Monday, November 9, 2009

Harvest Monday - 9 November 2009

My husband was going on a two day business trip last week, so it was the perfect time for me to make my chard quiche. He won't touch it, but I ate for lunch and dinner while he was gone. So I picked the last large leaves off the chard and a couple of green onions. The onions make the chard look tiny, but don't believe it. The onions are the size of my leeks - bigger than some. Ok maybe that is an indication that my leeks aren't all that big.

I also picked some broccoli side shoots. The plants in the sun are starting to put out a lot of small side shoots. I hope I have time to let them grow big. I also picked some mizuna. I was eating some lettuce the other day and remembered that my mizuna, which I usually mix in was not to be seen in the fridge. Sometimes I forget about it since it is under a row cover. It is too often out of sight out of mind.

The big harvest of the week was the rest of the carrots. I had about seven feet of them left in the garden. I had three rows about three to four inches apart along those seven feet. From left to right I have Atomic Red (small section), Sugar Snax (the big one on top is 8" long, most were around 6"), and Danvers (stubby little things, one was 2" in diameter). There was a little bit of carrot fly damage, which I cut off before weighing. Right now I have all four and a half pounds of them in the fridge. Later I'll probably slice, blanch, and freeze the Danvers since it tastes a tad bitter. It will be fine in soups, but the Sugar Snax and Atomic Red are better fresh.

Now onto the tally.

  • Allium 0.39 lbs
  • Berries 0.09 lbs
  • Broccoli 0.10 lbs
  • Carrots 4.62 lbs
  • Greens 0.68 lbs

Weekly total: 5.88 lbs
Weekly spent: $0
Yearly total: 209.92 lbs
Yearly earned: $730.27

If you would like to join in showing off your harvest, put your name and URL into Mr. Linky below. It doesn't matter how big or small your harvest is. You don't have to count the pounds like I do. If you have had a harvest this last week, show us and join in!

15 comments:

  1. Wow, gorgeous carrots! I really need to plan on fall carrots next year.... I'm loving the fall garden.

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  2. I'm so jealous of the carrots. I've never had good luck with them.

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  3. That's a good looking harvest of carrots! I leave my winter supply in the ground and just pull them when I need them - but our winters are milder than yours. What's your favorite way to store the fresh carrots you harvest?

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  4. Your carrots certainly do look good - I'm very envious! I've made a sausage meat and chard pie before, but I shall have to try chard quiche

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  5. That's quite a carrot harvest Daphne. Mine are taking forever. I don't get it!
    I've never had mizuna before. Is it another type od salad green? Or do you cook with it too?

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  6. Fantastic, Daphne! I always try to eat plenty of beets and Brussels sprouts when OFB is away, since he doesn't like them. His loss! We've had lots of mizuna for our salads this year thanks to our CSA and we love it. And your carrot lineup is awesome!!!

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  7. That is a good looking carrot harvest. Like kitsapFG, I can let mine stay in the ground over the winter, but they also seem to last forever in the fridge if the tops are removed.

    Does your husband hate your quiche because it has chard in it or is he a "real man"? ;->

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  8. Oh, I want your carrots! But I am planting some today, so keep your fingers crossed that they succeed in growing in my winter garden.

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  9. Ali, fall carrots are wonderful, but then again anything in the fall is wonderful. It is nice having harvests after the tomatoes all die.

    The Mom, I didn't have luck with them in my early garden years either. Heavy clay soil isn't very good for growing carrots. My last garden oh so many years ago was sandy soil and it was so easy to grow carrots there. Luckily I've built up the soil enough now that they will grow, usually not as big as the package says they will, but they grow and taste good so I'm happy.

    kitsapFG, I wish I could leave them in the ground all winter long. Here they would turn to mush (I tried one year with a lot of mulch - because you just have to see if you can). I store them in the fridge in a plastic bag with a towel (to soak up extra water so they don't get slimy). I've found at the bottom of the fridge they can keep for months. Then sometimes they start sending out roots and trying to grow again. Sometimes they just shrivel up and die. I also blanch and freeze them for soups and such.

    Jan, sadly I'm not a big fan of sausage (sadly because my husband is), but chard in savory pies is really good.

    Thomas, start them in the middle of July and you will get carrots for the fall around here (and I know you have shade problems in the fall lime me). I did that one year and got some nice sized carrots for fall (the start of July probably would have given me huge carrots). Mine were started in May, but they took forever since they were in shade. They didn't really start bulking up well until the peppers in front of them were pulled. Mizuna is a Japanese (at least I think it is Japanese) leafy green vegetable in the mustard family. In the US it is most often used mixed into salads to give it a bit of a bite (but it is much milder than mustard). I've heard you can cook it too, but I've never tried it that way. I ought to since it is really easy to grow. It is very very pretty (especially the purple kind I'm growing - though that one plant I harvested from doesn't seem to be purple). And I love cooked greens.

    Silence, I hate when my husband leaves, but it really makes cooking so easy and I get to eat what he hates.

    Michelle, They do last a long, long time in the fridge. My husband likes quiche well enough. He just hates vegetables (and fruits). He hates the texture of them and just can't handle them. I do get him to eat some by pureeing them for sauces. It is very sad that someone that loves her veggies as much as I do is married to someone that won't touch them. You should see me cook when my daughter is home (she will eat veggies, but can't handle sauces - btw both eating issues are autism related, though my husband is barely in the spectrum). I will make a stir fry and use two fry pans. One I start cooking chicken one with just veggies. Then when the chicken is done, I'll take my daughter's portion out. Then add the sauce. Then take my bit out to add to the veggies. I'm making three dishes to feed us all. Arrrggg! Don't even talk about when my dad joins the mix (he is allergic to wheat and doesn't eat a lot of carbs). At least my mom and I will eat anything. My son just hates most greens things and thinks mushrooms are evil. Ahh cooking for my family is so fun.

    Annie's Granny, Good luck on those carrots. I love mine.

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  10. Oh Daphne, I want to both laugh and cry. I have it so easy, my husband will eat just about anything, although he isn't crazy about orange peel. He can detect the most minute amount of orange peel in anything... but he'll still eat it unless there's too much. He's getting over his aversions to lemon zest and mint and now he actually likes cilantro. I have a friend who has the same issues as your husband with fruit. And her husband used to not eat anything green, but we've been working on him. He'll eat brussels sprouts and any green veggie that I cook for him he'll at least try and usually eat it all. Thank goodness I don't have to feed kids, if they didn't like what I served them they would probably starve.

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  11. Like others, I am jealous of your carrots. You can see my one carrot in this week's harvest post. My other (puny) carrots can be seen here: http://2greenacres.blogspot.com/2009/10/this-years-vegetable-garden-what-didnt.html

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  12. Looks like your garden is still going and going! I need to try those sugar snax next year. I can't wait to tell my kids they're having sugar snax after school!

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  13. Michelle, well when my kids were young I made them eat things. I figure at 21 and 22 they are old enough to make mature decisions about food. And when they come home I always want to make their favorites, not force them to eat things they don't like. I do wish my husband ate veggies. It would make cooking so much easier.

    2 Green Acres, Oh the poor carrots. Maybe you have nematodes like I do, or really bad carrot flies. They both stunt growth.

    Wendy, lol yup the kids would love the name. When my daughter was little she loved carrots straight from the garden. OK she also ate full sized onions too. The thought of that just makes me cringe.

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  14. The more of your carrots I see the more I think I need to give them another try next year.
    I posted a few minutes ago; sorry to be late to the party.

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  15. Sally, late is fine. I noticed that you are so close to breaking even. Too bad we don't have another month.

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