Harvest Monday - 12 October 2020

 Hello again from Eight Gate Farm. While technically we did not get a frost last week, it got awfully close. Some of the more tender plants looked frost-nipped. Prior to that, I picked all the ripe hot peppers.

From left: thin cayenne, Madame Jeanette, Sugar Rush Peach, Habanero, Hot Lemon

Same with the sweet ones.

Jimmy Nardello's, Arroz con Pollo

We also made a generous cutting of spinach, which filled two bags.

Spinach

Later, after the cold spell, I took nearly all the rest of the hot peppers from the plants that looked damaged.

From left: thin cayenne, Vesuvius, Hot Lemon, Habanero with a single Madame Jeanette

That should be enough to finally start the hot sauce process!

Having learned they were getting damaged by voles, I picked all the carrots. The vole-damaged ones on the left far outnumbered the others. But I'll let you in on a little secret. Trimming away the damaged ends and peeling them, we use them anyway.

Yaya carrots

I also picked all the remaining turnips. Some had grown quite large. This gave us useful greens as well.

Turnips

Here's what we had for the freezer from all that. In these uncertain times, it's comforting to know we have quality food put by.

Fall raspberries are giving us pleasure, with daily pickings like this or more.

As for tomatoes, I'm continuing to pick any that show some color and adding them to the pile on the kitchen island. One day last week I sorted though what we had to see what could be immediately used.

We processed those into 3 pints of thick sauce. Not enough to efficiently can, but great for ready use as needed.

The Kitchen Goddess and her mother closed down their plot at the community garden. As usual the "MIL" went home with a bounty. But they are sad it's over for the season.

That's a wrap for another week. Thank you for reading, and thanks again to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.