Harvest Monday - 4 August 2025

 No post last Monday, as we had a 3 night getaway back to the lakeside nature preserve we have come to love. While the folks back home were sweltering in the heat and humidity, we were cool as can be floating on the lake. This report highlights things that came in over the preceding two weeks, starting with the first-of-the-season harvests.

I took the first poblano peppers. This is Trident, a hybrid, and I really like their glossy dark green color. We will use them for chiles rellenos.

Trident poblano peppers (F1)

I'm fond of the hybrid jalapeno pepper called Goliath, as the fruits are productive and large. But my seeds didn't germinate this year, so I had to rush to the farm store to find something as a replacement. I ended up buying two open-pollinated varieties, Early Jalapeno and Jalapeno Gigantica.

Well, relatively speaking, Gigantica (top row) wasn't gigantic, and Early wasn't early. Regardless, it looks like we will get a good crop this year.

Jalapeno Gigantica and Early Jalapeno (OP)

I'm trying out a new paprika pepper this year. We love paprika, and use it constantly. This one is an heirloom called "Leutschauer Paprika," and I bought it at the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds store in Petaluma, CA last November. It looks promising, with thin walls which will make for speedier drying.

Leutschauer Paprika (OP)

I took the first cute little "Lunchbox Red" sweet peppers.

Lunchbox Red (F1)

I took the first "Red Mushroom" hot peppers. These were just bought on a whim out of the Territorial Seed catalog. They are supposed to be quite hot, up to 50k Scoville units.

Red Mushroom (OP)

I cut the first "Black King" eggplant.

Black King (F1)

I also had the first fennel harvest, a little ahead of the expected date, since voles discovered the plants and are gradually eating away at the roots underground.

Orazio fennel (F1)

I've grown the hybrid "Kolibri" kohlrabi for years and never had a problem. This year, not only did most of the plants fail to survive, but the one that did turned out to be kale instead! Or at least, it never formed a bulb. Well, kale is useful too.

Kale or failed kohlrabi, who knows?

Last of the first harvests is this solitary Diva cucumber, a little larger than I would like.

Diva (F1)

The Summer Blend lettuce mix is done for the season with this last gleaning. It performed very well this year despite the heat, living up to its name I guess.

Summer Blend lettuce

I'm at the point in the season where "group pictures" can be shown, as I've already discussed the members individually. This is the harvest just before we went away. 

General harvest #1

And this was last Friday's.

General harvest #2

As for "using the harvest," I needed to make some room in the fridge, so I took this...

...and made this:

Paprika

It's a blend of all the sweet and hot red peppers I had, so it's kind of an "enhanced" paprika. It smells wonderful. It's an all-day process using our 20 year old dehydrator

Sorry about another long post. Thanks for reading. Thanks also to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday - 21 July 2025

 Up until this weekend, it's been oppressively hot and humid. Scant rainfall, too. But certain crops seem to be loving this, in particular the winter squash, whose vines just decided to start running. A lot of new crops came in this week.

I picked the first tomatoes. This is the "42 Day" variety that I tried last year. Once again, the first fruit didn't ripen in 42 days, but 49 days is still pretty good. They are a little bigger than cherry tomatoes, and have good flavor. Unfortunately the plant is struggling.

"42 Day" tomatoes (OP)

I also got the first cucumber. This is "Little Leaf," a pickling type. Last year the cucumber beetles were fierce, and the plants suffered, with very little production. This year, I'm growing them under a row cover. I planted only parthenocarpic types (Little Leaf and Diva), so I don't have to worry about pollination.

"Little Leaf" cucumber (OP)

I'm growing only 3 eggplants this year, one plant each of these hybrids: the Asian style Violet Delight (showed 2 weeks ago), the blocky Italian style Black King, and this, the teardrop-shaped Epic. This is a new one for me.

Epic eggplant (F1)

I also pulled the rest of the garlic. This is "Chesnok" on the left, and "Katterman" on the right. All garlic is now curing in the garage.

Garlic harvest

Last year I grew Elephant Garlic (more closely related to leeks), and must have left one unharvested, because it regrew. It sent up an absurdly tall flower stalk, crowned with a true allium flower, unlike regular garlic.

