Happy Acres Blog

Harvest Monday November 21, 2016

Posted on November 21, 2016 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Our weather still can’t decide if it’s summer or autumn. Last week our temperatures ranged from 24°F for a low to 78°F for a record-setting high. We did finally get some rain though, which I’m sure all the plants appreciated. With more freezing temps predicted for the weekend, I cut most of the mature lettuce in the cold frame beds. While lettuce is pretty hardy, I don’t think freezing and thawing improves it any like it does for kale. I cut all of the Red Sails plants, and we used it for a big lunch salad one day and for wilting a couple of times.

Red Sails lettuce

I cut the Jester lettuce in the cold frame beds too. I left a few plants (Tall Oaks) because the refrigerator was getting full of lettuce. They will survive the freeze if it doesn’t get too cold. It got down to 24°F Sunday morning down at the main garden, but I know it wasn’t that cold in the cold frames. I need to put a remote sensor out there and see how cold it really is. I do have another cold frame bed that is full of lettuce seedlings. It remains to be seen if they will size up enough to provide anything edible. But it doesn’t take much effort to set them out, and who knows what the future weather will bring!

UPDATE: It was 19°F in the main garden this morning, and 28°F in the cold frame bed.

Jester lettuce

I also cut lettuce from the big salad box in the greenhouse. It’s a mix of plants from those I started back in August, and has given us a steady flow of leaves for salads and such. I believe this batch went on some bean tacos, and I see leaves of Jester, Outstanding and Tall Oaks in the mix.

lettuce from salad box

It’s prime season for greens around here, and I harvested some baby Purple Peacock kale. This is actually a broccoli/kale cross, and makes smallish heads if you let it grow, but I think the leaves are the tastiest part of the plant and treat it more like a kale. I lightly cooked these for a side dish. It’s my first time growing this in several years, and it got four thumbs up from me and my wife. I plan on growing it again next year.

Purple Peacock leaves

Speaking of growing things again, I have gotten back into sprouts production. I have grown sprouts quite often over the years, and they make for a quick and easy indoor crop. Those in the below photo came from a Zesty Dutch sprouting mix I got from Pinetree that includes mung beans, mustard, fenugreek, lentils, and alfalfa. These went in some wraps one day for lunch, and on a salad. I’ve got more growing now, and hope to keep us supplied in sprouts and micro greens throughout the winter.

Zesty Dutch sprouts mix

I also pulled the last of the kohlrabi from the cold frame bed before the last freeze. It’s a mix of Konan and Kolibri, about four pounds total. It’s my wife’s turn to cook this week, so she will get to decide how to use some of it. This planting never really did much, suffering I think from our hotter than usual fall weather. I plant kohlrabi in both spring and fall, and I never know which will make the best crop. I managed to haul in 33 pounds of it this year, so we have been well supplied with it. Kohlrabi keeps well in the frig, so it will likely be around for several weeks or so considering we still have quite a bit of Kossak in there. I turned some into fermented kohlrabi pickles, which is a favorite of both me and my wife. And I think she has plans to grate some of it for use in wraps this week.

Konan and Kossak kohlrabi

I also pulled most of the daikon radishes I had growing. I grew the blocky Alpine and the long slender Miyashige this fall. Alpine is a Korean type, and I have used it for kimchi and in stir fries. The Miyashige will get even longer, and I left a few in the bed to see how they fare. I’ve gotten my first taste of the Kkakdugi radish kimchi, and I like it so much I will be starting a second jar soon. I’m going to break down and buy a bag of gochugaru pepper flakes and see how I like them, which is hard for me to do given how many of my homegrown peppers I have dried and waiting to be used.

Miyashige and Alpine daikon radishes

I also want to wish an early Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who is celebrating this week!

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!

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Posted in Harvest Monday | Tagged cold frame, daikon, kale, kimchi, kohlrabi, lettuce, sprouts | 7 Comments

November Greenhouse Tour

Posted on November 16, 2016 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s been a while since I did a tour of the greenhouse, so I thought I would give a quick update on what’s happening in there. It’s in a sort of transition now, as I clear things out from the summer and get things ready for winter production. I make use of the beds, the benches, and the shelving to try and maximize the space in the 8×12 foot greenhouse.

looking in the door of the greenhouse

I have salad boxes on the bench on the left side as you walk in. They are presently planted with arugula and lettuce. These greens do amazingly well in the shallow boxes, and when they get tired or start to bolt, I replant with something else. I took a cutting of lettuce yesterday but you’d hardly know it to look at it now. There’s some potted chives sitting behind the salad boxes, and the chives are mostly taking a rest.

salad boxes with lettuce and arugula

The bed on the left side has a bare spot that needs to be planted. I have I’itoi onions on one end and kale on the other. I will likely plant lettuce in the bare spot, since I have lots of lettuce seedlings ready for a home.

