Harvest Monday - 5 June 2023

What a wild weather week! We had three days of 90+ heat, where even small garden chores were exhausting. Then on Friday evening a thunderstorm front came through, ushering in a dramatic change. The weekend days were only in the 40s, with rain and drizzle. One source I read said we haven't had a "high" that "low" in June since 1916. On Saturday we were at the local garden club's plant sale, where I manned an "Ask A Master Gardener" booth, while The Kitchen Goddess (the club's newly-installed President) assisted in plant selection and sales. We were so chilled that we had to light the woodstove when we got home. In June!

This kind of weather contrast can't be good for the newly transplanted vegetables, but there's not much I can do about it. We'll see how they fare.

For harvests, I took two "Asian Delight" bok choys. I don't really taste much difference between the varieties I grow, but I like the contrasting appearance. Asian Delights are petite but well-formed, with fat white stems.

Asian Delight hybrid bok choy

We also did generous pickings of spinach...

Overwintered spinach

...And arugula.

Arugula

The arugula pizza featured by our Harvest Monday host, Dave, in his last post, inspired us, so we had our own, a little modified by adding prosciutto. Yum!

Arugula-topped pizza

Finally, a few more radishes were added to our salads.

Cherry Belle and French Breakfast radishes

On Sunday the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Cooperative Extension held a Volunteer Appreciation Day. The Extension has many volunteer organizations under its sponsorship, with hundreds of participants, including my group, the Master Gardeners. The event was held at the Gunstock Mountain Ski Resort, and "plus ones" were also invited. You could ride the chairlift to the top of the mountain, with its stunning views. After lunch you had your choice of educational programs. I chose the "Discover and Measure NH's Big Trees," then a "Plant/Fern ID Walk." TKG chose a 2 hour "Forest Bathing Mindfulness Walk."

We rode the chairlift to the summit, where it was 37 degrees with a fierce wind, so we couldn't stay long. There was a nice view of the big Lake Winnipesaukee, but the lofty Presidential Range beyond was hidden by clouds. A picture can't capture the total panorama.

View from Gunstock Mountain

Thanks for reading! And thanks to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday - 29 May 2023

This past week I've been living the life of a swingin' bachelor. The Kitchen Goddess is en Paris visiting my sister. It's not like I couldn't have gone; after all, I'm very close to my sister. But someone had to stay and do all the work: planting, weeding, watering, mowing. You know, the swingin' bachelor lifestyle.

For harvests, I cut the first bok choy. I've said before, I find row covers to be a nuisance, but in this case it worked to keep flea beetles out.

'Brisk Green' hybrid bok choy.

I also picked the first radishes. They did not have good germination this year, so the crop will be small.

French Breakfast radishes

I cut some of the last asparagus. This was way more than I could eat this week, so I gave most away.

Asparagus

Simple meals were a part of the aforesaid bachelor lifestyle. I made a soup using miso broth, and added the bok choy, plus mushrooms, scallions, and ramen-style noodles. Quite tasty, and I got two suppers out of it. Also, I've been making salads with our spinach, arugula, radishes, and the last of 2022's red onions. It may look boring, but it makes me feel good to know all the components are home-grown.

Swingin' bachelor salad

In Wildlife Notes, I awoke one morning this week to find the bird feeder next to the kitchen herb garden was lying flat. It had been anchored with a sturdy metal bracket with a spike 15" into the ground. There's only one animal big and powerful enough to do that...a bear.

Bear Attack

It had pried open the two suet feeders on the pole. Fortunately they were not really damaged, nor was the hummingbird feeder. The bracket was toast. Note the wild turkey in the background, inspecting the situation and no doubt hoping there was something left for it. There wasn't. I got a new bracket and put it back up for the hummingbirds. I'm still nervous about putting suet out again. Maybe I'll wait for the bear to move to the next county!

That's it for this week. Thanks for reading, and thanks as always to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for hosting Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday - 22 May 2023

Greetings from Eight Gate Farm! I always say our springs are unpredictable from a weather perspective, and this year is no exception. In early April we had two days of 85+ degree temperatures (30 C.) And I stupidly neglected to vent the two little mini-greenhouses we have. So all my artichoke, celery, and lettuce seedlings were cooked to death. Then it got cold again. It was warming up fine in the past weeks, but in the wee hours of May 18 we got a true frost, literally a month after our last frost. It was not unexpected, but it still caught a lot of people off guard, people who had rushed to set out their tender crops. Here, we were not affected too much, but it did wither the new leaves on the grape vines. I hope they recover.

