Once again it’s time for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. I got a nice haul of pole beans last week. I let some of them get big for ‘shelly’ beans, since we like the mix of pods and beans and the seeds add a lot of protein to the mix.
harvest of pole beans
Turkey Craw is an exceptionally tasty bean. There are lots of different beans with this name, all having reportedly been found in the craw of a wild turkey. I got these seeds from Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center, where I get many of my heirloom bean seeds. The pods turn pinkish as the seeds inside swell, and I shelled out quite a few of these.
Turkey Craw beans
I harvested a few more squashes too, mostly winter types but also Centercut which we use like a summer squash. The mini butternut called 898 from Row 7 Seed is truly a mini, and some have even been more like appetizer size. It and Festival Acorn have been very productive for me this year. The Festival is an acorn/sweet dumpling type that is more of a typical size for those classes of squash. It has a sweet, buttery taste when roasted, and is a new favorite around here.
September harvest of squashes
Festival Acorn squash
The sweet peppers are continuing to ripen with the hot weather we’ve been having. Carmen and Escamillo are two Italian bull’s horn types that do well for me here.
Escamillo and Carmen sweet peppers
I’m growing a new baccatum pepper called Aji Delight which promised the fruity flavor of the baccatums but with zero heat. It delivered, and my one plant is loaded with these sweet and juicy peppers. We’ve enjoyed them on salads, and I put a few in a salsa I made last week. I find they make for tasty snacking as well.
Aji Delight peppers
The drying peppers are in their prime now. I dehydrated the ones in the below photo which included Kimchi and the paprika peppers Dulce Rojo and Nora.
peppers for drying
I got enough hot peppers to start another batch of fermented hot sauce. This batch included Emerald Fire, Honeypeno, Red Ember, Senorita and Flaming Flare.
peppers for hot sauce
And I got a nice harvest of the Aji Rico baccatum peppers for ferment for hot sauce. These 2017 AAS Winners have a mild heat and a fruity flavor, and make for great fresh use as well as for turning into hot sauce.
Aji Rico peppers
The last batch of jalapenos I fermented were ready to turn into hot sauce. Three pints of fermented peppers yielded three five-ounce bottles of thin Tabasco style sauce. It has a mild heat and a depth of flavor that the fermenting gives to the peppers. The basic process I use to ferment the peppers is here: Fermented Pepper Mash. The peppers have been productive enough this year that I’ve had plenty of hot sauce to share with friends, since I surely couldn’t eat it all myself! It’s pretty easy to find a home for the extras.
fermented hot sauce
I made a cutting of collard greens last week to cook up. I’m trialing several varieties this year, and this one is called Ellen Felton Dark. It’s an heirloom variety dating back to at least the 1930s, and I got the seed from the Seed Savers Exchange. All these came from one plant, and the nine leaves weighed almost a pound! These are sturdy greens that need a long slow braising. I’m also hoping to make some collard kraut later this year.
Ellen Felton collard greens
Last but not least, I got another head of the Purple Peacock broccoli. It looks much like purple sprouting broccoli to me, though the leaves are frilly like a curly kale. I’m leaving the leaves for now and only cutting the small heads.
Purple Peacock broccoli
This week promises to be a busy one as we start putting up the new greenhouse. I’ve got someone to help me with the heavy work of that job, but I will be doing the finishing work inside with the benches, beds and shelving. I am looking forward to getting this done so I can start using it for the crops I overwinter in there.
spot for new greenhouse
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!
A new greenhouse sounds exciting Dave, what size is it? I’m clearing my tunnel today to replant for winter, I always look forward to it, the cycle of renewal : All the best – Steve
The greenhouse will be 8 by 16. I should have 48 square feet of space for beds on one side, and benches on the other side.
What fun you will have with that, that’s the size of my main polytunnel bed
Look forward to ‘visiting’ your new greenhouse.
Quite impressive harvests, and I’m especially keen on all the pepper varieties. What in your opinion is the “best” pepper to make paprika, if you had to choose? Good luck and have fun with your new greenhouse construction!
The Hungarian Magyar from Renee’s is probably my favorite for a sweet paprika. Dulce Rojo makes good paprika but the plants aren’t as reliable for me here.
You must be so excited about getting started on putting up a new greenhouse! It’s all about squash, peppers and beans here too (and the potatoes will be harvested this week too!). Time to start cleaning up the garden in anticipation for next year 🙂
The Festival Acorn squash is beautiful and nice to hear it’s tasty too. I haven’t grown acorn for many years, usually because of space constraints.
The Festival squash is a vining type but I trained it up a tomato cage to conserve space. It did well that way.
I love the look of your chillies, they look like little jewels. I wish I could handle the heat!
Hi Dave – I noticed silicone fermentation lids in one of your pics. How do you like them – does the airlock work well? I’d like to try fermentation but wasn’t sure as a beginner if the silicone lid would suffice for avoiding mold (based on some of the reviews I’ve seen). Also, I can’t tell for sure from the pic, but do you use glass weights as well? Thanks!
I like the silicone lids, and I’ve not had any mold issues. I’m using the Fermilids. And I do use glass weights to hold down my ferments.