Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Seed Time and Harvest Time

Yesterday before the hard frost last night I picked ALL the tomatoes on the vines...
All 60 pounds of them!!
This box weighed 10 pounds, and it was from ONE plant...a Rutgers.
I'm saving some seed from the biggest and best.I harvested all the green cabbage too. It doesn't look that great in the picture,
but once the outer leaves were removed, it was sweet, crisp and delicious.
I shredded all 5 pounds of it and put it in a crock for kraut.
So far, nothing is happening like it is supposed to, so I may fail as a kraut maker this year.

More tomatoes.
Would you look at the size of these puppies?!
They are 6 inches long, and more... called Opalka Paste Tomato

Below is the cart carrying 55 pounds of Burgess Butternut squash from 6 hills planted.
I am baking (whole) the 3rd largest as I write this, and we'll have a taste test tonight. If it is a 'keeper' I'll ax the biggest in half to save the seeds, and then bake it also.


Below on the right are the 7 (16 pounds) of a squash called
Uncle David's Dessert Squash, noted for it sweetness. In fact the Fedco catalog states that some folks bake it into pies without any other sweetening. Stay tuned; I'll let you know if that is true.
On the left is something out of this world. I planted 3 seeds for each hill. The hill the orange squashes came from was my Costata Romanesca Zucchini.
I DID get 2 of those, but I also harvested, today,
25 pounds of this Orange Mysterious...along with the two other Butternut-ish ones.

Not shown are the 23 pounds of Butternut-like squashes from ONE hill. My dear gardening friend, Connie, gave me the seed for these from her father's squashes in North Dakota.
I hope they are tasty because they did so well.

So, I've off to save some seeds from the harvest, make some pie,
and rustle up some squash grub for dinner for my DH.
We LOVE winter squash, and I'm grateful for the 124 pounds harvested today.






6 comments:

Stacie, A Firefighter's Wife said...

Wow! That is all I can say...Wow!

I'm so glad you got so much squash harvested. I know you love the stuff!

Rachel said...

This blog is SO neat! For having had such a discouraging, challenging garden year, you have a bountiful harvest! As the girls and I have been bringing in our harvest, we sing,
"We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land,
but it is fed and watered by God's Almighty hand.
He sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain,
the breezes and the sunshine, and soft, refreshing rain.
All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above,
so thank the Lord, oh thank the Lord for all His love!
We thank thee then, oh Father, for all things bright and good,
the seedtime and the harvest, our life, our health, our food.
Accept the gifts we offer for all Thy love imparts,
and what Thou most desirest, our humble, thankful hearts."
We thank the Lord for your harvest and for you!

Cheesemakin' Mamma said...

So glad so much of your garden made it! Yeah! I know you were worried. Glad you came away with some produce :)

mimi torchia boothby watercolors said...

wow, do you have ROOM for all these veggies?! What a beautiful harvest. congrats!!!

Connie said...

Beautiful harvest, Catherine! We do share a love for winter squash, my friend. I am glad the seed from Dad produced so well....he will be pleased to hear that. You must taste one soon!
I had a good squash harvest, as well...a post is coming soon.

Lisa said...

Here in France, we make a sweet jame (to eat on bread and butter - or on pancakes!) with green tomatoes!

Peel and de-seed your tomatoes. Chop into small pieces. Weigh them, then weigh out half their weight in sugar. Put tomato pieces, sugar, and the juice of 2-3 lemons/oranges (or a mixture) into a bowl and leave for at least 24 hours to macerate.
Put the whole lot into a big pan and slowly bring to a boil. Keep it simmering until it reaches a jam consistency, then decant into sterilized jars.
Yummy!!