Harvest Monday - 13 June 2022

Hello again from Eight Gate Farm. We're back from a week in the San Francisco Bay Area, to attend my niece's wedding celebration, twice postponed due to COVID concerns. We added some days to justify flying all that way. It was a lovely time and we had a lot of fun. Of course, any gardener knows that going away in the peak gardening season is a problem. The Kitchen Goddess's mom watched the house for us, and did the best she could, but we came back to out-of-control weeds in some areas. It's funny how your crops get so much bigger when you aren't staring at them every day!

The arugula had bolted during our absence, so we took it all. This will keep us supplied for quite awhile.

Arugula

The spinach was also bolting. When I was a lad creamed spinach was my favorite vegetable dish, and TKG made some for me with this haul. Yum!

Spinach

We got a first picking from the salad mix rows. This is "European Mesclun Mix" from Baker Creek.

Mesclun

And this is "Rocky Top Mix," also from Baker Creek.

Lettuce mix

They look mostly alike; the difference is the mesclun mix has brassicas. Regardless, we are officially in salad season and we're very happy about it!

Some years ago I found an iris plant mysteriously growing on the edge of our woods. I dug it up and transplanted it closer to the house. It doesn't blossom every year, but when it does it rewards us with stunning flowers.

Iris

The stately Eastern White Pine is ubiquitous in the Northeast, and is famous for producing large quantities of sticky green pollen this time of year. We thought it was over, but while we were gone the trees decided to really outdo themselves. We saw pictures of pollen clouds that looked like smoke drifting over the highways. Our screened porch was blanketed on our return.

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