June 21st Harvest

Just a quick list of what I got today--

• garlic scapes: 4.3 oz 
• Zut alors! I have missed one!... or ten.
• black raspberries: 5.2 oz
• Unlike blackberries, black raspberries are non-native to North America, but are growing like mad in various parts of the property around the garden. Black raspberries are a similar color to blackberries, but are smaller- much like raspberries. We double-checked with our landlord that we could harvest these berries and he told us "Good luck getting to them before the squirrels."
• (mostly) admiral peas: 2 lbs 4 oz
• It has been super hot for a couple days and the pea plants are trying their hardest to send their pods out before they wither and die. We are trying to harvest these pods before the slugs eat them all. All in all, the admiral peas did (and are doing) vastly better than our other pea varieties. Not bad for a cover crop!

Happy growing! <3

Mid June Harvest

It's that time of year already-- where I work at my job all day (wearing high heels, ugh), come home and tornado-change into garden clothes and with a burrito in hand, stop by the chickens, to hang out, on my way to weed the garden, seemingly in vain. Keep in mind, this is not a complaint. This is exactly how I want to live my life (except maybe replace chickens with a less annoying creature). 

I suppose the end of summer is the real boom of harvesting, with the heaps and heaps of fruits that HAVE to get taken care of before the hard frosts kill everything off, but the rest of the year provides, too. The tomatoes aren't flowering yet, but some crops are already on their way out- like our early variety of spinach. I am astonished at the people who set up their gardens with only tomato season in mind- set plants in the ground around memorial day, and take them out at labor day. Think of all the wonderful foods they're missing out on!
June 16, 2012 Harvest:

• garlic scapes: 2 lbs 7.1 oz
• admiral peas (w/ shells): 2 lbs 15.9 oz
• fava beans: 3 bean pods

Now I get to figure out clever ways to incorporate garlic scapes into everything! This evening I made garlic scape ketchup- uh, yum! Here's a recipe for Garlic Scape Dip I'm going to try for a party I'm throwing this weekend.


When I was shelling 3 lbs of peas, to get ready for freezing, I was astonished at how spoiled we all are. It took me hours to shell roughly half a package of frozen peas. I'm sure there is some far more efficient way that it is done commercially, but in the good ol' fashioned way with my fingers, it took forever. But, if I was interested in the easy way out, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing. Growing my own food gives me an appreciation for the food so readily available, too.

Happy growing! <3