July Harvest Totals

August 24, 2018 by Kelsey Fast in Grow

Asterisk denotes foraged items.

Beets (mixed): 970g
Calendula: 7g
Carrots (rainbow): 339g
Chamomile: 28g
Garlic Scapes: 12g
Hyssop: 39g
Kale (Red Russian): 54g
Pansies: 10g
Peas (Amish Snap): 131g
Peas (Green Arrow): 118g
Raspberries: 587g
Rhubarb: 128g
Strawberries: 19g
Tomato (Italian Golden Love Apple): 11g
Tomato (Uptown Funk): 57g
Zucchini: 84g

Total: 2.6kg

At first I was disappointed to see my harvest totals were so low for this month, but then when I looked back I found I actually did about the same - if not slightly better - than this month last year. We tend to do a lot of travelling in July, so there isn't a lot of time around the house to garden or forage. It's also been rather smoky out with the wildfire conditions, so we haven't been making a whole lot of trips out to gather anything wild.

Normally my peas do better than this, but I messed up on trellising the Green Arrow ones that normally do quite well for me, and the Amish Snap I was growing out mainly to replenish my seed for upcoming seasons, so I was leaving the best looking pods on the vines to fully mature. It was a good year for berries (although Little Forager gets to the few strawberry plants I have before I can get most of them to the scale) and I am sure this was the most raspberries I've ever picked. We even missed out on the last few due to the timing of our vacations. It was also a sad year for the rhubarb. I'm not sure why but if it does this poorly next year I'm going to try it in a new location and see what happens.

June Harvest Totals

July 11, 2018 by Kelsey Fast in Grow

Asterisk denotes foraged item.

Basil (purple): 2 g
Beets (mixed): 57 g
Calendula: 14 g
Carrots (mixed): 91 g
Chamomile: 50 g
Dill: 36 g
Haskap Berries: 160 g
Hyssop: 39 g
Kale (Red Russian): 76 g
Lemon Balm: 7 g
Mint (Mojito): 5 g
Mint (Peppermint): 11 g
Mint (Pineapple): 11 g
*Orach: 115 g
Orach: 96 g
Pansies: 2 g
Peas (Amish Snap): 84 g
Raspberries: 15 g
Rhubarb: 37 g
Sage: 4 g
Saskatoon Berries: 3147 g
Spinach: 43 g
Strawberries: 21 g
Tarragon: 14 g
Thyme: 2 g

Total: 4.2 kg

This June seemed to have less going on in the garden for some reason. Last year I got more peas, more rhubarb, I remembered to pick the wild asparagus, and just overall I got about two kilos more from the garden and the wild. I'm not sure what's going on with my rhubarb - I guess it's having an off year. Last year I harvested nearly a kilogram from it in June, but this year just a a few little stalks! I'm going to give it more fertilizer in the fall this year and see if that helps kickstart it for the spring. It also got pretty choked in with weeds, so maybe I didn't get to those in time.

I suspected the peas would be a smaller harvest this year, because I was very picky about the seed I was saving from the Amish Snap Peas I've been planting and saving for over 5 seasons now. They were starting to look quite a bit different from what I remember receiving from Seed Savers Exchange almost six years ago. I kept only 15 seeds from last year because I only wanted seeds from pods that produced at least three seeds per pod, and looked smooth and round - identical to what I received when I purchased them. I also held off on harvesting some of the most beautiful pods growing from them because I want to make sure that my seed is excellent for the years to come. I can't save seeds from many things because my garden is too small, but legumes, and a few other things are possible so I want to do the best job I can with stewarding those varieties.

Despite the lack of rhubarb, the berries this month have been fantastic. I've never seen saskatoons, or raspberries the size I've been picking this month. Raspberries were just beginning to ripen, but they were all enormous and so heavy the branches on my little bushes were all falling over! The wild saskatoons this here were also gigantic. Our bowl full of them looked more like cranberries or grapes. I have some cultivated saskatoons in my freezer from last year, and these are almost double their size, when it's usually the other way around!

There is also a lot of promise still out there in the garden. My tomato plants are getting big, and many have already set quite a bit of fruit which I wait for with great anticipation! I've got loads of sun chokes, the quinoa is about to flower, and the beans are climbing high! I also have a bed of the healthiest looking brassicas I've ever grown, so those are making me pretty happy each time I step out into the garden. All in all it's been a decent month for harvesting, but I look forward to the major bounty that is to come as summer reaches its fullness.

May Harvest Totals

June 05, 2018 by Kelsey Fast in Grow, Find

Asterisk Denotes Foraged Item

Chamomile: 9 g
*Dandelion Greens: 394 g
*Dandelion Petals: 120 g
Douglas Fir Cones: 120 g
Green Garlic: 12 g
Lemon Balm: 7 g
Lettuce (Volunteer): 6 g
*Lilac Flowers: 482 g
Mint (Mojito): 8 g
Mixed Greens: 145 g
Pansies: 3 g
Pea Shoots: 10 g
Rhubarb: 151 g
Sage: 1 g
Strawberries: 11 g
Tarragon: 2 g
Thyme: 1 g
*Wild Lettuce: 180 g

Total: 1.662 kg

This month was an interesting one for me, because usually the bulk of what I harvest in May is wild Asparagus, and this time for some reason I never made it out to my spot to gather any. Initially the smaller harvest total was a bit discouraging, because ideally I'd like my self sufficiency to increase over time. However, when I looked at last year's harvest total and subtracted what was asparagus, I found that this year I'd quadrupled my non-asparagus harvest! The other thing that amazed me was that last year my "May" totals were actually April and May combined. This year we were able to gather enough earlier that I tallied everything up for March and April's harvest so this year is already bringing in a more plentiful and diverse harvest.

One of the most interesting new things added to my spring harvest totals are these Douglas fir cones (pictured below). I picked these while they were still green, and they have the most beautiful aroma. I'd seen a few people posting on Instagram that they were using them for flavouring, so I decided to blend them up into a flavoured sugar. They have the most beautiful aroma and a bright citrus/crabapple taste with forest notes that is really hard to describe. I'm imagining making Christmas cookies this winter from sugar flavoured with a Christmas tree! I also think these would make an incredible sorbet flavour too so I'm hoping to get out before they mature too much and gather some more to experiment with.

What are you harvesting these days? Leave me a note in the comments and I'd love to hear how this spring of gardening and/or foraging is going for you!