Harvest time

     

summer's bounty(thanks Betsy)

Fall is in the air. Cool north westerly breezes bring the smell of crushed grapes both from the wineries and the vineyards. Sauvignon Blanc grapes are first to be harvested in the valley.  The smell of sweet sun fermenting pears sitting on the orchard floors comes on these same breezes. On a drive to the local goat dairy for a birthday party I witnessed many deer  creeping into the orchards munching on said pears.  One orchard even had out a "deer xing" sign. Nice to see- both the sign and deers.
A large walnut crop is forecast for this season. I heard harvest should begin early to mid October. Most large orchards will shake the trees with a peculiar looking machine, something out of dune, that grabs the trunk and with great force shakes and shimmies all the walnuts to the earth. Next a machine goes up and down the orchard collecting the nuts into rows and blowing leaves and twigs into another row. Then a machine drives over the row of nuts collecting them into  a hopper  then a bin and on their way to a drying/hulling/shelling warehouse.   We wait for the nuts to fall on their own. This makes the harvest last for a couple weeks, more manageable for human hands. Details to come on our walnut harvest party. stay tuned.
I'll leave you all with a harvest chant.

Red Russian Kale: Full Moon. first harvest of this super tender kale. you may notice the whole plant harvested in your bunch. this is our thinning process. Over plant to crowd out weeds and establish a thick stand, then thin to one plant per 8-12". This gets the kale off to a good start. Quick strong unimpeded growth before frost comes. then the flavor sweetens but growth also slows. These plants will feed us all winter long. for now, cook ever so quickly or eat raw as the leaves are very tender.

Yukina Savoy: Full Moon. Spoon shaped chinese spinach. here's a tipsheet from NYC. with a couple recipes. and here's one for a quiche recipe using this great green.

Blush/ Snow white tomato: Full Moon. The snow whites are heavy producers. whoa. more tomatoes in 20 feet than 200 of the blush. I have to say the lower acidity of the blush is more appealing, but the sweet tangy-ness of the snow white is a nice treat. and oh those colors!

Oregon Spring tomato: Full Moon. Despite losing a lot of fruit to sunburn, this variety is top notch. Delightful low acid rich tomato flavor. Most beautiful bright red this week. Perfect for sauce. made a batch this weekend. last chance for sauce tomatoes, send me an email if you want some next week.

Kellogs Breakfast Tomato: Full Moon. Golden orange glowing like the harvest moon. Meaty flesh, high acid, bright flavor. Compliments most any meal. Won awards last year in both size and flavor contests. In my opnion it's still coming into its prime here.

        

"Tomato, onion, garlic, leek, okra and herbs de provence with pasta and red snapper. Yum" - Mary


Red Flame table grape: Dorn Vineyards. Another week of the Dorn's finest.

Bella Dulce melon: Full Moon. Wow. These puppies can really sweeten the air like no other melon I know.
still one of my favorites

O'Henry peaches: Full Moon. Celebrate our second peach harvest with a delicious peach! This week a little redder, a little softer and a little sweeter. mmm mmmm good!

greens under row cover.