"Gypsy gold does not chink and glitter. It gleams in the sun and neighs in the dark."

~ Saying of the Gladdagh Gypsies of Galway


Monday, August 8, 2011

Harvest Monday, August 8, 2011



This past week we've had a decent harvest. I spent Saturday preserving a lot of it...more on that in a minute.

This pic was from a harvest during the week. Lots of peppers, Jalapeno's & Chipotle's, which by the way, our diagram of what we planted where doesn't seem to match up now?! So I don't know which is which since they look similar anyways! I might cook with what I think is a jalapeno and get a tad more of a kick than I expected! We also harvested two more Hungarian Hot Wax; my new favorite way to eat these is in my marina sauce over stuffed shells!

Ok, moving on...we picked some broccoli (which went into Pasta Primavera) and lots more cuc's. Don't they look so not 'cuc-ish'! Oh well, they till taste good! I have a jar of  'Traditionally Fermented Pickles' going. One week down, one more to go. They smell wonderful but hubby is a little leary since they sit out at room temp, no lid or anything on them!


Friday I harvested our Soy Beans. This was our first year growing them and they were so easy. They had some Asian Bettle damage on the leaves but the fruit was fine and I harvested about 1.5# :) I worked on cleaning, steaming, bagging with a Foodsaver and feezing them yesterday and I probably ate half while doing this ;) Ok, not half, but enough! This was the first time I used the Foodsaver - how many people does it take to figure out a Foodsaver?! And how long? Just all afternoon and a call to their hotline for hubby and I ;)


Saturday I harvested the rest of our Broccoli; a little over 2 pounds.


This was my line up for preserving Saturday; Soy Beans, Cauliflower and the Broccoli.


And I picked some herbs for drying. Sage, Tarragon, Oregano and Rosemary. I dried it on the oven.
I also dried some Peppermint for tea in the winter - a fav of mine!
Do you dry your herbs? If so, which method works best for you?


Check out other gardener's harvests for the week over at Daphne's Dandelions!

Check out what other gardener's are growing at An Oregon Cottage's Tuesday Garden Party!

26 comments:

Jill said...

Quite a haul! Great job.

kitsapFG said...

Quite a variety of items this week! Your broccoli is pretty impressive for this time of year! We are between broccoli plantings at the moment. The spring broccoli wrapped up a few weeks ago and the fall/winter crop is growing but a long ways away from producing anything yet (September!).

My husband used to be leery of the fermented preserved items too but after years of good eating and no food poisoning - he trusts me now and gobbles everything up. :D

Thomas said...

Your broccoli is huge! I can never get mine to grow that big. Great harvest this week.

Ben Czajkowski said...

Wow, a very green, and slightly yellow, harvest this week. That's a ton of broccoli!

Nancy said...

Wonderful harvest! I have made the 14-day pickles in a large crock and they turned out great. Didn't even have any scum on the top. :)

Barbie~ said...

I love soybeans and I understand they do very well here in humid central. I may have to try next year.

foodgardenkitchen said...

Wow, that's quite the harvest! What is a chipotle pepper? I thought it was just a roasted jalapeno pepper. Is there a variety of pepper named Chipotle?

RandomGardener said...

Broccoli looks great! How do you grow them? Mine never seems to grow to give a nice head. Your harvest this week is impressive! I couldn't spot your single cherry tomato :)

Unknown said...

Foodgardenkitchen: Yep, they were labeled as a Chipotle pepper and from some reading I have done, it sounds like they are a version of the jalapeno....but with red on them. And some of our did have some red in some areas, but not completely red.

Unknown said...

RandomGardener: We buy already started broccoli and plant that and have just always seemed to have luck with it. The cauliflower seems to be a little more finicky for us than broccoli - you'd think they'd be the same :)

michelle said...

That is a nice haul of veggies! I wish I could grow soy beans - besides being bunny magnets they sulk in my cool weather so I've given up on them. I miss them, the only ones I can find in the market come all the way from China, even the organic ones, and I'm just not going to eat veggies imported half way around the world (not to mention I don't trust their organic certification).

The only herb that I dry is oregano. I take the branches just as they are developing flower heads and hang them up in a shady place to dry out and then strip the leaves off and store them in glass jars.

Camille said...

Everything looks so yummy! What a lovely harvest! I've been drying many herbs in the dehydrator, which gives beautiful results, but takes forever in this humid summer weather. I've been tying small batches to dry, hanging them upside down from a curtain rod in a dark, cool room in the house and it works great.

Robin said...

I had to laugh about the foodsaver. We had problems the first time we used ours too!

Nice broccoli!

Shawn Ann said...

I always thought a chipotle was a smoked jalapeno too. Jalapenos turn red when they are left on the plant long enough, and are hotter when red too. I didn't grow any this year though. I have not heard of an actual chipotle pepper. I'll have to look it up! Your broccoli looks just great!

Unknown said...

Well gosh. Lol. I am not sure anymore about these peppers. The 'tag' that came with them has them titled as 'Chipotle' and the description says 'Semi-hot Pepper...66 days, medium hot pepper with thick walls.Smoking brings out the spicy wood flavor in this pepper.'

Vanessa said...

I've also had some ball shaped cucs this year. That's alot of broccoli! I have an old school dehydrator that my parents bought when I was a kid that I like to use for herbs.

Daphne Gould said...

Your broccoli looks fabulous. I wish I had that much, but I have little bits right now.

Ottawa Gardener said...

I saw two types of peppers I think and the green ones sure looked like Jalapenos but based on what everyone said about the others just being smoked Jalapenos, who knows? Regardless, they look good. What kind of cauliflower was that?

Emily said...

sweet broccoli! i have a lot of trouble growing that plant. but i keep trying.

Beth said...

Bounty! And so much fun when you grow it yourself!

Dan said...

Great looking harvests!

Dorothy-Life With Boys said...

Good lookin' broccoli!!! I love traditionally fermented dills....mmmm. Tell your hubby nobody will die from eating properly fermented food =) If you like ferments, there's a yummy fermented salsa recipe at noursihed kitched that is just sooo good!!!

Lou Murray's Green World said...

Ditto what Michelle said about drying herbs. I have a mint drying in my kitchen right now. I got a nice herb rack from somewhere online, probably Gardener's Supply, possibly Cook's Garden. It's a wrought iron ring with hooks hanging off it. Tie string around herb bundle, hang up to dry. But here in Southern California, most herbs grow year-round. Not dill or basil though.

Unknown said...

Ottawa Gardener: I believe the Cauliflower was called Snow Cap.

The Sage Butterfly said...

Excellent harvest! I have been drying and freezing herbs and making pesto....drying and freezing tomatoes...making casseroles. It is that time of year.

meemsnyc said...

I haven't picked my soybeans yet. I didn't know when was the right time to harvest. I guess I should do that soon.