Harvest Monday November 11, 2019

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. I’ve been fighting a cold bug all week and not wanting to go outside any more than necessary. Having said that, with a hard freeze and record cold temperatures in the forecast I did what harvesting I thought necessary, and to give us a few fresh veggies to eat. Early in the week I cut a few collards and the last main heads of broccoli. The broccoli was Aspabroc, and while tasty we decided it was the least favorite of the ones I grew this fall which also including Artwork, Apollo and Happy Rich. I will adjust my spring plantings accordingly.

One variety we are loving is the Burgundy purple sprouting broccoli. I grew this in spring and it did well then too. This came from an August planting in the main garden, but I also have a few plants of it in the greenhouse, along with Rudolph and Santee which hopefully will give us sprouts early next year when not much else is happening.

I cut over 8 pounds of collard greens last week, some for fresh eating and the rest for a batch of collard kraut. It took a bit more than 4 pounds of whole leaves to fill the crock, and then I poured in a 3% salt brine to cover. I will let it ferment for 2 to 3 weeks before we taste it. I imagine we will cook this kraut, since I doubt the leaves will be very tender raw. We usually eat our kraut raw, since cooking kills the probiotic bacteria. Cooking won’t hurt the flavor any though.

I saved out some of the Jernigan’s Yellow Cabbage and the Purple collards for fresh eating. The leaves of Purple were the biggest of any I grew this year. The listing on the Seed Savers Exchange where I got the seeds says they can get tough, so we will see how how they are when cooked. Jernigan’s Yellow Cabbage has tender and sweet tasting leaves, and I grew it last year also.

It hasn’t been so good for the root crops this fall. I got a few radishes to size up, but no kohlrabi so far. It’s my first time growing Big Time, and this Korean daikon type made several that were worth pulling up. The largest of these weighed right at a pound, and I will use most of them to make radish kimchi (aka kkakdugi). They aren’t the prettiest things to look at, but I am happy to have them!

In non gardening news, I baked up a batch of Dark Rye Potato Buns last week. I sometimes bake these up into rolls, but last week we needed buns so that’s what I made. The dark color comes from cocoa powder and molasses that’s added to the dough, along with about 35% fresh ground whole grain rye flour. I also baked up a loaf of rye sandwich bread, since meatless reubens were on the menu for lunch yesterday.

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!