America’s Gardener

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. Lately I have been taking advantage of the cooler weather to work in the greenhouse, planting things and getting ready for winter. I have been harvesting a few times each week, sometimes to get something specific we need. We’re still enjoying the abundant harvests of ripe peppers, along with smaller amounts of eggplant.

Last week I began pulling the first of the turnips so we could enjoy the greens and the baby turnips themselves cooked together. I’m growing Hakurei this fall, along with Topper and All-Top turnip greens that don’t make edible roots but have tender and mild leaves. This first batch is from Hakurei, and served to give the short row a final thinning as well as to give us something to eat.

I’ve got other greens growing in the greenhouse, including the Tuscan Baby Leaf Kale and the dark purple Miz America mizuna. These add color and flavor to salads and our breakfast smoothies.

The pole beans also gave up one more harvest of pods. I cooked up this batch, and we had enough for a couple of meals. That might be the last of the bean for this year, but we’ve hauled in over 50 pounds already.

I harvested one variety of Guajillo peppers that I save seed from. It’s a good yielding pepper, and the original source of my seeds is no longer in business, so I save them every couple of years to keep them going.

After cutting open the peppers and harvesting the seeds, I dried the peppers themselves in the dehydrator. I grind these up to make a mildly spicy chile powder.

I also dried a batch of the hybrid Minero peppers, another guajillo type I turn into chile powder. The dehydrator stays busy this time of the year drying peppers, and I keep it on the front porch to keep the heat and sometimes pungent aromas outside!

Ratatouille was on the menu again last week. I roasted the veggies on a foil covered sheet pan for easy cleanup, then served it over rice along with baked fish. This is one of our favorite ways to use these late summer veggies, and we’ve served it over both rice and pasta as well as all on its own. I always use a generous amount of olive oil plus herbs like oregano, basil and thyme.

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting!