Harvest Monday

We've not posted with Daphne's Harvest Monday for a couple of weeks. Our totals will reflect that. It's been all about leafy greens! The most exciting event here is that we harvested our first-ever pac choi plant! Thank you Robin for the seeds. They're 2009 seeds and still kickin'. More pac choi to come. We hope!

Most of our harvests came from the spring garden (red leaf and romaine). Some came from cold frame one (Giant Winter and cold frame two (Flashy Trout Back lettuce). The biggest spinach harvest came  from cold frame three (Viroflay Giant).

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Lettuce in the "spring garden" just outside our kitchen door. From right, Little Gem and Red sails, then Paris Island, after that cos, and finally (the big stuff) komatsuna.

Harvest Totals

Little Gem romaine 1 lb 15 oz ( thanks for the seeds Daphne!)
Red Sails leaf lettuce 1 lb (Daphne!)
Flashy Trout Back thinning 3 oz (thanks for the seeds Dave!)
unknown variety green leaf lettuce 2 lb
mustard greens 1 lb 5 oz
komatsuna 2 lb 1oz
Viroflay Giant spinach 3 lb (We love this spinach Dave. Thanks, thanks, thanks!)
Giant Winter spinach 2 lb 9 oz (Belle says, it doesn't freeze as well as or hold up as well in cooked dishes as Viroflay Giant)
pac choi 12 oz

Total
14 lbs 13 oz

Harvest Monday

You have to look closely, but a volunteer Vivian romaine plant is there between the kale and arugula.

The highlight of our Harvest Monday with Daphne's Dandelions is a single volunteer romaine plant. At the end of May we harvested what we thought was the last of the spring romaine. This little guy was a complete surprise! He'll make a nice salad for lunch today.

Last Tuesday we harvested more kale and radishes. On Wednesday it was our first carrot. On Thursday it was even more radishes and a bit of arugula. On Friday we gathered raspberries (we've been gathering raspberries all week). Then on Saturday we harvested our first peaches and a single zucchini. Finally, on Sunday we harvested green leaf lettuce. Sometime during the week we harvested a single jalapeno pepper.

Of the six trees we have, this one always ripens first. The fruit is very fragile and small. We usually get just a few peaches. Maybe it's a Georgia peach tree, not meant for Pennsylvania. Who knows? We inherited it. The rest of the trees won't ripen for several weeks.

Bel made an 8 foot bean trellis earlier this week. The vines are climbing quickly.

romaine 12 oz
green leaf lettuce 1 lb
arugula 4 oz
kale 3 lb 12 oz
Radishes 1 lb 14 oz
Raspberries 1 lb 4 oz
blackberries 6 oz
Carrots 1 lb
Zucchini 1 lb
peaches 1 lb 6 oz
1 jalapeno pepper

Our first Carrot... Ever!

It's only 3 or 4 inches long -but a true delight around here!

This is the first time we've ever tried carrots. Truth be told, we were a little worried. We haven't had much success with root crops in the past, boy were we surprised! My nephew asked us why it looks so funny. I said, this carrot doesn't look funny. The carrots in the grocery stores are the ones that look funny.

Bel and the boys went blueberry picking at a local u-pick farm. They harvested 20 pounds. She froze many of them, but she also dried some. They are tasty!

Dried Blueberries -a delightful winter snack.

We also bought 25 pounds of beets for 12 dollars from an Amish farm near us. It seemed like a good deal to us.  Bel will freeze most of them. She loves, loves, loves beets and will eat them all winter long. She'll make a batch of pickled beets. Sorry I don't know the recipe.

Bel is cutting and freezing beets for winter.

We got a really great salad dish idea with radishes from another blogger. Everything she used we had in our garden or pantry, so we made it. Unfortunately, we can't for the life of us remember who it was. Whoever you are, if you read this, thanks!

Homegrown green leaf lettuce, calamata olives, feta cheese, thinly sliced radishes, Greek dressing

Our very first blackberry. It was a bit tart, but who can resist?