It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. It can’t decided if it wants to be winter or spring here, with the temperatures fluctuating daily. The asparagus was set back a bit when cold weather arrived again last week, and temps dipped below the freezing mark on two mornings. It should sprout up again when warmer days return. We got two more spears though, and I roasted these to add to a pizza I made for dinner one night.
fresh asparagus
The kale rapini is still coming on strong, and we are still enjoying it. Winterbor is making the largest number of sprouts, but all the kale plants are making rapini now.
kale rapini
I also cut more kale leaves from the greenhouse plantings, mostly True Siberian this time. The leaves are still tender and mild even this late in the season. We’ve pretty much had kale whenever we wanted it all winter, so I am happy for that.
True Siberian kale
I’ve got Mizspoona Salad Select growing in a container in the greenhouse, and the leaves are now big enough for cutting. This bunch got added to a salad, adding a little extra flavor. I also stir fry it sometimes, and it makes a green addition to a frittata or omelet. This cross of mizuna and tatsoi resembles a “dark green monster Mizuna” according to the listing at Adaptive Seeds, and I’d say that was a fitting description.
Mizspoona Salad Select
The lettuce for that salad with the mizspoona was Pele, which I have growing in another container in the greenhouse. Pele colors up nicely in the greenhouse, and it is one of my favorites. It’s a romaine type, with spotted leaves that resemble the heirloom Forellenschluss lettuce.
Pele lettuce
In other news, I baked a loaf of sourdough bread last week, using some freshly milled red wheat flour. I sifted some of the flour to lighten up the loaf a bit and remove some of the bran. The red wheat gave the bread a dark color and a wonderful flavor. Baked in a clay baker, it had a crisp crust and made a good base for olive tapenade we enjoyed one day. My flour supply is holding out and with plenty of whole grains, a grain mill and a flour sifter I should be able to make bread here for months to come. Having a sourdough starter helps too, since yeast is still in short supply here as well as flour.
No-Knead Sourdough Bread
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!
Our flour and yeast is in short supply, however one of the local coffee shop/tea rooms has opened a click and collect pop up shop and is selling foodstuffs. They are selling unbranded bread flour which they weigh up and bag. Hopefully it will keep their business ticking over. We bought a fruit box from them too which you also collect from the car park. Safer than going into shops.
Yeast in short supply here too, fortunately I stocked up on my favourite ciabatta bread mix as soon as I saw made my own model of the COVID 19 growth curve, which was long before people – apart from me – started to worry, I’ve enough for a month. Do you have a hungry gap Dave, we are being hit hard as the hot dry weather is driving everything to seed at the same time and the spring cabbages are hating the weather too. So we will definitely have our worst gap in my 4 years of gardening : All the best – Steve
I usually get a big bag of yeast and keep it in the freezer, where it keeps for almost a year. I did take stock of all our food supplies and get things in early before there were shortages and panic buying. Garden seeds are hard to come by here, but I had those in house early as well.
I think many of us could see where all of this was headed back in late February and early March. I’m glad I laid in some extra supplies–not hoarding but just attending to the basics.
Your sourdough bread is enviable. With the yeast shortage, friends and family are turning to sourdough. You are full into greens now. Seems like my January but your spring. Hold on for the asparagus. I’ll enjoy seeing the production increase.