Harvest Monday March 21, 2022

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. It’s still lettuce season here, and this time I cut Slobolt and Sea of Red for use in salads and such. Sea of Red is one that colors up for me nicely, and makes big tender leaves even when grown in containers like I usually grow it. Slobolt is a green looseleaf lettuce that was introduced in the 1940s and as the name suggests, holds well without bolting. I had it planted in one of the greenhouse beds.

Slobolt lettuce

Sea of Red lettuce

I cut more purple sprouting broccoli too, a mix of Burgundy, Santee and Rudolph. There were lots of side shoots, which I think are good candidates for steaming or sautéing since they cook so quickly. It will be all side shoots from now on, but that’s not a bad thing since we like them as much as the main heads.

purple sprouting broccoli

I thinned brassica seedlings last week, and they were too pretty to put on the compost pile so I harvested them for microgreens. It was a mix of cabbage, broccoli and purple pac choi, which will be tasty on salads.

microgreens

I love homemade tortillas, and I made a batch last week using white and blue masa harina. My wife and I decided the blue ones has a little more flavor, though I was happy with how both turned out. I use a cast iron tortilla press to form them before cooking. This time I used the electric skillet to cook them, which gives me a controlled heat and doesn’t set off the smoke alarm like when I use a cast iron skillet!

white and blue corn tortillas

The Sea of Red lettuce and the corn tortillas came together for a meal of fish tacos we had for dinner. We used mild tasting tilapia for the fish, with crumbled queso fresco and pineapple salsa.

fish tacos

The daffodils shrugged off the snow last week and continue to bloom. Even Friday’s rain didn’t knock them down much, and they are a cheery reminder that spring is coming.

early daffodils

Another sign of spring was the first bluebird egg. Mama bluebird got busy building the nest in one of the PVC nest boxes. She usually lays five to six eggs for this first clutch.

bluebird nest with first egg

And in another sign of spring, our Merrill magnolia tree is blooming. We have two of these, and they are the earliest of our trees to flower. They perfume the air with their sweet scent. The blooms will be gone in a week or so, but we will enjoy them while they last.

magnolia blooms

Merrill magnolia

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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Harvest Monday March 14, 2022

Posted on March 14, 2022 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Lettuce  from the greenhouse was my only harvest last week. This time it was Panisse, an oakleaf type with smooth and tender leaves. We used some of this for bean tostadas last week.

Panisse lettuce

We are eating plenty of things from stores however. Turkey Craw beans from the freezer were on the menu one night as a side dish. I also cooked some of the turnip greens I froze last fall. I blanched those briefly before freezing, and they cooked up quickly. They were tender and mild tasting, and I made a note to freeze more of them this year since we enjoy eating them so much. I did freeze a lot of beans though, and they should keep us supplied until the new crop of fresh ones comes on.

Turkey Craw beans

Out in the perennial beds, the Hellebores have started blooming. They are the first to bloom in our shady border area.

hellebore blooming

Another sign of spring are the early Daffodils which opened up last week. Their day in the sun was followed by a March snow that brought cold temperatures and chilling winds. I hope that was winter’s last hurrah, since I am more than ready for spring!

daffodils

daffodils after the snow

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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Harvest Monday March 7, 2022

Posted on March 7, 2022 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. It’s still mostly lettuce coming in from the garden lately, and we are surely enjoying it. I made a couple of cuttings here last week. Strawberry Oakheart is a recent introduction from Frank Morton at Wild Garden Seeds, and has colored up nicely for me in the winter greenhouse. This was my first time growing it, but I have already sowed more seeds so I can see how it does here as a spring crop.

lettuce harvest

Strawberry Oakheart lettuce

Bergam’s Green lettuce has become one of my favorite full-sized green looseleaf lettuce varieties. We used some of this to make a Classic Wilted Lettuce Salad we had for dinner one night. The individual leaves are also good for sandwiches, and would likely make good wrappers for some sort of savory stuffing.

Bergam’s Green lettuce

leaves of Bergam’s Green lettuce

wilted lettuce salad

I also cut the first of the Rudolph and Santee purple sprouting broccoli. We enjoyed these roasted in the oven for a side dish we had one night for dinner. For that meal I made a marinara sauce from last year’s frozen tomato sauce to serve over whole grain farro spaghetti. Homemade sauce is so much better than canned, and my wife and I really enjoyed this simple but tasty meal.

