Monday, January 24, 2011

Harvest Monday 1/24/11

There are no fresh harvests from the garden this week. Last night the temperature dipped to -23 degrees Fahrenheit. Today's high was 2 degrees. There is at least two feet of snow on the garden and I haven't cleaned off the cold frame since the last snow.
We are still enjoying the produce of last year's garden. We enjoyed a pesto from the freezer last week and a Butternut Squash & Parsnip soup with one of the butternuts that was beginning to go bad. Today I made a Tomato and Bread Soup with a gallon bag of frozen tomatoes. I knew the tomatoes would give off a lot of liquid as they thawed, so I decided to cook them on the wood stove rather than the oven.
As the liquid came out, I used a turkey baster to collect it and save it for the soup. Eventually the tomatoes cooked down and softened. I put them through the food mill to take out the seeds, skins and cores. I used some of the tomato liquid to soften oven-dried cherry tomatoes as well. I roasted some sweet onion slices in the oven and then added them to the tomato mixture along with cubed dried bread. A little frozen basil and dried oregano from the garden and we had our dinner.
I've begun making preparations for this years garden. However, I'm pretty sure we will have another couple of months before we are able to harvest again. I sorted through my seeds today (more about that in another post) and took the oldest lettuce seeds and planted some under the new light set up. Maybe we'll have some indoor greens in a month or two.

You can see what other gardeners have harvested, or how they are using their harvest at Daphne's Dandelions.

4 comments:

kitsapFG said...

I love stewed tomatoes with bread! My mom used to make that so it is a comfort food item for me. It sounds like you continue to be hammered by winter but starting some greens under lights is a nice way to bring a little spring into the household until the real deal arrives.

Anonymous said...

-23F! I can't even imagine how this feels like. Stay warm, Emily!

Daphne Gould said...

We got cold here but just to -3. Hopefully it won't get colder. I like it when it is warmer. Though the cold weather does kill off some of the nasty bugs so I can't complain too much.

Unknown said...

What a great idea to thaw tomatoes on the woodstove and remove the extra liquid. I'll have to try that when I make another batch of sauce.