Harvest Monday - 14 October 2024

As recently as a couple of days ago, we were getting a prediction of a frost on this coming Thursday night. They've since back-peddled on that, but who really knows? I'm taking steps in case it happens. 

We got a "first harvest," minuscule as it is, but it brings us joy: saffron. It is such a strange plant...growing in spring, dying back so completely that you think it really is dead, and then springing up with flowers in deep autumn.

Saffron crocus

At the start of this past week, I did a harvest just of things we needed: chard (silverbeet), celery, carrots, napa cabbage, green onions.

Tuesday general harvest

On Friday I had such a heavy harvest that I had to support the basket from underneath. This was in response to the frost prediction. I need three photos to show it all.

I took all the remaining (small) eggplants, and tomatoes that had a chance of ripening indoors.

Friday harvest #1

I took all the ripe (or nearly) sweet peppers. These were chopped and frozen.

Friday harvest #2

And I took all the hot peppers. These are Anaheims, cayennes, and jalapenos. We are desperately thinking of ways to use them all. There will be a lot of Hispanic-themed meals in the coming days.

Friday harvest #3

It was a terrific year for peppers here, even though I planted no more than two plants of each type.

I also cut two more Penn. Dutch Crookneck Squash/neck pumpkins. The one on the right is our largest yet, at 19.6 pounds (~8.9 kg).

"I know what you're thinking..."

The Kitchen Goddess took two of the cabbages and started fermenting a batch of 'kraut.

Sauerkraut

I made "Creamy Jalapeno Sauce," (non-dairy, with emulsified avocado oil to give it its creaminess). The jalapenos are definitely hotter this late in the season, so this has some kick to it. But it's really good, and sticks to the tortilla chip!

Creamy jalapeno sauce

My goal this week is to take all the remaining green sweet peppers, and cut all the winter squash. The latter would probably be okay in a light frost, but the vines have run all over the spot I want to plant garlic in.

There was a lovely light at sunrise Sunday morning, just prior to rain. The picture does not do it justice.

Lovely autumn morning

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

Harvest Monday - 7 October 2024

The autumn leaves are cascading down, the nights are growing chillier (and longer!), and the harvests have slowed. But they're not finished yet. Here's a look at what went on this past week. 

 I got a first harvest of the hybrid C. moschata squash called "Autumn Frost." It's a favorite of ours for its intensely orange flesh and sweetness. But it's also a last harvest, as there aren't any more. They're shown here in front of two big neck pumpkins I also brought in.

Autumn Frost and neck pumpkins

I did two general harvests this week. Here's Tuesday's.

Tuesday general harvest

And here's Saturday's. The leek at the top went right into Cock-A-Leekie soup, with all vegetables from the garden and homemade chicken stock. It's really good. The two smaller things that look like leeks are actually green onions, which I've allowed to grow since planting in spring. On the left is a good haul of summer-sown lettuce. On the right is the very last zucchini.

Saturday general harvest.

The Kitchen Goddess reports that raspberries are slowing down, but still in quantity, as you can see.

Fall raspberries

I had accumulated a large amount of cayenne peppers, so it was time to make some chile powder.

Red Ember cayennes pre-drying

After drying and grinding (wore a KN95 mask this time, so no sneezing).

Cayenne powder

Similarly, I had a lot of guajillo and Hungarian Cheese peppers, the latter of which serve as paprika.

Guajillo and Hungarian Cheese peppers pre-drying

The drying process was complicated by our oven deciding to go on the blink, so all drying was done in our entry-level dehydrator--a long process, especially since the cheese peppers have very thick walls.

Guajillo (left) and two packets of paprika

It's startling to think how much of our produce is mostly water, and pounds of fresh peppers, for example, become only a few ounces of powder.

That's pretty much it for the week. Thanks for reading, and thanks once again to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday - 30 September 2024 - Blue Ribbon Edition #8

The last weekend in September means time once again for The Deerfield Fair, now in its 147th year. And once again I entered some of my vegetables in the competition.

I always wanted to, while never believing I would, but I did! I won "Best of Show," for my big Neck Pumpkins (PA Dutch Crookneck squash). Proud? You bet!

Best of Show award

 Not only that, but my extra long leeks also made it into the Top Ten in Show. I guess size matters after all.

