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Monday, August 1, 2016

Harvest Monday - August 1, 2016

It's the week of orange tinted veggies. Well, they aren't actually orange, it's just the light because my camera doesn't have a white balance setting for smoke.

Sweet Gold and Piccolo Dattero cherry tomatoes
Mara des Bois Strawberries
What do you know, I got to harvest the first tomatoes in July! OK, it was only 4 cherry tomatoes, but they sure were a tasty treat. The DRats (damn rats) left us a few strawberries. The DR (damn rabbit) is still around but hasn't been making a nuisance of itself lately.

Pink Plume Celery
One of the Pink Plume celery plants was starting to bolt so I cut the entire thing. I used a lot of it in stewed celery and zucchini in tomato sauce one night. The rest of the plants look ok so far but I think it's time to start some new plants for fall and winter harvests.

Batavia broccoli
The second big head of Batavia broccoli almost got away from me. It's amazing how quickly they grow at this time of year. One night we had some of it Brown Butter Steamed, one of my favorite methods for cooking a number of different veggies - I brown some butter in a skillet, add the veggies, toss to coast with the butter, add a few tablespoons of water to the pan, cover and steam until the veggies are almost done, uncover and let the water cook off, transfer veggies to a warm bowl, deglaze the pan with a bit of good vinegar and pour over veggies, season with salt and serve. Simple and very tasty. Try it with snap or snow peas too! And another night we enjoyed it in another version of broccoli and tomato salad.


The beans are down to just a trickle now and I'm on the verge of pulling them out.


The cucumbers, Mouse Melons, and zucchini are picking up the pace though. That's the first Gagon cucumber above. It and the second one shown below clinched my decision to pull out the plants, both of them were horribly bitter. I didn't even put the Gagon (should be Gag On) cukes into the tally since I couldn't eat them. I tasted a couple of the cucumbers that were still on the vines when I pulled them out and they were actually ok, but the plants aren't very productive and I didn't feel like playing cucumber roulette anymore so the plants went into the compost and I put a couple of tried and true Japanese (Tasty Treat?) cucumber plants in their place.


The Mouse Melons have been delightful, they are a welcome tangy addition to tossed salads.


I've been getting enough zucchini to start dehydrating it. The Romanesco variety is excellent dried, it's a favorite addition to frittatas through the time of year when fresh zucchini isn't available from the garden.



LtoR Batavia Broccoli, Manoa Crisphead Lettuce, Apollo Brokali
The old broccoli plants are putting out a few shoots now that I've got the plants protected. Those are the first two heads of the summer sowing of Manoa crisphead lettuce. I put in extra plants to harvest as babies and I hope that the plants that are supposed to mature into more substantial heads don't bolt first. The smoky skies may be in my favor so far as that goes, it seems like the smoke is blocking the sun enough that the temperatures are staying on the cool side. Some days I look out the window and think it looks like a winter day - it's been so dark and dreary.

Pink Plume Celery
The remaining Pink Plume celery plants are still putting out some really nice stalks. I put a couple of cherry tomatoes into the photo to give some perspective on the size of the celery stalks.

Batavia Broccoli Side Shoots
The summer planting of Batavia broccoli is now producing some really nice side shoots. There have been times when I've harvested main heads of broccoli this size from other varieties. Batavia sure has been a great broccoli in my garden, it's definitely a new favorite. The DRats have been taking over from the DR in the broccoli attacks, or perhaps it was the DRats all along. But I spent more time than I would like yesterday enclosing the broccoli patch with a combination of agribon and tulle in an effort to exclude the rodents.

So, the Soberanes Fire is constantly on my mind and in my eyes and lungs. It has been burning 11 days with 40,000 acres scorched as of last night and surely more by this morning. There's over 5,200 people here working on it. 496 engines, 46 water tenders, 16 helicopters, 6 air tankers, 106 hand crews, 72 dozers, and 6 "other". The cost of fighting the fire is up to 6 million dollars per day. 57 homes and 11 outbuildings have been destroyed. One dozer operator has died. The fire is now burning into a very rugged area where it's not practical to fight it. A containment line will likely be built around the area where it's possible to defend the line and everything inside that perimeter will be allowed to burn until there's nothing left to burn or the rains come to put out the fire. The rainy season doesn't start until November or December. I read one estimate yesterday of a possibility of 140,000 170,000 acres burned by the time this "incident" is over. Whoever the idiot is that started this disaster has got a lot to account for. I sure hope they catch you or someone turns you in.


On Saturday one of these was affixed to every single mail box in the neighborhood. It's information for fire crews and this sign indicates that A there is access for fire engines, W there is a nearby water source (they missed our 10,000 gallon tank at the back of the house or maybe they don't deem it to be accessible, combustible material has been cleared within 100 feet of the house, and that the house is occupied.