left side greenhouse bed

The shelves on the left side are full of flats of seedlings, and some window boxes I have planted. The two boxes in the below photo are planted with lettuce and pac choi.

window boxes on greenhouse shelf

The bed on the right side also has a bare spot that will soon be planted in spinach, once the seedlings are ready. There’s a pot of Aji Golden pepper sitting there now, as I wait for the peppers to ripen. And there’s a container of radishes sitting in the narrow walkway down the middle. Time will tell if the radishes size up in time before it gets really cold in there.

right side greenhouse bed

The other end of that bed is planted with Vivid Choi, Mei Qinq pac choi, Mizspoona, and parsley.

greenhouse bed with greens and parsley

Two of the parsley plants are ones I dug up from outside and moved into the greenhouse. You can see in the below photo they are thriving after the move, even though parsley has a reputation for not transplanting well. That one is the flat-leaf variety Splendid.

Splendid parsley

I have another window box planted with I’itoi onions. I plan to harvest these as scallions, while I leave the ones in the bed to grow over the winter.

I’itoi onions in planter

I am also experimenting with growing micro greens, and I have one window box in the greenhouse planted with them so far. It’s a brassica mix from Johnny’s called Mild Micro Mix, and it’s ready to be cut for a second time. If I don’t cut it soon it will be a macro mix!

microgreens in planter

I have some shallow trays I will use to grow pea and sunflower shoots, as well as other microgreens like kale, mizuna and radishes. These fit inside a standard 1020 flat, and I plan to use them indoors under lights this winter. They can stay in the greenhouse until it gets really cold out there. I’ll do updates on them once they are up and growing.

flats for growing microgreens

I hope you have enjoyed this tour of the greenhouse. I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!

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Posted in Greenhouse | Tagged greenhouse, greens, kale, lettuce, microgreens, onions, parsley, spinach | 7 Comments

Harvest Monday November 14, 2016

Posted on November 14, 2016 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. I’ve been busy in the garden lately, digging up plants for overwintering indoors and harvesting the last of the warm season veggies before freezing weather hits us. I have lots of things to blog about, but it seems like I run out of time and energy after I get done outside! Oh well, I suppose I have all winter to catch up inside. We had our first hard freeze on Sunday morning, and that will put an end to the summer veggies. Meanwhile I’m still dealing with the harvests, including more peppers and eggplant. I stripped the plants on Wednesday, and lined everyone up for the below group photo. There’s a few tomatoes in there as well.

last harvest of peppers and eggplant

A few things are worth noting including the Aleppo peppers, which I dried to make into pepper flakes. My one plant was a shy producer, but then it wasn’t in the best of locations either. We’ll see what it tastes like before I decide if I plant it again in 2017. These are a strain of the peppers grown in Syria and Turkey for the spice trade, and I got the seed from Ford’s Fiery Foods and Plants.

Aleppo peppers

There’s no doubt about Aji Angelo coming back though. Ever since I got seeds for this one from Michelle (From Seed To Table) back in 2013, it has become one of my favorite peppers. There’s over 2.5 pounds of them in the below photo, and all came from a single three year old plant. The plant is now in a container, and sitting in our basement. I will try and get a fourth year from it next year. I am fermenting most of these, enough to fill a quart jar, and I will turn them into hot sauce and pepper flakes.

Aji Angelo peppers

I also made a sweep of the brassica patch, harvesting things I didn’t want to get frozen. There’s a couple heads of Little Jade napa cabbage (3 lbs), 2 heads of Pixie cabbage (2 lbs), some Kossak kohlrabi (about 6 lbs) and a head of Melissa savoy cabbage (2 lbs). Much of that is going to get fermented, and it looks like I need to share that in a future post. I also cut almost a pound of broccoli side shoots. It has been a pretty good year here for this group, and we have had plenty to eat for sure. Turning some into fermented goodies will keep us eating them well into winter, if not longer. Digging into a jar of sauerkraut or kimchi in January is my idea of a Happy Meal!

assortment of cabbage and kohlrabi

I continue to cut lettuce as needed. That’s Baby Oakleaf and Jester in the below photo. I think these wound up in a taco salad. The lettuce is protected by a cold frame and should handle the freezes just fine, at least until it gets a bit colder. It got down to 23°F at the weather station last night, which is mounted on the gate to the main garden, but it was no doubt warmer under the protection of the cold frames which are sitting next to the greenhouse.

Jester and Baby Oakleaf lettuce

Jester has turned into a new favorite of mine. It’s a crispleaf variety from Wild Garden Seeds. The big leaves are not only colorful but tender and mild tasting, and great for sandwiches. I plucked the two outer leaves in the below photo and left the plants to keep growing.

leaves of Jester lettuce

I pulled a few radishes last week too. The blocky ones are Alpine, and the long skinny one is Miyashige. The Miyashige needs more time to size up, though I’m not sure how much more growing it will do this late in the season. I used some of the Alpine in a stir fry, and some to make a batch of radish kimchi (Kkakdugi).