In the Top Ten

Including the above, I won 6 blue, 3 red, and one white ribbons. A little disappointed in that, but not very much! I won't show them all, but I do want to call out the first prize I got for guajillo peppers, because the seeds were given to me by our Harvest Monday host, Dave. Thanks Dave!

Guajillo peppers

Okay, this is the "Harvest Monday" fiesta, not "Shameless Bragging Monday." Here were the harvests for the week, starting with "first harvests."

I took the first leeks, which went to the Fair. It's the first time I'm growing this variety, called "Lincoln," so I don't know if they always get this tall.

Lincoln leeks

I also took the first of the rare tomato variety called "Compost Bin." It always amuses me when tomatoes volunteer out of the compost area. You can never really tell what they are supposed to be. I'll try them once they've fully ripened indoors, and decide if I should just rip out the plant.

Volunteer tomatoes

The Kitchen Goddess asked me to go pick a carrot, so here's what I came back with. More than enough.

Newhall carrot

For general harvests, here was Monday's. The jalapenos, guajillos, and cheese peppers were sorted through and went to the Fair on Tuesday,

Monday general harvest

And here's Saturday's harvest.

Saturday general harvest

TKG continues to pick large quantities of raspberries. This one was about 2.5 pounds.

Fall raspberries

Now for "Using the Harvest." TKG made two quarts of raspberry liqueur, using cheap wine, cheap whiskey, and cheap (for us, anyway) raspberries. This should be ready in a week or so. Also, she followed a (simple) recipe to make Fermented Hot honey using our jalapenos and cayennes, which should be delicious as a glaze for meats. As the peppers ferment, they make the honey thin out, which is perfect.

Raspberry liqueur and hot honey

It was time to try using the ultrahot peppers I grew. I made 5+ bottles of a pineapple-based hot sauce using one Scorpion Pepper, and TKG made 4+ bottles of a carrot-based sauce using one Carolina Reaper pepper. They both taste really good, but were not as hot as we were expecting. Next time we'll up it to two peppers per batch, or more if we dare.

Left: Scorpion-Pineapple, right: Reaper-Carrot sauces

No trip to the Fair is complete without gazing in bewilderment at the giant pumpkin competition. Here's this year's winner, at 2,457 pounds (~1114.5 kg). Part of me thinks this entire process is silly, but the thousands of dollars in prize money is definitely not silly.

2024 Giant Pumpkin winner

That's all for this week. Thanks for reading. Once again I heartily encourage you to grow stuff for your local fair. It is so much fun. Thanks also to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday - 23 September 2024

I missed posting last Monday, since we were spending three nights in a cabin at the lovely lakeside nature preserve we enjoy so much. It was a fitting end of summer--warm days, cool nights, and the lake like glass. Truthfully, I was a little nervous about leaving the crops un-watered, as it's been so warm and terribly dry, but they held up well.

So this post shows what's come in over the previous 2 weeks. I managed to get four first-of-the-season harvests, which I will lead off with.

These are Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck Squash, also called Neck Pumpkins. The picture does not do them justice. The smaller looking one at the rear is actually larger, at 18.8 pounds, and the one in the front is 17.6. Both of these shatter my previous record.

PA Dutch Crookneck

 I've mentioned that someone gave me two ultrahot pepper plants. I previously showed the Scorpion peppers, now I have Carolina Reaper to show. Some sources say it can reach two million Scovilles--pretty ridiculous. I am enjoying them for the curiosity factor, and don't plan to do much else with them.

Carolina Reaper

I cut a couple of napa cabbages that I planted in summer. They are not very large, but are very dense.

Minuet napa cabbage

Finally, I took some collards for the first time this year. I actually planted three plants, but two didn't grow well. The third grew very big, but recently got ravaged by the cross-striped cabbage worm, a new pest here that does not seem to be affected by organic sprays. I salvaged what leaves I could, and got three one-gallon freezer bags full. The plant, worms and all, went into the compost.

Top Bunch 2.0 collards

Here are the ongoing harvests over the past two weeks.

Mid-September harvest #1

Mid-September harvest #2

 

Late September harvest

Last Day of Summer harvest

And then there's raspberries. The Kitchen Goddess is picking them every other day, and they haven't yet started slowing down. This was one of the largest hauls, and just over two pounds. We give away a lot, and freeze the rest.

Fall raspberries

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

Harvest Monday - 9 September 2024

Many gardeners, in my climate anyway, are familiar with this sad equation: cooler weather + diminishing daylight = smaller harvests. In my case, it is amplified by my reduced plantings this year. But I did manage to get two "first harvests" this week.

