Harvest Monday, 20 July 2015

I kept my dehydrator going for a long time this week. I dehydrated mint, parsley, winter savory, and marjoram. Two of which got their photos taken. The other two were shy. This is my first harvest of the winter savory. Since it was seeded in the spring I've been letting it get big instead of smaller pickings. And I hadn't tasted it before. I really do love it. It seems to be somewhere between thyme and oregano in taste. And it has a hint of lemon in it too. It isn't a very common spice in the US, but it ought to be.

I also picked some lettuce which is really nice. I've been pulling a lot as it has been bolting prematurely. I taste a leaf as the plants start to bolt. If I detect that icky bitter taste, I'll toss it. If not, like the above oak leave lettuce, I'll keep it.

On the allium front - most of the garlic is in the bike shed drying, but I had to get a couple for the kitchen. I might have to do that again before it is all dry and cleaned up. I picked all of the tiny onions under the Brussels sprouts. The sprouts had shaded them out fairly early. I figured it would take longer. I also picked a couple more Walla Wallas.

I picked chard twice this week. It hadn't been picked in a while and was getting out of control. I think it is again. I love chard as it produces so well and taste so good.

The summer harvests are just starting to come in. Though only one is shown, I picked two zucchinis and a few beans every couple of days. The cucumbers are one of my favorite summer treats. Mostly I eat them as cucumber salads or make them into pickles. In the past I've made a simple oil and vinegar (mostly vinegar) dressing for them. But my townhouse mate induced me to try the Greek yogurt from our little local corner store, which happens to be a Greek grocery store. I love all the interesting things you can buy there, but I've never bought their yogurt. I'm guessing it is imported from Greece in a huge tub as it is packed in deli packs. I'm not a fan of American style yogurt. The only one I'll buy from the store is Fage which is technically a Greek yogurt. It is decent. But oh this unnamed Greek yogurt is to die for. And so much thicker than American style Greek yogurt. More like a cream cheese almost than a yogurt. And so tangy. I've been using any excuse to eat it. A cucumber dressing seemed appropriate. Though next time I'll use more yogurt. Or I could just make a maast-o-khiar (Persian yogurt, cucumber, and mint dish) and dispense with the idea that the cucumbers are the reason why I'm eating it at all.

The biggest harvest this week by far was the spring carrot harvest. They had to get pulled so the fall cabbages could get planted. They look a bit tiny in this photo, but that is 20 pounds of carrots. So lots and lots of carrots. I'll be eating them for the next couple of months until the fall carrots start to get big enough to pick.

And last are the only weighed picking of the alpine strawberries. When I eat them it tends to be outside as I pick them and I rarely do. But one of my townhouse mates is out of town and she tends to graze on them, so I usually see very few. Since she was gone no one was picking them. I went out and picked the lot. Heaven forbid they go to waste. They are too good for that.

• Alliums, 1.90 lbs
• Beans, 0.08 lbs
• Carrots, 20.23 lbs
• Cucumbers, 1.07 lbs
• Greens, 4.06 lbs
• Herbs, 0.72 lbs
• Summer Squash, 0.80 lbs
• Weekly total, 28.85
• Yearly total, 240.01 lbs, $481.51

• Fruits
• Alpine Strawberries, 0.14 lbs
• Fruit Yearly total, 36.39 lbs

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.