It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. We are getting plenty of lettuce now for salads. I have a mix of red and green leaf lettuces plus oakleaf and butterhead types growing now in the greenhouse. I also have sorrel, mizuna, pac choi and arugula to add to salads. Sometimes a bit of cilantro even makes its way into the salad bowl, as do chives when I have them.
red lettuce for salad
One of our salads last week featured our greens along with flageolet beans and feta cheese for protein. Blueberries and dried tangerines went on top along with some shaved carrots. We use our own fresh fruit when we have it, though we’re still a month or more away from blueberry season here. I made a strawberry vinaigrette dressing for this salad.
lettuce salad with fruit
My winter planting of pac choi has bolted, so I pulled all the plants. I have more planted in containers, which is where this batch had been growing. I may set out a few plants in beds if I have room for it.
bolting pac choi
The greenhouse kale is in its prime now, though some plants are starting to flower. True Siberian is one I’ve been growing for some years now. The big green leaves are tender and sweet, and the plants themselves usually get quite big.
True Siberian kale
I made a cutting of the over-wintered collards last week. A few are starting to bolt to flower, but the White Mountain Cabbage and Alabama Blue I harvested weren’t showing any signs of flower buds yet. I usually chop up the leaves and braise them in liquid. But after watching an episode of the PBS series Somewhere South, I want to try cooking them the way the Lumbee Indians do: sauteing thinly sliced greens in oil. You can get a quick idea of how they do it in this video clip: Somewhere South – It’s A Greens Thing. I may use olive oil, but a bit of bacon probably wouldn’t hurt the flavor any.
White Mountain Cabbage and Alabama Blue collards
In non-harvest news, with gardening season starting up it was time to get a haircut. I had not cut my hair in over a year, and since I am hot-natured I couldn’t stand the thought of working outside in the heat with the long hair. I am still leery of going to my usual barber in the middle of a pandemic, so I bought some hair trimmers so we could do the job at home. My wife was apprehensive at first, but I assured her she was up for the task. I think she did a great job, and now I have a new hair stylist! She really did a better job than my barber used to do, and the next time should be easier since I won’t have a year’s worth of growth.
after haircut
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!