Rudolph and Santee broccoli

marinara sauce over spaghetti with roasted broccoli

In addition to working in the garden and greenhouse several days last week, I did find  time to bake a loaf of Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread. I was pleased with how the bread turned out, but I think next time I will mix the cinnamon and raisins throughout the dough before baking, instead of doing the swirl treatment. Other than the raisins, the bread is not sweet at all, and was delicious when toasted and eaten as-is or with a bit of butter spread on it. I thinly sliced and froze most of the loaf for later use.

Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Swirl 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!


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March Garden Update

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Here’s an update on some of the things I’ve been doing here in early March. We’ve had favorable weather lately, dry and warm, and I’ve been taking advantage of that to get a few things done out in the vegetable garden. One task has been to spread compost, especially on the first bed where I will plant the spring brassicas next month. I’m spreading about an inch of compost, which will be followed by organic fertilizer. The area I’m working on will be one of my no-dig, no-till trial beds this year.

shoveling out compost

I will say that spreading compost used to be much easier 20 years ago!  My back has been sore after every work session. One of the compost bins is almost empty, while the other one is full and needs to ‘work’ for a couple of months or so. So I want to get the one bin cleaned out and spread on the garden as soon as possible. The compost is wet and heavy this time of year, and until recently was frozen solid.

one load of compost

spreading the compost

I’m also putting down cardboard between the beds, which I plan to cover with straw. This is one of my favorite mulching methods, and does a good job of keeping down the weeds as well as contributing organic material as it breaks down. Until the cardboard is covered and has weathered a bit, it is prone to blowing away though. For the time being, I have weighted it down with whatever was handy. In this case it was a few metal t-posts and some bags of hardwood mulch I plan to use on a permanent walkway area.

using cardboard for mulch

I’ve also found a bit of time to work out in the greenhouse. I’ve been planting some of the lettuce I started indoors, and I’ve done a bit of transplanting too for some of the seedlings. So far I’ve potted up parsley, petunias and the early eggplant I started. Next week I need to start seeds for peppers, following by tomatoes. It’s a busy time of year, but I enjoy the work after a cold winter.

salad box planted with lettuce

I hope you have enjoyed this look at what’s happening here. I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!

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Harvest Monday February 28, 2022

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Lettuce is still plentiful in the greenhouse, and I made a couple of cuttings last week for salads. Salanova Green Oakleaf was paired with red Navara this time around. I have new plants ready to set out to keep the harvests coming for another couple of months, until it gets too hot in there for lettuce to thrive. I hope to get some planted this week as I cut a few more heads and make room for the new.

lettuce for salads

Most of the lettuce I harvest is planted in containers in the greenhouse. Late last fall I set out several green leaf varieties in the greenhouse beds, and they are now getting near full size. I cut two heads of Bergam’s Green last week. This variety has large frilly leaves, and does well for me in all seasons here except the hottest months. We used some of this to make a Classic Wilted Lettuce Salad we had for dinner one night.

Bergam’s Green lettuce

wilted lettuce salad

It looks like it’s not going to be a great year for the purple sprouting broccoli I have planted in the greenhouse. The cold and cloudy winter weather has slowed the usual growth I’ve seen in past years from this crop. Still, we are getting enough for an occasional taste, and I was happy to cut some side shoots from the two Burgundy plants last week.

Burgundy broccoli

I did do a fair amount of bread baking last week. One day I made a batch of my Multi-Grain Seeded Dinner Rolls to go with a soup we had for dinner. This is always a favorite here, and one of my own recipe creations I developed quite a few years ago now. They are loaded with whole grains and seeds, and leftovers also freeze well.

Multi-Grain Seeded Dinner Rolls

And I baked a sourdough sandwich loaf that featured 20% Hayden Flour Mills Purple Barley flour. I was quite pleased with how that loaf turned out, and I look forward to more experimenting with this flour made from heritage purple barley grains.

sourdough sandwich loaf with purple barley flour added

In the using our harvests department, I baked up one of the Korean Purple sweet potatoes and made sweet potato fries with it. I cut up the potato skin and all, tossed with a bit of olive oil and salt, then roasted in the oven until browned and crispy on the outside. Korean Purple has a sweet, dry flesh that I think really works well for this treatment.

sweet potato fries

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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