It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. It was a light harvest week here, with the usual suspects coming in from the garden and greenhouse. The Navara oakleaf lettuce has colored up nicely for me, and has made a colorful addition to our salads. Lettuce season should continue for a few more weeks now, until the weather really heats up and the quality declines.
Navara lettuce
The asparagus is still keeping us supplied, and we’ve hauled in five pounds of it so far. We’ve enjoyed it the usual ways, including in a lemony stir-fry we made last week.
fresh asparagus
I cut more of the Wild Garden Kale mix last week for soup. These plants overwintered in the garden without protection, though the plants died back to the ground and resprouted. This is a landrace type mix, and the plants can be quite variable. All are tender and mild tasting in my experience, and I’ve been growing the mix for years now.
Wild Garden Mix kale
another Wild Garden Mix kale
The kale went into a Ribollita Soup I made for dinner last night. I made this soup a few weeks ago, and it was a big hit. This time I made enough for leftovers, using cannellini beans I cooked up the day before. I toss the crusty homemade sourdough bread with a little olive oil and toast in the oven before it goes in the soup.
Ribollita soup
I also made a cutting of Speedy arugula for use on a pizza. This is another longtime favorite, and like the name implies it is quick to yield mild-tasting edible leaves.
Speedy arugula
In other news, we have had a Pileated Woodpecker visiting our suet feeders almost every day now. It’s always a treat to see these giant birds, the largest of the North American woodpeckers. This one is a male, judging by the red cheek feathers. The female looks similar but without the red cheeks. I have seen her but haven’t caught her at the feeders yet.
Pileated Woodpecker
The suet feeders are a favorite of several different types of woodpeckers, and a Northern Flicker visited the same day just shortly after the Pileated Woodpecker flew away. I keep my DSLR camera ready to get any photos I can, all of them taken through the window next to my computer desk.
Northern Flicker
We’ve also had some of the first brood of young bluebirds visiting our feeders. I was amazed to see that at barely three weeks old they have learned to come to the feeders. The parents must have taught them well! At this stage they are only showing a hint of blue, but the speckled chest is unmistakable.
young bluebird at feeder
In closing, here’s an iris that just opened up from my wife’s collection of them. This is a tall one called Best Bet. I love the two-toned varieties, and this is one of my favorites.
Iris ‘Best Bet’
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 please check out what everyone is harvesting!
So many lovely things you’ve featured this week. The oakleaf lettuce is gorgeous and likewise the iris. I’ve not seen the young bluebirds before. Thanks for the closeup. Ribollita fell off my list of soups to make soon but with our cold May 1, I may do tonight.
We had the leftover Ribollita last night and it was even better than the first night.
Navara is one of my favourites too, in the UK it’s fine all through summer, but prone to midew in late autumn and those red leaves don’t rare so well in mid winter when it becomes quite weak