Monday, October 25, 2010

Harvest Monday

It has been quite a while since I participated in Harvest Monday. On this rather grey but warm fall day I decided to harvest some crops. I headed out with a basket, clippers, camera and a pint of Muskoka Harvest Ale. The ale was a fine dry hopped pale ale by the way :-)

I ended up with quite a nice mix of veggies today. The fall has been great so far, no frost, lots of rain but a little lacking in sunlight. Frost must be coming soon so I brought in everything that will be affected by a freeze.

  • Three Waltham Butternut squash
  • A couple bell peppers grown from Granny's seed. The bell peppers had to much shade this year so they didn't produce well. I'll have to relocated them next season.
  • A good bunch of Big Chili II peppers, they seemed to do alright in the shady spot. I will roast them, remove the skin and freeze for later use.
  • My lone head of cabbage was brought in, it was grown some seed shared by Soggy Creek Seeds . The chipmunk ate the rest of the crop early in the spring.
  • One head of fall broccoli, more to come for them.
  • I also picked the only Petit Gris melon of the season. They were shaded by the tomatoes early on and didn't seem to like it.
Today I also harvested a bunch of Red Fennel seed. They were not so good at producing fennel bulbs but did produce very fragrant seed. I'll dry them and make porketta and maybe some Italian sausage later on.

Here is what I have harvested in the last couple weeks, Just some red celery. This celery is hallow inside and is only good once cooked. It has a reddish base and adds an excellent celery flavor to soups, stews & red sauces. The celery was used in a Leek & Potato Soup and Lasagna.

14 comments:

  1. Wow... no frost yet? What zone are you?

    Your red celery looks so good!!!! Do you use the tops too?

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  2. I tried some red celery and it was small and bitter. Didn't know it was better cooked. Maybe I'll try some again next year. Your squash looks really nice.

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  3. I've never heard of red celery. I think that is something that I might like to try next year.

    Your squash looks good...a nice fall veggie.

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  4. Butternut squash!! Love love love that squash. Will you be turning it into soup?

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  5. Aw man, those are some nice butternut squash....I've been wodering where you've been lately.

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  6. Nobody has mentioned the cabbage yet! Love the white color - bet it's extra crunchy. Enjoy.

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  7. The whole harvest is excellent, but the butternut squashes look particularly beautiful. I was intending to grow them myself this year but ended up with a package of bad seed and did not get one single plant to germinate and ended up growing no winter squash (only some pie pumpkins). Butternuts will definitely be in my 2011 garden though - just using my normal tried and true seed source this year.

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  8. Beautiful harvest Dan, well done. It all looks very healthy and delicious.

    Tyra

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  9. Lovely selection there. I'm harvesting loads of Bright Lights Chard - and the chickens cadge most of it from me! Still getting the last dregs of summer cabbage too.

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  10. So glad to find your site. Have you had frost yet? We're in SC, zone 7b...so we should still have a few more frost-free weeks...hopefully! Look forward to reading more...

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  11. The celery looks nice to me, but then again I only use it to cook. I'm not a big fan of raw celery. I love the deep color of the red celery. It still looks green to me, but with a little reddish hue on the bottom.

    Love the squash. I wish I had more this year.

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  12. those butternut squash look lovely. I might put them on the list to grow next year but there are just so many wonderful varieties to choose from and I am a bit of an addict!

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  13. lovely vegetables. .looks a good harvest! I hope my garden too =(

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