The first of the heirloom tomatoes were harvested today. I have harvested a couple early hybrid tomatoes already but these are the ones a gardener longs for. Starting on the left in the so so picture is Cherokee Purple, Pink Berkley Tye Dye & Giant Belgium. The small ones in front are Velvet Red. 
This spring I planted three hop varieties, they grow from rhizomes and are perennial. This variety is Cascade and they are used in hoppy beers and American ales. Pretty good harvest for the first year! The next hop harvest will be Nugget which are used to bitter beer. The other variety I am trying is Goldings, it is not putting out many hops the first year so it will be a wash. Below is a closeup of a hop:
This is a Cascade hop cut open. The yellow parts are lupulin glands. They contain most of the essential oils and resins which give beer their flavor. 
Here is a bunch of Elderberries that I picked today well out in the country. They grow wild in wet areas. I have never tried these before but they seem to be rather prized by people in the know. They have a blackberry flavor but are very astringent without sugar. The seeds also contain a small amount of cyanide so they have to be cooked before consuming them, this boils the toxins off. They have many uses like syrup, jellies & pies. They are also used to make elderberry wine and added to beer as well. Not sure what I will do with them yet.
I also came across an apple tree growing on the side of a gravel road today. It must have been a cultivated variety at some point, looks kind of like a Golden Delicious. It was really neglected but the apples still looked good. I picked a bunch and will probably go back in a few weeks when they sweeten up more. These ones will be made into an apple pie, mm apple pie.
Very cool that you can find the berries and the apples nearby.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to hear if the home grown hops has a better flavor just like home grown tomatoes or other veggies do.
Foraged food is so much fun. Are you aware that this is the year of the heirloom apple? A century ago there were 15,000 different apple varieties growing in the US. Today there are only 1,500 varieties offered for sale. That great biodiversity is being lost. There is a move afoot (or is it afield?) to seek out old apple trees and if the apples are good, graft them onto new rootstock (apples don't breed true from seed). So if your apple is a good one, see if you can find someplace to save it.
ReplyDeleteAre you going to make beer? I would love to see that process! The hops are beautiful.
ReplyDeletegorgeous! no tomatoes here, yet- are you making beer? "hop" to it!
ReplyDeleteI just try making jelly with my edelberries.... fail it. I prefer eat them from the tree just like that. Not to many in the same time. When you cook them, they didn't smell very good! And now I found the "sirup" to sweet. I don't know what I will do with them.
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool that you grow your own hops! I would love to see what you do with it for the beer. Do you dry it? That is so cool that there was an apple tree growing on the side of the road where you can just pick the apples. Nice find!
ReplyDeleteYour season is definitely ahead of ours in most things Dan, but I had my first Cherokee Purple a long time ago, It's a fantastic tomato - thanks for the seeds!
ReplyDeleteI have made beer with fresh hops - wild in this case. A lovely flavour.
Lucky you to find elderberries! You should make some elderberry jelly...it's the best! There were elderberries growing at my grandfather's one farm when I was young. My mother used to make jelly with the berries. It's worth the work!!
ReplyDeleteI love the foraged foods. It's time for me to do the same. Enjoy your hops. I can't wait to see the final product.
ReplyDeleteMy mom used to make elderberry and elderberry/apple jelly every year and it was delicious. They also made elderberry wine with it as well.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how many fruit trees are abandoned or left unattended? I find it mystifying to see fruit trees in inhabited yards with fruit dropping and rotting from the tree because the owners cannot be bothered to care or harvest for them. Such a waste.
It's such a shame to see abandoned apple trees and no one taking the fruit. I was visiting Emily in NH at the beginning of the month and you see the apple trees along the road side just begging to be picked.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your apple pie. Glad to hear someone is getting the apples from one of those trees.
Oh man, that's taking "guerilla harvesting" to a whole new level! Oh, you'll have to make some apple butter...
ReplyDeleteHow pretty the hops are! And what fun to be able to forage for elderberries and apples. Apple pie, yum. You had some interesting harvests this week indeed.
ReplyDeleteApparently one of the best natural cures for insomnia is a 'hop pillow'. apparently workers in the hop fields here in Kent were known to fall asleep on the job!
ReplyDeleteI'm always surprised at the abandoned fruit too. I dropped my daughter off in Waterloo. They have huge plum trees outside her window. No one picks them. They just fall to the ground and rot. All I could think was that I would love to can some of them (but of course I wouldn't have been able to get them across the border).
ReplyDeleteThe length and size of your hops there means they are really happy. Sorry the East Kent Goldings were a bust. I am sure next year, they will respond to the love (and great growing conditions) your other hops got.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few fruit trees in my city on public property. I tried years back to get the city to start up a fruit tree picking program and the apples were just falling to ground and rotting away in the puddle that always seemed to be there. They had no interest. Still, when I pass them by, I make sure to grab a couple. They are good!
ReplyDeleteGreat harvest Monday! Are you making beer then? I'm curious to see how this all plays out. My husband would love if I grew hops.
Thanks for the sharing pictures of your hops! I had never seen them up close like that before. Meals made from fresh veggies, washed down with home brewed beer, mmm, does life get much better??
ReplyDeletePretty hops! I've never seen them grown before. Thanks for sharing! Mmm...beer!
ReplyDeleteNice harvest! I'm planting heirloom tomatoes next year. I can't wait! My Nana used to make elderberry pie for my Grandpa. I remember it as being really good. What luck getting those apples. Your pie should be great.
ReplyDelete~~Lori
Thanks for sharing the hop picture, I've never seen it before.
ReplyDeleteThe tomato with a green stripe in the first photo Giant Belgian is very pretty, will it turn more red as it ripens more indoor?
I have never seen a hop before! It's interesting that you can get beer out of it.
ReplyDeleteWe are usually harvesting elderberry flowers (they flower sometime in May) and make very refreshing juice with it.
I was checking out your home brewing blog the other day. Hops are so interesting. I can't wait to see what you do with them. I must definitely be a fun hobby to have.
ReplyDeleteOh, and nice harvest! I love hunting and gathering!
I love that kind of foraging. Good for you! I need to check the apple tree down the street, definitely.
ReplyDeletegreat foraging! I've been out picking lots of wild blackberries here. I made a syrup with them (inspiried by a post I read on elderberry cordial).
ReplyDeletePicking apples from an apple tree -
ReplyDeleteBoy! Did that take me back to my childhood!!
(And I'm still happy I never got caught. :)
I'll be back,
gabriele
Nice grabs ! The berries are beautiful !
ReplyDeleteThe hops are splendid. Will be great using them in your ales. My go at starting them from seed failed but I'm keen on having a crop in the garden, even just for the show. So pretty ! Will try again next year.