We like super-hot peppers, but we typically only use them for hot sauces. Habanero is a favorite, with a Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) rating of +/- 300,000. I'm not growing any of them this year. However, a guy I know asked if I like hot peppers, and when I replied in the affirmative, he gave me two "special" plants: Carolina Reaper and Scorpion. The heat level? Over one million SHUs. I was not sure they would do anything in our climate, but I was wrong. I picked the first Scorpions this week.

Danger! Scorpions!

What are we going to do with them? Well, I was afraid to even touch them! We're thinking we'd make a small batch of hot sauce, outside on the porch with a camping stove, wearing full hazmat gear, and using a cheap pot we won't use for anything else. Not by themselves, but adding something like pineapple or mango. What do you think?

Guajillo is a lovely, mildly hot pepper, which I've been growing for several years, using seeds provided by our Harvest Monday host, Dave. They take a long time to ripen here, but make a wonderful chile powder. I got the first ripe one this week.

Guajillo pepper

Now for general harvests. Here was Wednesday's, dominated by beets both red and golden.

Wednesday harvest

 Here was Friday's. Pole beans, at least, are coming in strong.

Friday harvest

Sunday's was equally small, but colorful at least.

Sunday harvest

Another thing coming in strong is the fall raspberries. The Kitchen Goddess is picking them every couple of days. This was the biggest, at 718 grams.

Fall raspberries

Even if the harvests are smaller, you can still have fun. Last week I wrote that I'd sampled hopped gin from a craft distiller at the garlic festival. Having plenty of hops, I wanted to make it. But TKG invalidated me by beating me to it! She just tossed a handful of hops into a quart jar filled with gin, and let it sit for 24 hours before straining. The result is quite good, with an interesting green color. It's hard to describe what it tastes like.

Hopped gin

And I made pickled jalapeno pepper rings, using a simple recipe. I like to toss a few into a glass of lager beer. I know, I'm strange.

Pickled jalapenos

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

Harvest Monday - 2 September 2024

Happy Labor Day (US) from Eight Gate Farm! This holiday weekend we spent two nights in southwestern Vermont, about 2.5 hours from us, to attend the garlic festival now called "Garlic Town USA." It seems lately that there are as many "craft distillery" booths as the garlic growers have, but we were still able to procure all the seed garlic we need for fall planting. The festival is quite fun: people watching, sampling food truck food (all the rage lately), and listening to live music. The seed garlic is a bonus. Plus the tiny town, Wilmington, where we stayed at an historic hotel, has some amazing restaurants.

We were able to get a few "first harvests" this late in the season. Leading off, here is the sweet pepper called "Hungarian Cheese." It's described as a stuffing pepper, but we prefer the thinner-walled, larger, red bell peppers for that. Instead, we use it for drying and grinding into paprika.

Hungarian Cheese (OP) peppers

I also had fun digging our entire crop of potatoes. In keeping with the theme of less production but also less work, this year I only planted one 12-foot row instead of two. We should be well-supplied nonetheless.

Kennebec potatoes

A crop I've ignored in recent years is hops. But at the garlic festival, I sampled a hopped gin from one of the distillers, and liked it. So when we got home I harvested a small bit of our hops, and plan to infuse a quart of gin with them. I'll let you know how it goes.

Mount Hood hops

It was also time to pick our entire pear "crop". This year the animals were unkind to us, taking all our peaches before we got any, and leaving us with only one pear!

First and only pear

Two "general harvests" were also taken this week. Here was Wednesday's:

Last general harvest of August

And here was Sunday's. A couple of things to note. There were four more petite artichokes, making our total for the year something like 40 from 4 plants I raised from seed. We've never had such good production before. Also, on the far right, is a large quantity of Anaheim peppers. The two plants had paused for a few weeks, then put on another flush. We have to figure out what to do with them all.

First September general harvest

And fall raspberries are continuing to be taken in small amounts for now.

Fall red raspberries

The bobcat (Lynx rufus) is not exactly rare around here, but is extremely shy and elusive. Most of the time I only catch them at night on my trail cameras. So we were thrilled the other evening to see one trotting toward us while we were on the screened porch out back. It stopped, turned to look at us, then continued on its mission, whatever that was. We will always remember the close encounter with this beautiful creature.

Bobcat

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