Elephant garlic

The Kitchen Goddess picked the first raspberries and blueberries. We haven't had any blueberries in two years. The first year, a late hard frost killed the buds, and last year chipmunks (probably) found a way to tunnel under the bird netting and stole the entire crop.

Raspberries and blueberries

For continuing harvests, I took the last curly endive. This has been a good crop for us; I'm glad I tried it this year.

"Rhodos" curly endive

I also took more cuttings from the "Summer Blend" lettuce rows. Living up to the name, it's holding up in the heat.

Summer Blend lettuce

As I expected, "mangetout" put on a new flush. I'm picking them every couple of days.

Super Sugar Snap pea and Sweet Horizon snow pea

That's all for this week. Thanks for reading, and thanks as always to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday - 14 July 2025

 Hello again from Eight Gate Farm. It was not a week of large harvests, but I did get some new crops as well as continuing harvests.

I took the first set of garlic this week. This is "Vietnamese Purple-Striped."

Vietnamese Purple-Striped Garlic

The bulbs are much smaller than what I usually grow. This is partially intentional. In past years I only selected the largest cloves to plant, to make the largest bulbs. Part of this is for bragging rights. But we've discovered that large cloves are somewhat hard to use in the kitchen--more than we need for a certain dish. So last fall I decided to plant some small cloves. It worked, I guess. These bulbs are basically marble-sized. Oops! I think this year I'll try to source cloves that aren't huge, but still of size.

I took the first fully-ripe cayenne pepper. As with the solitary eggplant, this is an outlier. All the rest are far from turning red.

Red Ember hybrid cayenne

I also cut the first zucchini. This is "Sophy," a hybrid Cocozelle-type. It is Johnny's new offering, replacing Pantheon which I've grown for years and liked. I never know why varieties are discontinued. Regardless, it does have the nice nutty taste that I like.

Sophy (F1)

I also took the first cuttings from the lettuce mix I planted back in spring.

'Summer Blend' lettuce mix

For continuing harvests, I took the last, smallest Red Iceberg lettuce head. Sad to see this crop go.

Red Iceberg

Peas are slowing down, which is understandable considering how far into summer we are. Although, we may get a last final flush. The "Sweet Horizon" snow peas seem to be outperforming the "Super Sugar Snaps."

Super Sugar Snap peas and Sweet Horizon snow peas

That's all for this week. Thanks for reading, and thanks as always to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for continuing Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday - 7 July 2025

 I haven't posted for a couple of weeks, because we were away June 23 - 30. More on that below. But over the course of the interval, here's what we harvested and used, starting with the "first harvests" of individual crops. Apologies that this post will be unusually long.

We cut the first head of "Red Iceberg" lettuce, which we enjoy immensely.

Red Iceberg

I took an assortment of leaf lettuce, which were volunteers from the bed I grew them in last year. Not sure if they had reseeded themselves or just didn't sprout that year. Still welcome!

Volunteer Leaf Lettuce

Edible-podded peas made their first appearance. Up first is a new (to me) variety of snow pea called "Sweet Horizon." The pods are smaller than what I'm used to, but it looks to make up for that in productivity.

Sweet Horizon snow pea

Super Sugar Snap is an old reliable crop that I've grown for many years.

Super Sugar Snap pea

I got the first eggplant. This is another new variety called "Violet Delight." This one is an outlier; all the plants are not doing too well, and it will be awhile before I get any more.

Violet Delight (F1) eggplant

For continuing harvests, I took the last of our tatsoi. Sad to see it go.

Tatsoi

I cut another head of curly endive. This is turning out to be a versatile crop, enjoyable by itself or with other salad greens.

Curly endive

I pulled another bunch of bunching onions.

Nabechan (F1) scallions

Lastly all the remaining garlic scapes were cut. The garlic itself should be ready to harvest in a week or two, meanwhile we get to enjoy the mild garlic flavor of the scapes.

Garlic scapes

The Kitchen Goddess has been making vegetarian Vietnamese Spring Rolls, which she serves with a spicy peanut sauce. It's nice that so many of the ingredients come from the garden: pea pods (sliced), raw tatsoi, green onion, mint, and Thai basil. Served cold, they are very refreshing on a warm evening

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Now for the travelogue part of the post. For the last three years we've been really enjoying renting cabins at a nature preserve. It's only an hour away, making it easy and efficient to come home in mid-week to water and harvest, as well as replenish groceries and clothes. This year we rented the large cabin called "Lakeside Cottage," which is as its name says. We love the "Adirondack Style" of this place, and it's only steps from the water.