Alpine and Miyashige radishes

I also pulled a few turnips from my August planting. It’s a mix of Oasis and Hakurei, and I cooked the leaves for a side dish and used the roots to make a batch of sauerruben (turnip kraut). The leaves on these two varieties are smooth and tender, and the roots make a fairly mild tasting kraut when fermented. Of course they’re also tasty raw or cooked.

Oasis and Hakurei turnips

I saved my most exciting harvest for last. Early this year I potted up pieces of ginger and turmeric root I got from our local Aihua International Market. I planted them out behind the greenhouse back in May, where they have been growing ever since. With freezing weather forecast last week, it was time to dig them up. The turmeric did not make anything big enough to eat, so I potted up the two plants with hopes of overwintering them indoors and setting out again next spring. But the ginger did so much better, and I got my first ever harvest of ginger! I’ve already made plans to grow more of it next year. It was easy to grow, requiring no real effort after planting other than an occasional watering.

fresh dug ginger

I was inspired to grow it by Norma (Garden to Wok). She has had success growing it both in the ground and in containers, so I figured it should do well for me here – and it did! Some of the ginger wound up in a stir fry, along with our eggplant, peppers, daikon radish, cabbage and garlic. And I used a small bit of one ‘hand’ to make a batch of gari (pickled sushi ginger). It has a different taste than mature ginger, milder I guess, and it is more tender and less fibrous. There was a little over a pound of it after I cleaned and trimmed it up.

ginger root

My wife and I love sushi ginger, and I used a recipe from Tsukemono: Japanese Pickling Recipes by Ikuko Hisamatsu for Shin-shoga Amazu-zuke (Young Ginger in Sweet Vinegar). I scrubbed the ginger clean, then thinly sliced it using my Benriner mandolin. I blanched the ginger in boiling water for 30 seconds, then made a pickling brine from rice vinegar, sugar and salt to pour over the ginger. This online recipe comes pretty close to the one in the book. It isn’t really, really young ginger, but it isn’t mature yet either, and the skin mostly came off when I scrubbed it with a veggie brush. I may pickle some more of it, using a different recipe and some umeboshi vinegar.

ginger after cleanup

In the meantime, I am enjoying this batch, which I have been eating as a snack. I may have to get some take-out sushi and bring home to enjoy with this soon!

slice of pickled ginger

Posted in Harvest Monday | Tagged Aji Angelo, cabbage, Daikon radishes, eggplant, ginger, kimchi, kohlrabi, lettuce, napa cabbage, peppers, turnips | 13 Comments

Harvest Monday November 7, 2016

Posted on November 7, 2016 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. We finally got our first frost on Saturday morning, though it was a light one. There was frost on the grass in the yard, but not on any of the garden plants, so it looks like the warm weather veggies will keep on going for a bit longer. I found a few more slicing tomatoes and eggplants last week, which we put to good use in the kitchen. The slicers include Garden Treasure and Better Boy, and the eggplants are Nadia and Dancer.

slicing tomatoes and eggplant

I got my first taste of the 2015 AAS winner Sandy lettuce. It’s an oak leaf type, and the first AAS winning lettuce since 1985. These leaves wound up on some bean tacos, and I look forward to growing this lettuce again next year.

Sandy lettuce

And what would that 1985 AAS winning lettuce be? That would be Red Sails, and I have been growing it ever since it was released. There may be lettuces with redder leaves, but Red Sails has been one of my favorites for a long time. I did a Variety Spotlight on it last year, and it is joined by Simpson Elite in the below photo. Together those lettuces made for a nice wilted lettuce salad.

Red Sails and Simpson Elite lettuce

I also made a cutting of Speedy Arugula I had growing in a salad box in the greenhouse. I have more arugula planted and it was time to replant the box, so I harvested all of the Speedy. It is destined to have a starring role on a pizza this week.

Speedy arugula

And speaking of winners, the Cornito Giallo peppers have certainly proven to be a winner in our garden this year. And don’t they look good in the natural indigo-dyed bowl my wife made? I’ve gotten over two pounds of peppers from my one plant this year, and the ripe yellow peppers are as flavorful as their larger cousin Escamillo, which has given us even more peppers.

Cornito Giallo peppers

I cut the last head of flathead cabbage last week. It’s a variety called Tendersweet, and the one in the below photo weighed a bit over three pounds. Some of it was cooked for a side dish, and some got fermented.