Enough of the fire for now, back to the harvests.

Here's the details of the harvests for the past week:

Red Swan beans - 1 oz.
Roc d'Or beans - .3 oz.
Rolande Files beans - 5.4 oz.
Royalty Purple Pod beans - 2.6 oz.
Slenderette beans - .7 oz.
Batavia broccoli - 5.8 lb. (It's a good thing we love broccoli)
Apollo brokali - 7.9 oz.
Pink Plume celery - 3.4 lb.
Green Fingers cucumbers - 1.6 lb.
Mouse Melons - 12.4 oz.
Manoa Crisphead lettuce - 6.2 oz.
Ramata di Milano onion - 1.4 oz.
Yellow Spanish Utah onion - 1.7 lb. (yes, one trimmed onion)
Piccolo Dattero cherry tomato - .4 oz.
Sweet Gold cherry tomatoes - 1.3 oz.
Romanesco zucchini - 4.4 lb.

Total harvests for the past week - 20.7 lb.
2016 YTD harvests - 398.9 lb.

Harvest Monday is hosted by Dave on his blog Our Happy Acres, head on over there to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately.


25 comments:

  1. Sorry, but in comparison with the news of your fires, the harvest report has to take second place. It's good to see that your Fire Department are thinking ahead and assessing the properties, but I expect they feel a bit impotent at present, when confronted with such a huge fire. Anyway, we're keeping pace on the veg-production front. I harvested my first tomatoes in the middle of last week, so definitely in July. I had family with me for a few days, so my best cucumber so far (of 2!) got harvested by a 2YO granddaughter - who then refused to eat it! She'll learn...

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  2. We have unhealthful air quality alerts from the Soberanes Fire as far south as the Los Angeles County border and the sun is still yellowish; it must be really horrible living so close as you do. I found the firefighters sign most interesting. Firefighting in areas with "civilians", the wildland-urban interface, is so different from firefighting in forests with which I am familiar. On cucumbers: the so-called Armenian cucumber which is a melon does not taste like a cucumber, but is pleasant enough. The Japanese cucumber Tsuyataro, is not producing flowers, but might in a cooler environment like yours. What variety are you planting?

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    1. Duh. I should learn to read better: Tasty Treat.

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    2. All the way down there?! It is horrible here, it seems like I can even taste it when I go outside. I used to grow Armenian cucumbers, but I've pretty much settled on the Persian and Japanese types, they are so sweet and the skins are so delicate, just perfect for fresh eating which is what I want them for. I found that sign both alarming and comforting - really they think there's even a remote possibility of the fire reaching here and ok, it seems like they deem my home defensible.

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    3. I had to look up the Firescope organization since I had never heard of it. There are SEVENTEEN cooperating agencies (see Inciweb) where you are and all are on different radio wave lengths and cannot/do not communicate with each or do so with great difficulty. When I was a fire lookout we had FOUR different radio channels just for the forest service alone. I hope you feel better about that sign now. There are many people checking up on you.

      Type 1 Engine is designed for structure protection not wildland fire.

      You, Michelle, have probably figured all this out already, but I'm posting it because there are many others who are concerned for you and might want to know.

      from Wikipedia:
      The original acronym FIRESCOPE stood for "FIrefighting REsources of Southern California Organized for Potential Emergencies." The system was developed after a bout of massive southern California wildfires in 1970, which burned for days and involved multiple jurisdictions. The system was designed to create an efficient interagency resource coordination system for fire and other emergencies in the Southern California Region. The system was later expanded to provide service statewide.

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    4. I did not know that about FIRESCOPE, thank you Jane. I'll be doing some reading up about them. The sign is more comforting than ever. Unfortunately, it seems like a number of people in the neighborhood don't understand what the signs are there for and are taking them down. I'm not touching ours! Type 1 engine is fine with me, it will work here.

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  3. Another giant head of broccoli for me to ooh and ahh over! Your Brown Butter Steamed treatment sounds tasty. It will be a couple of months before I have broccoli or snow peas again but I will try and remember to give it a go. I dehydrated some of my Romanesco squash too, along with a couple of others. My plant bit the dust with stem rot, but I dried enough to try them later on.

    It's hard to imagine a fire of that size and scope. The county where I live is about 250,000 acres big, so the Soberanes Fire may get over half as big as our whole county. That helps put it in perspective for me. I can't imagine dealing with the smoke either. I heard they closed a lot of the parks, and I would think hiking or other strenuous activities would be difficult, not to mention dangerous.

