Sam helped me harvest at the community garden today. He dug the leeks and I dug beets. Then I processed them back at home. A messy muddy task.
What was I thinking! This is a huge quantity of leeks. And there are more in the home garden. I will have to look for more leek recipes.
The beets seem more reasonable in volume. A good selection of medium ones and another of baby beets. A few greens were harvested, but most were not edible.
And this always seems to happen. No matter how painstakingly I try to harvest all the onions and shallots, some slip by. I found this glowing plateful today.
A busy kitchen this morning with frost on the ground and the woodstove going. The coziness almost mitigated the ominous news about the Supreme Court. I have to keep remembering to return my mind to mutual aid as a principle. Feed the hungry. And take care of the land that feeds us.
Pumpkin sliced and roastedReady to purée Two pounds of puréed pumpkin for pie or pancakesBeets from Lesley preparing for canningA single apple from our baby orchard. Edible and juicy but not too tasty.
Is it still mid-August? A lot has happened. We harvested the fava beans on August 11. Had a big party, the third annual, to shuck the beans. I have three small freezer bags of leftovers, which is good. I didn’t take any pictures, unfortunately.
We have picked over 20 pounds of blueberries, all in the orchard except for two containers harvested atop Schoodic. I know that should be quarts, next year I’ll switch to the more typical measurement.
Blueberries in orchard
We are still waiting for the Reliance peaches to ripen. Last year they were all taken, probably by squirrels. This year we took more precautions (netting around the trunk). Sam propped up the heavy branches. They have great color, but are still quite hard.
Peach tree with branches propped
Reliance peaches ripening
Sam’s working on improving the orchard fencing. Too many deer are getting in there.
Orchard fence improvements
He also added two more raised beds in the hoophouse. Over the next few days I’ll plant some fall and winter greens in them. The peppers and eggplants in the older beds are growing but not exuberantly, but the basil in there is doing great. We had to protect those beds from deer who came to munch one variety of pepper when we opened the roof to the sun and rain.
Hoophouse with two new raised beds
I’m picking green beans almost daily in the main garden. Also sowed some fall seeds in empty spots.
Seedling carrots
Newly planted lettuces framed by Bianca’s white runner bean
The fava bean area freed up, so we put up a pea trellis there. Also planted cilantro, broccoli rabe, and spinach in that area.
Newly planted fava bean area
Harvesting lots of food: beets, cucumbers, a few ripe tomatoes, lettuce, escarole, radicchio, carrots, costata romanesca zucchini, kale, chard, dill, artichokes, broccoli, Savoy cabbage, fingerlings, strawberries, blackberries. Coming along: squashes, a few ears of corn, cabbage, soybeans, pattypan squash, lots of tomatoes!
Soon we’ll need to eat a couple of the artichokes.
Other news: More lettuce than we know what to do with. A few peas, a few baby cucumbers, squash blossoms, a few handfuls of blueberries, a few tart cherries. Harvested some fingerling potatoes due to potato beetle infestation.
Flower row with garlic bed beyond. Mostly poppies and daisies at this time, but sunflowers coming.
Three sisters row. Corn (a few stalks), squash, green beans. A few volunteer potatoes. Horseradish at one end and comfrey at the other.
Broccoli (Aspabroc and DeCicco). Started under row cover. Vulnerable to porcupines! Saved by electric fence, now harvesting. Some cabbage, I think.
Fava bean row, plus some Dazzling Blue Kale and volunteer wild arugula from last year.
Parsnips, first and second year. Turnips. Beets. And a patch of broccoli rabe bolting. Will replace with some carrots.
Mixed greens row. Chard, radicchio, ruby red orach, Salanova lettuce, escarole, some volunteer dill, baby Turkish rocket, and some room for succession planting.
Soybeans just flowering, fingerling potatoes, carrots. Artichoke at the end of this row and three others.
Tomato row. Plus one marigold at the top.
Fence row – scarlet runner beans (not shown), rudbeckia perennial, zucchini, patty pan squash, Hopi black sunflowers, Chinese cabbage.
Lettuces under the corner trellis. Also visible – a few cucumbers starting to climb.