Tendersweet cabbage

The cabbage went in something new I tried, a Latin American style fermented salad called Curtido (or Cortido). In addition to the cabbage, it has shredded carrots, sliced onions, garlic, jalapeno pepper, and fresh oregano. All ingredients but the carrots came from our garden. I let this one ferment on the kitchen counter for about five days, and the flavor is much like a tangy slaw. This recipe is a keeper, and I will be making it again for sure. Some recipes call for using red cabbage, or adding ground cumin, but this combo turned out very tasty. I need to start another jar, because this one won’t last very long.

jar of curtido

I got another harvest of Minero peppers for drying to make into chile powder. This a hydrid Guajillo type pepper with mild heat, and has been very productive for me this year.

Minero peppers

I don’t normally weigh the herbs I harvest, but I wanted to mention this cutting of the Georgian Flatleaf parsley. It came from a plant I dug up and replanted in the greenhouse bed to replace a plant I lost. I actually moved two large plants into there, and both survived the move just fine. Conventional wisdom says you can’t transplant parsley, but apparently these plants didn’t get that memo! It’s a great tasting parsley too, and this batch went into a bean salad.

Georgian Flatleaf parsley

Some of my 2016 pumpkins got their 15 seconds of fame last Friday when I took them for a TV appearance on the WEHT Local Lifestyles show. Since Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away, I thought pumpkins would be a good topic. You can watch the segment here: Homemade Pumpkin Pie from Our Happy Acres. Don’t worry, no pumpkins were harmed in the process! I did bake up a butternut squash I got from the grocery, to show how it makes a tasty pie. My wife turned the butternut puree into a pie, and though we left the pie for folks at the station to eat, she made one for us a few days earlier.

before the show

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Posted in Harvest Monday | Tagged arugula, Bumblebee tomatoes, cabbage, curtido, eggplant, lacto-fermentation, neck pumpkins, parsley, peppers, pumpkin pie, tomatoes, WEHT Local Lifestyles | 14 Comments

Garden Winterizing

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Even though we’ve yet to have our first frost or freeze, the calendar says it is time to start many of the annual winterizing tasks associated with gardening. For instance, I need to replace the row cover material on the cold frames, since all have tears and holes or else the material is missing altogether. I use the row cover material to provide frost and wind protection, though it won’t hold up if we get a lot of snow.

cold frame covers need replacing

I have five cold frames set up along the east side of the greenhouse. Three of them are in good shape, while two need to be replaced. I doubt I will get around to building any frames until spring, so I will have to baby two of them along for another winter. The cold frame beds hold a mix of summer and fall veggies, including kohlrabi, lettuce, kale and basil. I will pull the basil and plant spinach in the one bed once the transplants are ready, which should be in a week or so. Until then, it is nice to have basil here in November!

row of cold frame beds

Another chore I’ve been working on is bringing the container plants inside. I’ve got quite a few peppers I plan on overwintering indoors, plus I want to dig up the lemongrass and lemon verbena plants I have growing behind the greenhouse. I also want to move a couple of containers of mint into the greenhouse, which should extend the season for them a month or so, and give us fresh mint early next spring. I have some potted rosemary that I will also move indoors, though it can take some frost. Since many of the peppers have fruit on them, I will prune them back after I harvest the peppers.

pots of Aji Golden and Aji Angelo peppers

My wife has been busy weeding and mulching the perennial beds. That’s our Wild Garden in the below photo, which has plants to attract and feed butterflies, hummingbirds and pollinators. She really has it looking good!

Wild Garden

I always plant several pots of Wave petunias around the garden, and Easy Wave Red Velour has come back with a flush of late growth and blossoms.

Easy Wave Red Velour petunias

I usually plant pineapple sage for the pollinators. It’s a late bloomer, and the butterflies and bees have been loving it lately. I occasionally use the leaves for tea, but it’s mostly there for the wildlife. It sometimes overwinters here, but usually I have to replant it in spring.

Pineapple Sage

Also blooming now are the Black-Eyed Susans. The butterflies and bees love the flowers, while the birds will eat the seeds later on.

Black-Eyed Susan blooming

My next big gardening task is to get the garlic planted. This year I am planting a few shallots and the I’itoi multiplier onions along with the garlic. I hope to get them all in the ground by the weekend.

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Posted in Gardening | Tagged cold frame, peppers, pollinators, Wild Garden, wildlife | 5 Comments

Happy Acres Blog

Harvest Monday November 21, 2016

November Greenhouse Tour

Harvest Monday November 14, 2016

Harvest Monday November 7, 2016

Garden Winterizing

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Harvest Monday November 21, 2016

November Greenhouse Tour

Harvest Monday November 14, 2016

Harvest Monday November 7, 2016

Garden Winterizing

SEARCH THIS SITE

Welcome to Happy Acres!

Happy Acres Weather Station

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives

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NOW READING

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SOME OF THE BLOGS I FOLLOW