What are you harvesting, the 2010 Edition!

[crowjoy]

Since I know y'all are likely harvesting and the old thread didn't revive, a new one for the new season!

I got home after 4 days away yesterday and harvested 2 (!) Aunt Ruby Striped tomatoes. They're a paste variety but we sliced them up and enjoyed them out of hand anyway! With the addition of some black lava salt I brought back from my trip, SO yummy.

Naturally there are squashes... Rond du Niece, ucchini, yellow summer squash, etc. I can't believe how big the pumpkins got in just 4 days too, though we are far from harvest there. We've taken up the garlic and it's drying and the onions are looking a bit like they're ready to start coming out too. Seems early for them, though.

What are you harvesting??

[IthacaNancy]

Our onions and shallots are all out of the ground. I have some hanging in braids, but I'm not sure if they are the braiding, long lasting type. I figure I'll keep an eye on them and use them if they seem to be getting soft. I'm planning on using many, if not most, in making another batch of chili con carne. I really like the chili we made at Katie's house last week.

I'm harvesting any ripe tomatoes today, again for the chili. If I have enough left over I'll make salsa. The romas look very meaty. Some are split; I'm hoping I can still use them.

I should be bringing in basil and peppers. I picked a couple of eggplants and I should check the melons. I think the spaghetti squash is ripe too. Cucumbers have been coming in like zucchini - more than we can use.

I suspect we haven't harvested our sweet corn soon enough and I saw the broccoli is going to seed! How did that slip by? The canaries will enjoy it anyway, and maybe it will put out a second crop of side growth?

[Katie Quinn-Jacobs]

Pulled in grapes, cabbage, slicing tomatoes, leeks, onions and the blackberries are still coming.

[crowjoy]

I love it! just a month ago the first tomatoes and now I have boxes and boxes of crushed and salsa'd and chutneyed and preserved and... MMMM. Yay Summer!

[Katie Quinn-Jacobs]

Harvested turnips, peas*, more tomatoes (will they ever end?), a cabbage, beets and a few handfuls of raspberries this weekend. Went up to Hector with friends & fellow IthaCanners, Shirley & Debbie, to glean wild apples for cider pressing too.

*The peas are wonderful to have this time of year. Was able to germinate them with an assist from my good buddy Fortuitous Neglect. Early peas I had shelled and then ignored in the back of the frig in July sprouted, so we planted them at the beginning of August in an empty raised bed and now we have sweet peas in the fall. This is a trick I intend to make a regular practice. Normally, I've had poor luck getting a second crop of peas because they won't germinate in the heat.

[persephone doliner]

Wow this is exciting. I too have had trouble with germinating peas in the heat . (It does work if you use the scary-looking seeds coated with fungicide.) Thanks, o lady of fortuitous neglecting.

[persephone doliner]

Rhubarb, kale, broccoli, parsley, radishes, tomatoes, flowers, dandelions. My neighbor gleaned a bag of quinces, she is willing to share these.

[IthacaNancy]

I didn't know it was 'okay' to harvest rhubarb this late in the season.

Interesting idea for fall peas . . .

I brought in the last of my cucumbers yesterday and started them as sour pickles a la Wild Fermentation, by Sandor Katz.

I brought in the last of our muskmelons too and made the mistake of leaving them on the kitchen counter. I've 'lost' the three best looking to extended family who wandered by the grouping. : )

I will bring in the butternut and spaghetti squashes to cure - I need to figure out if anywhere in our house is going to be reliably warm and dry - maybe the furnace room.

Peppers and basil could be harvested too and a few more tomatoes are still out there.

[Roxy]

Ha! I love that pea method. I've had great luck with radishes and broccoli using the same philosophy ;-) Glad to hear about the rhubarb - I was also told to stop harvesting earlier but maybe I'll take a few more stems now. I found a surprise cuke yesterday - thought all the vines were long gone! My wonderberries are flowering and fruiting for a second go-round, that might just force me to make some jam. Edamame is ready too - and the deer are kindly removing the leaves for me leaving just the stem and pods for easy harvesting ;-) Has anyone suffered frost yet? I feel like it was VERY close to frosting Saturday night...

[Katie Quinn-Jacobs]

Regarding harvesting rhubarb in the fall, I'm not sure it's such a good idea. Growing up I remember being told that late in the season the acid (oxalic acid) moves from the leaves to the stalk. Not positive that this is true, but isn't it pretty rough and stringy too at this point?

Also, there might be concerns for the plant with a late harvest. I did a quick search and found an Illinois Extension document that said: "Harvest in the fall only when the plants are to be discarded the next season." So I guess harvesting now can weaken the plants.

[Katie Quinn-Jacobs]

Oh boy, Nancy, I hear ya about the countertop attrition when it comes to produce! I once lost an entire 6 quart bowl of strawberries that I was planning on using for jam.

[Mark Norton]

Pulled up the tomato plants last weekend. The blight was finally getting into them. Gleaned about a peck of pre-ripe green tomatoes that I'm planning on turning into Salsa Verde. Made a wonderful cream of squash soup from Hubbard and Butternut. Boy, was that tasty. It didn't last long.

Still getting green beans. The bush beans are long gone, but the pole beans continue to blossom. I suspect the first frost will put an end to that. We are still getting melons - mostly watermelons at this point. The cantaloupes are all eaten.

The fall crops are doing well. Cabbages are heading up, broccoli getting big and green. Parsnips will be ready to pull soon.

Most everything else has been processed: dried, frozen, or canned. The larder is fairly bulging with food for the winter. It's a very satisfying feeling.

- Mark

[crowjoy]

Nothing fills me with a sense of satisfaction and security then eying my pantries. THIS is the feeling that drives us out into the cold wet in early Spring!