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For the first harvest in the New Year there is some good, and not so good. At first glance, these two pound of brussels sprouts looked great.
However, when I went to cut them for cooking, many had spoiled inside from the cold.
So we only ended up with 9 oz to go in the oven.
I debated picking more of brussels sprouts last month, but I left some in the garden to see how long they would last. I guess I got my answer. Next year we'll pick them before the snow and extreme cold set in.
I picked 6 oz of kale yesterday. Some of it was a little damaged by the cold too, but it went fine into soup.
And for fresh tasting greens, I enjoyed these sprouts on my tacos. They were very good.
As far as using up the preserved harvest, we used frozen swiss chard, potatoes from the celler, and leeks I pulled last month in a pureed soup. I cooked some of my dried beans to make bean tacos and the also went into next soup. We also made a tortilla soup with tomato sauce base, our own onions, our dried beans, the kale above, frozen oven dried tomatoes, and corn I froze from down the road. We need to get to work on all the frozen fruit. I think some desserts are in order. Total week: ~1 pound
Total this year: ~ 1 pound
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.
I enjoyed doing the collage of the photos of my garden through out the year (posting later this week) so I thought I'd do one of the harvests too. It seemed apt to publish it on the last Harvest Monday of the year. It was hard to choose just six photos for each month to represent the harvest. And then I got to December and found I only had just a few photos. You can click for a larger version of the collage.
Today the garden looks like a mid-November day instead of a mid-December day.I would have preferred that all precipitation we got yesterday was snow instead of rain. However, the balmy temperatures today (48 F) had an advantage, namely allowing me to work in the garden. I went out this morning to harvest carrots (10 oz) and leeks (9.75 oz) that had been frozen in the ground last week. I mulched the smallest of the leeks to see if they might overwinter. I also opened up the cold frame and removed any damaged leaves I could see. I'm leaving it to air out so it doesn't have that fish-tank alge smell as much.
I read in Elliot Coleman's book that the texture/taste of the Brussels Sprouts decreases with the very cold temperatures. So I decided to harvest 5 of the stems, choosing the ones furthest in the bed and the ones that were lying down. The others I'll leave so we can see how long we can keep harvesting. Also I the 6 remaining plants would make more Brussels sprouts that we can possibly eat. As it is, I'm putting these stems in the cool basement to see how they'll keep. I'll weigh the sprouts as we use them. This may be my last harvest for 2010 as we are traveling for the holidays. Maybe we'll bring Brussels sprouts with us :)Total these past 2 week: 1.3 pounds + un-weighed Brussels sprouts
Total this year: 461 pounds
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.
This week I got over 2 more pounds of tomatoes ripening from the green tomato box.
I picked 8 oz of kale, including some red kale that leafed out. It overwintered from the previous owners garden, went to seed,I saved seeds, and now it is producing again. 
I picked 11.5 oz of leeks, 6 oz of chard, and 1 pound of brussels sprouts (not pictured).
Now that the garden is winding down, I'll sometimes share what we're eating from what we saved from the garden. This weekend we roasted our first jarrahdale pumpkin. It was a 15 pound one. My husband cut it in half.
Then we quartered it and scooped out the seeds. I roasted it in the oven for over an hour until the flesh was soft. This photo is before it was baked.
The flesh was good, not stringing, not too strong either. The only downside was the seeds. They looked wonderful, but some how different. When we roasted them we found they were too tough.
We roasted apples and onions after the pumpkin was done and used them all to make soup with a stock made with apple cores and pumpkin scrapings. It was all pureed to a smooth soup. We had plenty for a gathering of 8 adults and 12 kids and still some left over to freeze.
Total this week: 5.08 pounds
Total this year: 441.69 pounds
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.
The tomatoes continue to ripen, but slower now with the cooler nights. This week I harvested 14 pounds of tomatoes. I'm not canning any more, but rather am freezing them whole for use in soups and sauces this winter.I also picked kale and a few carrots. 
I also harvested my second eggplant. There are a few more that may mature before the season is over. In all, the eggplants weren't much of a success this year with only 2 so far from 6 plants.
I shelled the dried beans that I picked last week and weighed them. They were just over a pound.
I also harvested my first and probably only sweet red pepper. There are some green ones on the plant finally, but they don't have time to ripen.
Ripe winter squashes were harvested and set on the front porch to cure. I picked 25 pounds of buttercup, butternut, and Delicata squash. I also picked one 15 pound Jarradale pumpkin. There are 3 more Jarradale pumpkins that are not yet ripe, as well as a few butternut squash that are still developing. There are also about 6 pie pumpkins that are turning orange and I hope to pick soon.
Sunday night's harvest was at dusk, hence the flash in the photo. I picked 2 oz of arugula and spinach to make a pesto, along with tomatoes and 2 very small melons. The tomatoes are all larger then the melons.
I picked the melons because they smelled ripe, though they only the size of tennis balls. The larger one tasted alright, but the smaller one was bitter. I hope to do much better with melons next year.
Total this week: 58.48 pounds
Total this year: 297.7 pounds
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.
However, when I went to cut them for cooking, many had spoiled inside from the cold.
So we only ended up with 9 oz to go in the oven.
I debated picking more of brussels sprouts last month, but I left some in the garden to see how long they would last. I guess I got my answer. Next year we'll pick them before the snow and extreme cold set in.
As far as using up the preserved harvest, we used frozen swiss chard, potatoes from the celler, and leeks I pulled last month in a pureed soup. I cooked some of my dried beans to make bean tacos and the also went into next soup. We also made a tortilla soup with tomato sauce base, our own onions, our dried beans, the kale above, frozen oven dried tomatoes, and corn I froze from down the road. We need to get to work on all the frozen fruit. I think some desserts are in order. 