Lakeside Cottage

The weather in the beginning of the week was very warm. It sure was nice to cool off by sitting and paddling around the lake in "floatees!" It amazed us that no one else was out on the lake, even though there are houses on the southern end. 

It turned much cooler for awhile, making us wish we'd packed some warmer clothes. But it warmed up again in time to be joined by our son and his delightful girlfriend, plus a very old friend. One night we made a nice fire in the pit by the lake and watched the fireflies dance.

Our last morning was very calm, and TKG enjoyed being out on the paddleboard on the glassy lake. As for me, I fall off, calm or not!

No visit is complete with seeing and hearing the mournful cries of the resident loons. This time of year the lake has a mated pair that call to each other when separated. One swam right up to me as I was fishing from a kayak, and did its yodel. I was close enough to see that they do this from the throat without opening their bills. I did not know that.

Common loons

Well, I said this was going to go long! Thanks for sticking with it if you're here. Thanks once again to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday - 16 June 2025

Well, we are finally getting into the swing of things here. I had several first harvests this week. Leading off is a new crop for us, frizee or curly endive. This variety is called "Rhodos," and it's doing well. We had some in a salad. The flavor is good, just a tiny bit bitter, and it's chewy. I don't know if that's its characteristic or if it's something to do with how I'm growing it. Regardless, we were pleased.

'Rhodos' curly endive

Another first harvest was Tatsoi. We love Asian greens for their taste and versatility. This is a particularly nice head, just starting to flower.

Tatsoi

Yet another first was scallions/bunching onions/green onions. Whatever your name preference, we really enjoy them and use them a lot, raw or cooked.

'Nabechan' scallions (F1)

Mid-June is the time our hardneck garlic planted in the fall begins to send up "flower" shoots (not really flowers but bulbils), called "scapes." Cutting them directs more energy to sizing up the bulbs, and they are a treat, too! We grilled a couple, which is a nice way.

Garlic scapes

For continuing harvests, the arugula is starting to bolt, but still very tasty.

'Ice-bred' arugula

Finally, yet another entry for "Wildlife Notes." I was amazed to see this bobcat walking the fenceline at the top of our field, in broad daylight. I love seeing them, and no doubt they will help control the rabbit population. This one is particularly big, and looking very tiger-like.

Bobcat

That's all for this week. Thanks for reading, and thanks once again to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday - 9 June 2025

 The best way I have to describe our recent weather is that it's been all over the place. Fluctuating from unseasonably warm to unseasonably cold. We've had haze from the smoke of the Canada wildfires. The one constant is rain, lots of rain. If crops don't seem to be moving along, I have to think it's the weather.

You'd think that the cooler temperatures would been good for the brassicas, at least, but I'm not getting the results I expected. Maybe it was too cool? Case in point, I scaled back growing Asian greens, and only started 3 baby bok choy plants. Only one survived, and I picked it this week. This is an open-pollinated version called "Milk."

'Milk' baby bok choy

The Kitchen Goddess added it to a homemade egg drop soup, which was really delicious, and made me wish I had more of them. So I started another six this week. Maybe under a row cover they won't struggle when the temps finally stay warm.

I also pulled the first radishes.

French Breakfast and Cherry Belle radishes

And I did several trimmings of the arugula (rocket). 

'Ice-bred' arugula

We don't have any lettuce that's quite ready for picking, but it should be soon. In the meantime, at least we can claim radishes and arugula to augment our salads. Two peppery things!

In Wildlife Notes, TKG snapped this super-zoomed picture out the bedroom window.

It's a Red-tailed Hawk. Buteos like this species are not known to be big bird-hunters, preferring small mammals as food, but still, it's not the kind of thing you want to see on a birdhouse. Maybe he was waiting for something to pop out.

At least the gardens are fully-planted now, despite the rain. Here's hoping the crops will take off soon. Thanks for reading, and thanks again to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday!