This year I have been trying to record our harvest much more rigorously than in years past. Both to aid in my planning for next year and to get a true idea of what we can get out of our little square of earth. I toyed with the idea of creating a sidebar listing the harvest and then just decided to go ahead and join the Independence Days Challenge as it covers everything I wanted to record and then some. Hopefully, actually joining up will keep me on my toes in terms of being rigorous in recording and perhaps get a bit more done around here each week so I can meet all the categories. Here is my entry for this week.
Plant Something – Planted this week. Marigolds, Sweet William, Rudebeckia, Basil, Dill, Catnip, Shasta Daisy, and Cilantro.
Harvest Something – Kale, Arugula, Beets, Buttercrunch Lettuce, Shelling Peas, Fennel, Basil, bunching onion, spearmint, lambsquarter and oregano.
Preserve Something – 2 gallons Kale, blanched and frozen. 2 pounds Peas, most frozen some currently drying. 2 gallons arugula made into ravioli for freezer. 2 gallon s of Lambs quarter picked and washed waiting for inspiration on preservation, (we’ve got it coming our our ears) any ideas?
Prep Something – Pulled the last of the arugula to prepare row for Broccoli and Cauliflower starts. Pulled out Peas and cleaned bed. Bought a metric buttload of canning jars (used) off Craigslist in preparation for tomato season and pressure canning this fall. Pruned the tomato plants. Managed the aphid infestation on the nasturtiums. Every year it happens and every year I plant em again…stupid? Perhaps, but they’re so purty!
Cook Something – Steak Salad with greens from the garden, Homemade pasta with fresh peas, bacon and onion, Arugula Ravioli with Ricotta and Sun Dried tomato (see previous post), Lemon Balm Queso Fresco (inspiration from Dana at Tasting Menu), Kale, Beet Green and Chard saute with Garlic and a poached egg. Sour Cream Ricotta Peach Tart with burnt Caramel.
Manage your Reserves – Took stock of the freezer (and arranged stock in the freezer). Stripped and packaged the first round of Spearmint, Oregano and Lemon Balm hung up to dry several weeks ago. Remaining from last years harvest (or farmers mkts): 1 delicata squash, 2 quart bags rhubarb, 2 gallon bags blueberries, 1 gallon raspberries, 3 half-pint and one pint jar pickled green tomatoes, 2 half-pints tomatillo salsa, 1 pint green tomato relish, 3 quarts canned whole tomatoes and 1 pint sun dried tomatoes.
Work on Local Food Systems – Bought Dill, Cherries and New Potatos from the Renton Farmers Market. Did further research on another source for grassfed lamb this year. We just got word from last years source that they will not be selling any meat this year. Anyone have a good source for Lamb or pork in Western WA? We prefer to buy straight from the farm, a whole lamb or probably 1/4 pork. Looked (again) for a reasonable source for raw milk – no luck.
2 responses so far ↓
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2 Beyzanur // Jul 17, 2015 at 9:55 am
The pesticides are also sarpyed on regardless of whether they’re organic or not. Organic produce only means pesticides are not put in the soil. Farmers still spray their crops with pesticides and surfactants to seal in the pesticides. You MUST wash your veggies with a good wash or you’re still eating all the things you just mentioned you are wanting to avoid. . Try running an organic bunch of broccoli under water. The water umbrellas off of it. This is because it has the chemicals on it to allow water to repel off it. Farmers do this to seal the pesticides in from rain. Farmers are allowed by the government to spray enough on to protect their crop from a 14 day rain, so this means you’d literally have to run water over your veggies or fruit for 14 days (24 hrs a day) straight to wash the surfactant off ( and then you have to deal with the sarpyed pesticides). I use GNLD’s Green to clean our veggies. We soak them in a sink full of water with a couple small pumps of the Green for 30 minutes. After the broccoli is clean, the water will not umbrella off the top, but rather go right through it. Most apples are dipped in wax too organic or not. The Green starts to eat away at the wax too, but you usually have to peel apples before consumption to avoid eating candle wax (which is not digestible).Hope you find this helpful.
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