Harvests so far have been almost exactly tracking what happened last year at this time. Here's the lineup:

Asparagus

 We've been getting regular cuttings of asparagus, giving us all we really need, and I even gave away some. I think we'll maybe get two more cuttings before I let the spears grow to nourish the plants.

I overwintered spinach again. Only about half the plants made it though the winter, which is pretty good considering the leaf mulch I applied blew away in one of our storms. The hardiness of spinach is amazing.

Over-wintered spinach

I got the first picking of arugula, which was directly sown on April 11. Thus we got the first homegrown salads of the year, very welcome.

Arugula

Finally, I've done three cuttings of chives. We believe the spring chives are tastier than what you get later in the season, so we've been using them fresh and dehydrating a lot. They are now about to flower.

Spring chives

On Thursday I set out all my tomato plants, and this coming week will be a big push to sow beans, and transplant peppers, eggplants, and all the cucurbits. I sure hope the weather holds.

That's all for this week. Thanks for reading, and thanks one again to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for continuing to host Harvest Monday.

Waste Not, Want Not

I'd always attributed that aphorism to Benjamin Franklin, the great American patriot and polymath. Looking further, the phrase predates him considerably, to the 16th Century, though not so succinctly put. Regardless, I've always agreed with it, especially when considering the garden produce that I work so hard to provide. Nothing bothers me more than having my crops get wasted, because they can't be used in time.

It came to mind this week, when The Kitchen Goddess dispatched me to the "stores," to fetch some potatoes for a dish she was making. The spuds had been harvested in early September, and were being kept in a cool, dark room. Alas, I found that every remaining one had sprouted. I was going to throw the lot out, but we reconsidered, and decided we could use them anyway, even if they were a little soft.

I peeled them and put them in cold water while she was out.

Peeled 'Kennebec' potatoes

She did her typical magic, and took some to make gnocchi, by adding flour and egg to make a sort of dough. Then she rolled it into cylinders, sliced them, and pressed a fork onto them. Finally she dusted with corn meal. Here's the result.

Gnocchi

These were frozen flat, then put into freezer bags.

The remaining potatoes were shredded. These can be used for potato pancakes, or that uniquely American dish, "hash browns." They were also put into the freezer.

Shredded potatoes

So no waste, no want! We now have plenty for some of my favorite dishes, and my soul was satisfied.

Harvest Monday - 27 February 2023

In late winter we get our first harvest of the year...maple syrup! 

Maple syrup before canning

I'm pretty sure those readers not in North America really don't know or understand what the fuss is about. Maybe Sunday morning pancakes or waffles are not part of the culinary tradition. But to us, it's a big deal! Those vile (my opinion) artificially "maple-flavored" sugar-based syrups (looking at you, Log Cabin/Aunt Jemima) pale in comparison to the rich yet delicate taste of pure, natural maple syrup.

I've written about our small-scale production methods here and here, for those interested.

The winter this year has been very strange. It warmed up in January and the sap started running. How did I know this? Broken twigs were dripping, which would freeze overnight into icicles. We tapped two of our Sugar Maple trees on February 12, two buckets per tree. We had a strong initial run, which shut down as the weather cooled again. The Kitchen Goddess did a boil of what we had collected so far. It started back up after a week or so. We took the last and pulled the taps on February 23. She then boiled down that batch. She will shortly can it into smaller jars.

From the above picture, you can see how the earlier batch (left) is much lighter. I can't really explain why. All I know is we got 2+ quarts, which will serve us well over the coming year. Whole Foods is selling pure "organic" maple syrup for ~$20 per quart, so this is a win for us. Yes, there are costs involved. We typically go through one tank of propane to boil it down, and this year it cost $17, up from $15 in the previous year. But still worth it.

That's of course the only harvest I can report at this time. I'll be back once the growing season progresses.

On a sad note, two weeks ago we said goodbye to our beloved, 19 year old calico kitty, Daisy. Her health had been on a rapid decline, and she had lost so much weight. Here's one of our last pictures of her, in her favorite location, in front of the warm wood stove.

Daisy-Cat

Our son came up from Boston to be with us on the day the vet came. We all had a good cry, then a toast to our happy memories. For one so small, the house seems empty now.

Thanks for reading, and thanks once again to Dave at HappyAcres.blog for doing all the work to keep the Harvest Monday tradition going.