Monday, November 2, 2009

Harvest Monday

This past week I have started to harvest some of the fall crops I planted during the late summer. Time is ticking until the killing frosts that come mid way through Nov so I better get cooking. I am going to start harvesting all the unprotected veggies first so that means lettuce, carrots, beets, radishes, chard & tatsoi so keep an eye out for them in up coming Harvest Monday's.

I have picked a good amount of Red Celery during the last seven days. Instead of harvesting the whole plant I have just been pulling what I need from the plant, seems to work well. The celery above when into some beef stock I made, the stock also had my onions and garlic in it.

This red celery went into beef stew that was made with the beef stock I was just blogging about above. Sorry no photo of the stew, it was made with beef, my onions, my potatoes, my celery, my garlic, mushrooms, homemade stock, barley, bay leaves and S&P.

Here is the salad I harvested for Sunday's dinner. The colander contains, Merlot lettuce, Australian Yellowleaf lettuce, mizuna, atomic red carrots (not very atomic red!) and a mix of Easter Egg radishes.


Lastly here is Sundays dinner. For the salad I just grated the carrots & radish over the mixed greens. The burger is a whole other story, I was watching Triple D and saw this burger so I had to give it a try. It is a beef burger with grilled kielbasa topped with lots of cheese, tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise. It was spectacular!

14 comments:

  1. WOW! That celery looks fantastic! I will have to grow some next year. Do you eat the leafy parts as well?

    Your carrots look great as well...and much larger then mine When did you so sow them? I sowed mine in mid-August, which I'm guessing was a little too late, and didn't do a good job of watering them early on.

    I can't wait to see the rest of your harvests!

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  2. The salad fixins and celery look really yummy. Burger looks like it would be a challenge to eat - but worth it!

    Those are some of the first full size atomic red carrots I have seen. It seems like they did not germinate or grow well for several people this year.

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  3. Celery is ok in a soup of some kind, but raw - tastes awful. Your harvest looks great!

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  4. I'm not a big celery fan, but every year I go out and buy a head and chop it all up and freeze it for my soups over the winter. I wonder if it would be silly to grow just one head. Yours looks so good, but then I think, just one head? How silly is that.

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  5. Dan, your harvest looks great and puts mine to shame!

    Hey Daphne, I like the idea of buying celery specially for freezing. I'll do that, because I never manage to eat it all.

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  6. Sheesh, Dan. You mean you didn't raise your own beef for the stew? I'm ashamed of you *wink, wink*.

    The veggies are gorgeous, the meal looks delightful. I gained a pound or two just looking at that hamburger.

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  7. Thomas - I used the leaves in the stock but not the stew. The red celery has huge leaves and I bet they would be a good sub for parsley. I can share some celery seed with you next season if you would like, I have lots. The carrots I planted in May and they took forever to grow. I did seed some fall ones in July but they were so shaded they have barely produced anything.

    KitsapFG - The atomic red's didn't really do that well for me either. They took 6 months to get to this point. The burger was a mouth full that's for sure.

    EG - I don't like raw celery either, to stringy and bitter. I just use it in soup, stew, stock, stuffing etc. Only cooked that's for sure.

    Daphne - If you only would grow one head it probably would not be worth growing. I am growing four heads this fall and they actually don't take up to much room.

    Jan - Thanks for stopping by, glade you liked my harvest.

    Granny - Didn't you know I have the cows out back, ha. The burger was good but yes very fattening. I'll have to limit making it to a couple times a year.

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  8. Very nice harvest! The red celery is very pretty. I've read that you can reduce the bitterness of celery by banking the stems with soil. The Atomic Red carrots weren't the best growers in my garden this year either but I though they were good tasting.

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  9. Not fair your killing frost comes a month after mine in zone 5. You guys haven't tried raw celery correctly. It is supposed to be emerged in a BM first. John

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  10. That's some healthy looking celery. It's making my mouth water. Lovely ! Nice size on the atomic reds. What a cool and delicious looking burger, mmmm !

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  11. Oh my Dan! you've given me the munchies big time ..that burger!

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  12. Michelle - The carrots are pretty good tasting but definitely not a good performer.

    John - We have had frosts already that are enough to kill the summer crops. Usually the middle to end of Nov brings the weather that finishes all the greens & brassica's.

    Miss M - That burger was the best, bit of a jaw breaker though.

    Matron - You'll have to give the burger a try, so good!

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  13. Beautiful produce!! Those carrots are beautiful!
    That burger is amazing! How did you manage to eat it?

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  14. That celery is beautiful. I've always heard it is difficult to grow and haven't even tried. But you make it look so good...

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