Monday, July 10, 2017

Harvest Monday - 10 July 2017

Hello again from Eight Gate Farm! We had a number of "first" harvests this week. None qualified as a feast, it's more of a promise of things to come. But then, in gardening nothing is promised, as we all know.

The first shishito peppers:


The first Hungarian Wax pepper:


The first carrots were sampled for goodness (they're good).


The first Mammoth Melting Sugar snow peas:


The first "Desiree Dwarf Blauwschokkers" soup peas. These are from seeds I saved and some did not come up true to type (there are all green ones). This should be OK, but I'm buying fresh seeds from now on.



The first blueberries:


The first cherries, what we can steal from the birds:


For representational continuing harvests, we had Super Sugar Snap peas:


And turnips. Again, you can see the contrast between the abundant greens of "White Egg" on the right, and the skimpy ones for "Purple Crown."


The strawberries have finished. They gave us a good run.



The Kitchen Goddess busy preparing and storing the harvests. She made a large jar of pickled garlic scapes:


And for her Garden Club meeting, she cleverly made fortune cookies with garden wisdom fortunes contained therein.


We started seeing a cute furry visitor, sunning himself in the tall grass. Can you guess what it is?


A few days later there were three!


We're guessing these are kits, and Mama Red Fox is somewhere back there keeping a watchful eye. It was absolutely hysterical watching them pounce on each other and chase their tails, like puppies. We hope they stay, as there will undoubtedly be a significant reduction in the rodent population. But alas, I had to mow this area, and we have not seen them since. TKG is mad at me.

Thanks for reading this long post. Please join me in thanking Dave at Our Happy Acres for hosting Harvest Monday.
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13 comments:

  1. LeaJuly 10, 2017 at 9:33 AM

    The first harvests are wonderful - the first reward for our labor
    Have a wonderful week!

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    Replies
    1. Eight Gate Farm NHJuly 10, 2017 at 3:45 PM

      Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful week yourself!

      Delete
  2. gardenvariety-hoosierJuly 10, 2017 at 9:56 AM

    Nice harvests. The foxes should deter the rabbits as well.

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    Replies
    1. Eight Gate Farm NHJuly 10, 2017 at 3:46 PM

      Thanks, Mike. Actually cottontail rabbits are on the increase here after many years of population decline. Maybe their predators are on the increase too.

      Delete
  3. MichelleJuly 10, 2017 at 1:07 PM

    Oh wow, so many wonderful firsts. Foxes, what a treat. I've only ever seen one fox around here and that was years ago. Coyotes are more common but I don't mind them because they'll go for the rodents too. Anything that reduces the rodent population is welcome in my opinion.

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    Replies
    1. Eight Gate Farm NHJuly 10, 2017 at 3:47 PM

      Thanks, Michelle. Agree with you that rodents are best when in very small numbers.

      Delete
  4. KathyJuly 10, 2017 at 2:14 PM

    Lovely selection of firsts this week! I love the look of the mammoth melting snow peas, they must be luscious

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    Replies
    1. Eight Gate Farm NHJuly 10, 2017 at 3:50 PM

      Thanks, Kathryn. I'm not quite sure about the MM snow peas yet. I'll write a review after more experience with them.

      Delete
  5. MargaretJuly 10, 2017 at 2:41 PM

    Wonderful harvests! How do you find the Mammoth Melting - this is the first time I'm growing them and they are ok (I like that they are climbers too), but I think the Oregon Sugar pod were a lot sweeter.

    You can send those kits out our way when they are done in your yard ;)

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    Replies
    1. Eight Gate Farm NHJuly 10, 2017 at 3:49 PM

      Thanks, Margaret. I agree, the MM are "ok." I'll wait awhile before I give them the thumbs up or down. Sorry, the foxes are not for sale.

      Delete
  6. Dave @ HappyAcresJuly 10, 2017 at 4:42 PM

    Great looking first fruits! And you beat me on the shishitos, mine aren't even blooming yet. I'm growing Mellow Star based on your reports (I think) from last year.

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  7. Eight Gate Farm NHJuly 10, 2017 at 4:54 PM

    Yes, these are Mellow Star. The reason I have early ones is I didn't pick off the flowers they formed before transplanting--I didn't want to wait! Hopefully they'll produce more!

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  8. Mary HysongJuly 10, 2017 at 7:06 PM

    Nice firsts. My peas are long gone. I have grown regular Bleushokkers, but not in awhile. I would keep planting my own seed, just be sure to collect from only dark purple pods. You must not have chickens if you are welcoming the foxes. ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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