Monday, July 6, 2015

Harvest Monday - 6 July 2015

Welcome to another Harvest Monday report from Eight Gate Farm. Isn't it a lovely time of year gardening-wise? The hard work is behind us, now it's time to reap the rewards. Today we even had time to do a couple of hours fishing on a nearby pond. All we caught were "rays," and I don't mean the fish-type, but it was peaceful and lovely out in the canoe.

We are continuing to harvest familiar crops, like snow peas:


And snap peas:


We get pea harvests like that every couple of days. The snow peas look to be slowing, but the snaps are just getting revved up. Their vines are over 7 feet tall--too tall for The Kitchen Goddess to reach, meaning I get some.

We are still swimming in salads, with no signs of slowing. And I just transplanted 12 "summer crisp" lettuces. Here's today's pick, over 12 oz.:


And our second large cherry tree is pumping out fruit--even the birds can't keep up. I don't know which variety this is, but they are tasty.


What to do with beaucoup cherries? How about my late father's favorite dessert--Cherries Jubilee, made even better with TKG's homemade vanilla ice cream? Decadent! Who needs July Fourth fireworks when you can set your food on fire!


Another full-size head of Fiesta broccoli, plus a bunch of side shoots--mostly from Blue Wind.


Also time again to cut back parsley, oregano, thyme, and cilantro. The latter is to be frozen, the others dehydrated.


That was the old, now in with the new! Some of the carrots and beets looked to be sizing up, so we sampled.


Of course, now that there are carrots, I must put an electro-shock collar on TKG to protect the crop.

One of the storage onions was flowering, so we pulled it.


Chopping it up, it served nicely as a large scallion to add to garlic for sauteeing with the beet greens, which were tender and not a bit bitter.

A first light picking of blueberries, raspberries, and jostaberries.


It won't be as great a year for blueberries as last, unfortunately, as the bushes suffered a lot of winter damage.

And finally, not a harvest, but a temptation--several artichokes are forming. Too bad voles killed two of the plants. I suspect these will be ready in a week or two. Can't wait.


That's it for this week. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed your own harvests, and am looking forward to reading your posts on Daphne's Dandelions.

12 comments:

  1. Nice harvest. We're still in pea and green mode here, too, but unfortunately no broccoli yet. Yours looks beautiful. And cherries jubilee! What a great idea for a Fourth of July dessert.

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    1. Thanks, Dave. Did you just start your broccoli late, or did something happen?

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  2. Very nice! Love the beets and carrots and jealous of your cherries

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    1. Thanks, Jenny. The beets did not germinate too well, and I ran out of seed, so we won't have a whole lot. Carrots should be fine though.

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  3. Beautiful harvests - what a gorgeous carrot & beet bouquet! And that broccoli looks great - mine are growing haven't even started to form head yet. Not sure if that is good or bad.

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    1. Thanks, Margaret! I'm sure your broccoli will head up before it gets too hot.

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  4. You have some wonderful harvests there. And your artichoke to be is gorgeous. I've never grown them.

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    1. Thanks, Daphne. Artichokes are fun to grow, and an attractive plant, but they sure take up a lot of space.

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  5. Cherries are perhaps my favorite fruit and Cherries Jubilee has got to be a piece of heaven - oh yum. Oh, another carrot lover! I couldn't possibly grow enough to keep my husband happy, that's one of the few veggies that I buy, and buy, and buy...

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    1. Thanks, Michelle. We've been at the property for 4 years and this is the first year we've had harvestable cherries, even though the trees are well established. Strange.

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  6. Growing artichokes?! How wonderful .. not sure they work in my climate but I'll look into it. I love eating the leaves dipped in garlic butter. Mmmm.

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    1. Thanks, Susie. I'm sure artichokes will grow there (as annuals, like here), but you need to trick them into thinking they've been through a winter by exposing them to cold but not freezing temperatures before transplanting.

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