Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. I got another cutting of lettuce from the greenhouse planting last week. This included a green butterhead called Mirlo and a red leaf lettuce called Spritzer. Neither were full sized but they were plenty big enough for a salad. It is so nice to have even a small amount of fresh greens in the middle of winter and these were especially tasty. Both are doing quite well growing in shallow containers.
lettuce for salad
I also made the first cutting from the sunflower shoots I have sprouting under fluorescent lights. These are easy to grow, and only take about 7-10 days from sowing to cutting. I get the seeds from a natural foods store, and they cost about $3 for an 8 ounce package that makes several plantings of shoots. These are labeled for sprouting use, though any food grade raw seeds will work.
sunflower shoots
I put these on the salad I made from our lettuce.
salad
On a wildlife note, we had a Pileated Woodpecker come and visit the suet feeder last week. This is the largest woodpecker we have around here, and they are occasional visitors to the woods around us and occasionally to the feeders. The photo is a little hazy since I shot it through the window, but you can see how big and brightly marked the bird is. The underside of the wings are half black and half white, and it makes quite a display when flying.
Pileated Woodpecker
And I’ll close with a cat pic. It has taken Ally and Puddin several months to truly warm up to each other, but they have finally bonded. They took turns giving each other a bath Saturday before settling down together for a nap in the sunshine.
Ally and Puddin
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!
Strange question, but what would you choose between Joi Choi and Bopak Bok Choy?
Not a strang question at all! Both did well for me in the past, and I remember them being very similar. Either should do well too for you.
Thanks!
That’s an impressive bird, not a species we have over here, I’ve never really got into growing sprouting veg – maybe I should try. I didn’t know that you could eat sprouting sunflowers.
Lovely to see your cats snuggling together.
Thanks for showing us your Pileated Woodpecker. I get them here too occasionally. When they sound off it takes me back into the jungles of Tarzan movies.
That salad looks glorious! We are still a couple of months away from fresh greens, unfortunately. Oh my, that photo of Ally and Puddin is just so heart warming!
Thanks for the tips on the sunflower sprouts. I grew some dwarf sunflowers last year and ended up with a bunch of seed heads. It didn’t even occur to me to try to sprout the seeds, I just let the birds eat them. This year the birds will have to share. That woodpecker is beautiful! And it’s wonderful to see Ally and Pudding cuddling. None of my cats ever bonded, they only ever barely tolerated each other.
Ally and Puddin are the best! Love that they are now bonded. Our two kitties aggravate each other but do settle down from time to time next to each other. That picture of your two is just so sweet! Your salad looks delish! I got a bit of spinach out from under cover a few days ago and was astounded with how sweet it is!! Cold weather really brings out the goodness in greens! (carrots, too!)
Homegrown salads are the best! Especially mid-winter. Congratulations! Love the bird photos you include during the winter.