This is "Escamillo," a hybrid sweet pepper. Last year I was gifted a plant from my pepper-loving friend, and was impressed by how big the fruit got. I could not get any to ripen yellow though. I bought seeds and tried again this year. So far only one has ripened fully, and I have my doubts about the others. Still, green peppers are very useful even if not at their peak sweetness.
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| Escamillo |
My volunteer tomato plant gave us its first fruit, about golf ball size. We sampled one, and while the flavor is good, actually really good, it had a somewhat mealy texture. If I had to guess, I'd say it could be a Gardener's Delight based on the shape and size, but it really could be anything.
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| Mystery volunteer tomato |
Our apple trees are loaded with fruit this year. I picked the old tree I think is a McIntosh, and the Macoun tree we planted when we first moved here in 2011 also had some fruit to give for the first time.
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| Left: Macoun, right: McIntosh |
Most of the fruit for both is ugly and unmarketable, as I don't spray. They taste good though. Mainly we can them or make cider. But one of the Macouns is actually pretty good looking.
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| Macoun |
For continuing harvests, here's Monday's tomato picking:
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| Monday tomato harvest |
And here's Monday's everything-else harvest:
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| Monday non-tomato harvest |
And here's Thursday's tomato harvest. Definitely slowing down.
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| Thursday tomato harvest |
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| Thursday everything-else harvest |
Fall raspberries are such a joy! Every day The Kitchen Goddess is bringing back hefty pickings from the raspberry patch. This was the largest, at 1.25 pounds (~ 577 g.). They mostly go to the freezer, and are then used for smoothies.
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| Fall raspberries |
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| Community garden harvest |
We did a lot of preserving this week. TKG made seven pints of apple pie filling, and four pints of apple sauce, from some of the red apples pictured above.
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| Apple sauce and apple pie filling |
We made seven pints of chopped tomatoes from the accumulated ripe ones.
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| Canned chopped tomatoes |
And a jar of pickled red and yellow Biquinho peppers. This is the traditional Brazilian method of serving them. This wasn't sealed and is destined for the refrigerator.
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| Pickled Biquinho peppers |
Now for Wildlife Notes. I don't often venture into our woods where I've set up two game cameras. The ticks really spook me. But this week I suited up in my tick-proof outfit (factory-treated with permethrin) and changed the memory cards. Here are some highlights of what was captured over the previous couple of months.
An Eastern Coyote on the move. We often hear the pack yelping at night. It's a fascinating sound, but makes you shiver, too.
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| Eastern coyote |
Here's a beautiful 8 or 10 point buck White-tailed deer. "Points" refer to the number of tines on the antlers.
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| Large male White-tailed deer |
And this could be his wife, though she doesn't know it yet. Mating season starts around December here.
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| Not camera-shy doe |
That's all for this week. Thanks for reading, and thanks as always to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.
I've thought about setting up a wildlife cam here. We see deer all the time in daytime hours, and I know there are skunks, raccoons and groundhogs here on our place. We likely have coyotes too, though I haven't seen one yet.
ReplyDeleteI had apple trees at my old place and learned that "ugly" fruit often tastes better than the "pretty" ones. If those are bushel baskets then you got a lot of apples! The fall raspberries look great too.