Harvesting the last of the summer crops is always bittersweet. It signals the end of long and languid days swimming in the creek, thirst quenching watermelons and no laundry duty since very little, if any, clothing is necessary during this season. More than that, it heralds the demise of snakes, chiggers, ticks and unbearable 24/7 heat and humidity. Also, I can live without niteshades – cool season greens and root vegetables are a must in my meals though.
The sweet potato harvest is always a surprise. The vines and flowers are so beautiful, but you never know just what will be underneath. We got lucky and have enough for the winter for sure this year. Read more about growing them in an earlier posting ‘Fresh Dug Up’
Sweet Tater vines
Prizes from the underground
Winter stock
Ivana Potatohead
The basil kept coming and coming this year and now we have more pesto in the freezer than anyone should. Tomatoes turned into jars of salsa and sauce, cukes into pickles and now the peppers get the attention. The plants are so hardy, standing the heat of summer, and in the end, the cold nights of early fall so, I always put them off till the last possible minute – hoping they will all turn orange and red before the 1st few frosts. This week we roasted, dried, froze and pickled. The best use for us is to roast, dice and pack them into a quart jar, filling the rest of the space with olive oil and honey. A tsp of that brings out the best in any dish I make.
Now that the summer fruits are harvested, all attention goes to growing fall/winter/spring crops and putting the other beds to rest for the winter. We love a variety of greens – kale, collards, chard, mustards, Asian mixes and such. Lettuce and spinach are at the bottom of the list, but we do grow some to share and sell. Rutabagas are my favorite root crop. I eat ’em raw like carrots and cooked like potatoes. The greens are as satisfying to me as collards are.
The beds, that are in the resting rotation, get a few inches of biodynamically charged compost added along with a foot thick layer of leaf mulch that will soon blanket the ground, be raked up and piled on the beds. This makes for great planting in the spring without disturbing the beds by having to cultivate. We just plant directly into the loamy, rich soil and wait for life to emerge from the seeds. Then, it all starts over again. Pure magic.
Marla Bird
Scatter Seeds... 