Harvest Monday & Sauerkraut

This week for Daphne's Dandelions we have several things to share. We started the week off with a few more radishes. On Tuesday we harvested the last of our cabbage. On Wednesday we ate up the last of our blueberries and pulled up a few more beets. On Saturday C. James pulled our first red onion.

Total Harvest
radishes 8 oz
beets 1 lb 12oz
Red Delicious red onions 2 lb 8 oz
cabbage 3 lb 8 oz
blueberries 8 oz


We made sauerkraut about 2 weeks ago, and I promised to post pictures with a recipe. So here it is. Finally!

C. James was a very helpful cabbage crusher.

Here's the finished cabbage, 4 cabbage for 8 pounds.

Cabbage leaves form the cover.

The baggy is full of water. We're using it to weigh down the shredded cabbage. A close look at this picture reveals the white scum forming around the edges of the baggy. This is a picture of the kraut after about 2 weeks into the process.

We were happily surprised by how simple the process was. It only took about an hour-and-a-half to make.

8 pounds of green cabbage (we used 9)
5 tablespoons kosher salt
4 teaspoons caraway (optional)

Makes about 8 pints

Quarter, core and thinly slice the cabbage. Then, working in batches (2 lb sliced cabbage per batch) work in the salt 1 teaspoon per batch. Squeeze and kneed the cabbage until its wilted and has released enough liquid to cover the cabbage.  Pack the cabbage into a large container and repeat until finished. Cover the cabbage with leaves and place weight on top to hold the cabbage under the liquid. Let sit for several weeks then water-bath can or freeze.

There's Cauliflower and then there's Cauliflower

See the difference between the greenhouse cauliflower and the seeded plants we began indoors on February 24th. Who knows, maybe we'll get two separate harvest times. That would be nice.

The top plant we seeded, and the bottom one we purchased from the nursery. What a difference!

Tiny broccoli heads are appearing everywhere. They're about 3/4 of an inch around.

Last year's new raspberry plants are spreading like wildfire! Today Bel transplanted about 10 wandering shoots into a new row, while I worked in the vegetable garden. Between the berry plants we bought last month and the spreading plants of last year, we now have about 60 or 70 feet.  In the garden I added a new row of leeks interspersed with beet seeds. The tomatoes will have to wait until Monday. The onions that were unhappy as indoor seedlings are thriving in the garden, and the shallots and carrots that we direct seeded two weeks ago are beginning to appear now.  We're so happy to see them! We thought the storms had washed them away.