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    1. Stem rot, probably because of all that rain you guys have been hogging. :) Carrots are good Brown Butter Steamed as well.

      They closed every state park in the county south of Carmel and they also closed the northern part of the Ventana Wilderness, which is just about 90% of where my Dave and I generally hike. Our regional park across the valley is still open but I don't know who in their right mind would even think of hiking there at the moment, it's totally shrouded in smoke. It's so sad, I'm so bummed. It will probably be months and perhaps years before the burnt areas can be hiked again.

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  4. I was looking at the fire info on the site that Jane put up the other day and it's just incredible. I'm hoping that sign on your mailbox isn't an indicator that he fire is getting close to you...

    Well, your broccoli is outstanding & such perfect side shoots! Oh that cucumber comment was priceless...gag-on...you guys are making me laugh today:)

    And a question about the dehydrated zucchini - when you use it, do you re-hydrate it or just toss it into the recipe as is?

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    1. The part of the fire that is closest seems to be pretty much under control, they are definitely putting the resources into the parts of the fire that are threatening the most populated areas. But wild fires are so unpredictable so it is comforting to know that they are planning for the extreme possibilities.

      The way that I most often use the dried zucchini is in frittatas with a mix of other veggies. I usually just let the zucchini soak up the moisture from the other veggies and the eggs which works just fine. Otherwise I do rehydrate them or cook them in something juicy like a tomato sauce.

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  5. The few strawberries you have sure look perfect. And I always love that you show the zucchini with the flowers still attached. By the time I harvest any squash, the flowers have usually drooped and fallen off ...

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    1. The Romanesco zucchini are such vigorous growers in my garden that if I waited for the flowers to drop off they would become zucanoes!

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  6. Oh, that fire is horrible and tragic. I love the Big Sur area. You didn't say if it is getting close to you, but I implore the gods that it doesn't. Stay safe. As for the harvests, beautiful as always. That broccoli head is stupendous.

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    1. As the crow flies the fire is only about 6 miles away now, basically one valley over. Fortunately the most actively burning area is further away and heading into a more wild area (fortunately for homeowners, not for wildlife). Thank you for your good thoughts!

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  7. Fire is a terrible thing when it is out of control _-I hope the situation is resolved soon. Our trickle of beans marks the start if our bean harvest.

    Interesting the comment on mouse melons which we call cucamelons, we grew some last year and found them to be almost tasteless. Maybe the climate makes a difference.

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    1. Thanks Sue. Interesting about the cucamelons, they taste like tangy cucumbers to me and had a nice crunch as well. And the climate here isn't necessarily warm, perhaps it's because you get more rain?

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  8. I have been watching the news of the fire near you, but the Sand fire north of LA gets the most attention. I live south of LA near the ocean in Orange County, and our air quality has been OK. I sympathize with your rat and rabbit problem. We have rat, squirrel, and possum problems. Drives me nuts.

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    1. The Sand Fire was bigger and threatened more homes to begin with so it's understandable that it gets more attention, especially in the LA area. But Soberanes is catching up fast and is less contained. I thank my lucky gardening stars that I don't have to deal with squirrels and possums too! I don't know what's worse, squirrels or rats. Squirrels are just rats with bushy tails.

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  9. Michelle
    Okay, you got me with dehydrated zucc. I grow romanescos also, they're the best. Do you just slice your zucc lengthwise and toss them on the trays? What, about 1/4 inch thick? Got any tricks? Thanks!

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    1. I like to slice them crosswise into rounds, about 1/4-inch thick which is the thickest setting on my mandolin. Just place on the trays and dry until leathery and then I pack them into jars and keep them in the fridge. I don't know if you grow Tromboncino squash, but those dry really well also. BTW, that first Piccolo Dattero was tasty, I can't wait for more to ripen! Thanks again for the seeds.

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    2. You must have a huge frig ;^) I'll give it a shot. thanks!

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  10. I hope and pray that the fire stays far, far away from you and all residential areas. Hopefully you will get rain. My broccoli did not and is not doing well, guess it is the heat.

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    1. Thank you Norma, I appreciate you good thoughts and prayers. I know it's been very hot where you garden, I'm sure it isn't doing the broccoli any favors.

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  11. That must be so frightening to have such a huge fire so close and I can't imagine having to breathe that smoke everyday. Hopefully they can get it under control or maybe, just maybe some rain will come your way.
    You've harvested another amazing broccoli head and your side shoots look way better than most heads I get! Congrats on the first tomatoes!

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  12. I can't imagine having a fire raging that close to you, the darkened summer skies sound surreal. It's crazy that the fire was started by someone so reckless.

    I'm so impressed by your broccoli and zucchini, they both produce so well.

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