Harvests

Every few days, we go out to our garden and have been harvesting veggies as they become ready or as needed in the case of the root crops. Although the soil quality is poor at this stage and has affected the amounts we can harvest, having it right outside our door means little is lost to spoilage or because it got to big to eat as what often happened with our garden down on the farm. As a result, we are probably averaging about the same quantity of harvested goods as we always have despite the smaller garden and poorer soil quality.

We've been working potatoes, parsnips and (not shown) carrots into nearly every meal these days. For the most parts, the root crop plants are still green above ground so we are only picking as needed and leaving them in the ground for a bit longer to preserve them through the hot days of summer. The yellow summer squash we have to pick as it is ready. We've been eating a lot of it grilled as a side but it is starting to outpace our appetites. We've already sent out previous guests packing with a sack full and have some other friends asking for some so we will probably fill that request and give ourselves a break from squash... at least for a few days.

This was our last general harvest that we did I think three days ago as I type this, four as you read it. As you can see, the yellow squash was starting to get out of control at that point. In the top center you can see a bowl of some of our carrots which were a mix when we planted them in the spring. On the bottom left you can also see a daikon radish which I still find as a volunteer here and there growing among other things. 

Thus far, we haven't been into preservation mode yet as most things we are consuming as we harvest them. Predictably, our diet has largely been somewhat vegetarian but that is fine with me. I like having them "stored" in our garden so I can just walk out there with a basket and fifteen minutes later come back with enough veggies to sustain us for the next couple days.