Monday, February 8, 2010

Harvest Monday - February 8, 2010

Harvest Monday is here again. This week I didn't get around to photographing any of my harvests but I did take some photos in the garden of some of the veggies.

Here's a photograph of a couple of beets that I was forced to harvest because a gopher started snacking on one of them and had put the other one on its menu. These are an heirloom variety named Dewing's Early Blood Turnip Rooted Beets. I took the photo just a few days before the gopher came to town.


This is the Olive Leaf rapini that I've been harvesting over the last few weeks. Up until lately I've been thinning the plants, harvesting them whole for their leaves. Now that the plants are thinned and are starting to flower I've been harvesting the flower shoots. The plants will continue to send up new flowering shoots from the bases of the plants for a while. And it's official now, my husband (and I) like this green best when it's mixed with another green such as chard or spinach.



Here's the harvest totals for the week:

Beets - 13 oz.
Piracicaba Broccoli - 7.25 oz.
Cutting Celery - 3 oz.
Chervil - .5 oz.
Fava Leaves - 1 oz.
Garlic shoots - 1 oz.
Golden Corn Salad - 1 oz.
Lettuce mix- 1 oz.
Vit Mache - 1 oz.
Olive Leaf Rapini - 7 oz.

Total for the week:  35.75 ounces or 2.23 pounds
Total for the year:  11.5 pounds

I made another very nice mixed salad with the chervil, fava leaves, corn salad, lettuce and mache. My favorite dressing for the mix is a simple one of hazelnut oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. The salad accompanied a tasty frittata  made with leftover pasta and fresh eggs from the girls.

Oh, and I've started keeping a tally of my share of eggs. I gather the eggs 3 or 4 days every week. The total for 3 days last week was 11 eggs and 29 eggs since January 20.

Join in the Harvest Monday fun over at Daphne's Dandelions. Show us what you've been harvesting!

15 comments:

  1. That is pretty good for this time of year. That is a nice egg harvest. I miss the free range farm eggs I used to get in the summer time. I can't wait for the farmers markets to start up again. Sadly they don't until June around here.

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  2. I've yet to see a gopher in this garden but I still fear them. How do the olive leafed rapini florets taste?

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  3. Yum! I'm so excited just reading about your harvest -- and definitely jealous of your "girls". (Hubby says I have "chicken lust," LOL.) I can't wait until we really have something to write about later in the season. Until then, I'll enjoy your harvest vicariously!

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  4. Daphne, It is so nice to have fresh eggs. We have a couple of year round farmer's markets here but they are difficult for me to get to. The markets that I can get to easily only go from June through September.

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    Ottawa Gardener, Oh you are so lucky to have avoided gophers so far. The rapini is related to turnips and has a similar flavor but with some bitterness which is why I like to mix it with sweeter greens.

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    Meredith, I had chicken lust for a looong time until my neighbor came to the rescue. He had the coop already but didn't want to deal with the chickens by himself so we are sharing the work and the eggs. Can't wait to see what you start harvesting come spring, it's not too far off....

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  5. Oh no, gophers? I am so very glad we do not have to deal with that issue. We have voles but at least they are small.

    Hazelnut oil and balsamic vinegar, what a great salad dressing combo. Your dinner sounds divine.

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  6. Darn Gopher! They can be a real pain sometimes. I will keep my fingers crossed for you that he leaves your other crops alone.

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  7. Hi Michelle, it's certainly strange weather...that's for sure;-) Thanks for stopping by!

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  8. I did a search on your blog to see the chickens. What nice girls you have!

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  9. Michelle, I love the interesting varieties that you grow. That rapini looks really tasty.

    My beets were plagued by chipmunks last fall. I'm sure a gopher can be just a problematic.

    11 pounds so far this year?! That's amazing!

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  10. Hi Michelle!
    That's huge! I finally sowed my first veggie (eggplant) last week but it's didn't germinate yet. I sowed it directly in the pot and temps are around 76 deg. F avg.
    Was wondering how long it takes them to germinate. Do you sow your seeds directly outside or you start from those seed starting trays?

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  11. I love the leaves of beetroot, they're so colourful, and I love the beets too of course!

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  12. Oh my gosh, it is heavenly to see something green right now. I can always count on you!

    I laughed out loud about P&H needing to lay brown eggs.

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  13. Sorry "Mike", I don't like posting comments from readers I don't know with links to products that I don't use. If by chance you are a legit reader I can tell you that I only use organic treatments and only when necessary.

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  14. tim, I only use organic pest control and only when absolutely needed. I stay away from premixed formulations like End All, especially the ones with more than one active ingredient. I feel it's best to identify the insect that is causing the problem and use the least toxic method to treat it, if indeed treatment is necessary. It's a waste and probably harmful to use a product that applies treatments that aren't necessary.

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