Harvest

I'm relaxing. I got unexpected company. Monte came home from Calgary, Canada, a day early, and brought his partner Stan and a Norwegian, H(o-aw)ken, home with him Wednesday evening. Stan left yesterday and Haken leaves tomorrow.

I harvested the broccoli and cauliflower from our garden today - it's blanched and in the freezer. There was 26 pounds of broccoli! Now we'll be getting side shoots that we can eat as they come.

I could harvest chokecherries, but as their name implies, they do do something weird to my mouth, not exactly choking ... but they take so much sugar to make palatable. Some homesteader, maybe seventy years or so ago, planted them here along with rhubarb (the remains of a home is on our property, with outhouse, and a smoker, and spring water storage).

We've been eating BLT's with heirloom tomatoes (Brandywine). The plastic 'greenhouse' Monte covered them with is working great. I can raise the plastic whenever I want to let them enjoy the beautiful weather and for harvesting. I love eating the 'like-candy' cherry tomatoes.

(As I'm sitting here typing, there are several bull elk bugling non-stop outside!)

Did I say we joined a 'local' organic farm a few weeks ago, this late in the season? I weekly go to a pick-up place for our bin of produce. We figure with what we can't grow, and our season about to freeze and be done, and the farm shares go through mid December, we'll be getting fun stuff. I like the surprise of what's in the bin and making creative use of them through the week - like we've gotten these baby artichokes! ...


And oh, you should see the grapes in our greenhouse! We've been eating them. Our guests love them, not only the taste but just the environment of wicker furniture, grow lights and hanging clusters of grapes all over! If we don't eat them all, we put clusters in zip-lock bags and freeze - tiny popsicles!