5 pounds each. They’re a good size for the two of us.
The tomatoes dried perfectly! The Aji Golden and Minero peppers look stunning. Your “pink” tomatoes look pretty red, don’t they? Let us know how the squash fares, as I’m always looking for “new” moschata varieties to try.
Oh look at all the beautiful stuff you have this week! I’m glad to see that I am not the only one that doesn’t get perfect and long beans. Mine are always curled up and sometimes eaten on by bean beetles, and some are super short. Great that you have winter squash already! Mine are just starting to take off. Their are about 6 on the one vine that is thriving. I love all your colorful peppers too!
My beans are rarely perfect looking. But thankfully it doesn’t affect the taste any!
Thank you for more pics of dehydrated tomatoes… I shall be putting some in tomorrow, cut into quarters as you suggest for the small ones. Love the look of those squashes, quite cute! And the peppers look really appetising
We are hoping to have a good year with tomatoes, but as Sue mentions, some of our larger tomatoes have had what I assume is blossom end rot, its the first time we have encountered that – but then again, its the first time we have grown such a large variety. I am pleased you are able to make the most of your dehydrator, i have one but have been a bit lazy using it. I am rather taken by the colours of your peppers and chillies. How will you enjoy the golden peppers? they are new to me.
A nice colourful harvest. I love the dehydrated toms. Have you tried the blauhilde yet? They maybe look a little bit flatter than how mine usually turn out. Oh and I’ve written a blog post but the app I use won’t publish it, so I shall have to try and sort that tomorrow, darn!
Got my blog post to publish today, so can join in now 🙂
It looks like you’re having a good summer with lots of peppers, tomatoes, and snap beans. We had to let the garden go in July, but things are getting more back to normal so I’ve started seeding the fall garden. The purple sweet potatoes are blooming so prettily, do yours normally bloom?
Mine are blooming too! I’ve had some varieties bloom a little bit before but this one is covered in blooms. The bees seem to love it too.
Interesting, in that I live about a 100 miles north of you and in the past the successes and disappointments here have been similar to what happens in your garden. This year my beans, cucumber and eggplant have not done well. Tomatoes were fine until an extended bout of wet weather promoted blight. But winter squash look like they are on the way to a record year. I still have no way of intuiting from the weather what will do well and what won’t. I’ll be looking forward to your assessment of the new C. Moschata squash.