Harvest Monday, 27 April 2015

This title might more appropriately be called the lasts and the firsts. The lasts were my storage harvests from last year. Above is the last sweet potato.

I cut them up into fry shapes and roasted them. They are such a lovely mottled lilac before they are cooked. But after cooking they turn dark purple.

I cooked up the last three butternut squash.

Which I pureed. Two got frozen for future use, but one got made into a custard right away for dinner.

I also finished up the last of the carrots. So except for that little bit of frozen puree, I've finished off my colorful storage crops. I'll miss them. And though the garden has started to produce it isn't nearly enough to feed me yet. So I'll be buying yet more from the market until I ramp up later in the spring.

Though I've used up my main storage crops, at least the garden is producing something. This is one week's harvest. It contains the first spinach harvest and the first bok choy harvest. I'm really thrilled to pick enough that I can cook it up for dinner.

After a long winter of no harvests, it seems like a lot. But the reality is that it was just 0.86 lbs which is only about five servings of vegetables once it is cooked up. I try to eat eight a day give or take (since last September before then it was closer to six servings). That many servings comes to about 2 cups of cooked vegetables at lunch and again at dinner. I tend to like fruit at breakfast. It is easy to keep up over the winter. I have my frozen greens (spinach, chard, kale, broccoli) which I eat a cup of at each meal. And I have my colorful storage crops (carrots, squash, sweet potatoes). I eat a cup of them too. So I get some variety. But will I want two cups of greens this spring? I'm not so sure. I suppose I'll find out. If not I'll end up supplementing for a while until I get more of a varied harvest.

Dinner with my first spinach and some of my last squash. And the very rare boxed dinner. Most all my food is made from scratch. Even the mayo for the sauce was homemade. But not the fish sticks. It is my rare "I don't want to make dinner" dinner.

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and link to Mr Linky below.