A Seed Saver's Garden

[digitS']

it's 'kale' which usually causes the person to get a blank look, lol.

Our even dozen kale plants look quite a bit different right now because of continuous harvesting. I didn't think to do that before DW came along. But then, I was not a kale fan in any of that time and only grew them once, that I remember. That year, the huge plants were allowed to grow unharvested until Winter.

DW picked some more leaves off the current scrawny plants, yesterday. They do become more tender with frost. What does dehydrating do to the leaves? I can imagine two results: #1 they become like shoe leather, or #2 they are crispy things like potato chips.

Steve

 

[heirloomgal]

Our even dozen kale plants look quite a bit different right now because of continuous harvesting. I didn't think to do that before DW came along. But then, I was not a kale fan in any of that time and only grew them once, that I remember. That year, the huge plants were allowed to grow unharvested until Winter.

DW picked some more leaves off the current scrawny plants, yesterday. They do become more tender with frost. What does dehydrating do to the leaves? I can imagine two results: #1 they become like shoe leather, or #2 they are crispy things like potato chips.

Steve

Apparently, #2. She said she eats them like potato chips. Personally, I think I'd like kale chips but hard to imagine them without a bit of oil and salt, I don't think you could do it like that in a dehydrator though. That method is probably oven only.

I grew too many kale for sure. So far I've mostly harvested only from the backyard plants and even some of them remain huge. I do like that you can continue to harvest with a foot of snow on the ground, so there's that. Just something about a big ole kale plant jutting out of the snow warms my heart. And last winter I developed a wierd addiction to eating the tiny crown bits with little icicles embedded in them while standing outside. The mix of ice and greens hits just right. But I have a bit of pagophagia.

 

[digitS']

A new word.

Be careful not to chip a tooth!

That harvesting after snowfall was a real problem during my first adventure growing kale. I had the plants at such a distance from the kitchen of my, then, country home — that I had to shovel all the way to the end of the garden to reach them.

Steve

 

[heirloomgal]

Waiting for the nice weather next week to get some tulips in the ground. Last year I got red with white edges, this year I did a 50/50 split of midnight purple and bright yellow varieties. I really dislike digging in freezing cold soil so that little blip of warmth will get taken advantage of.

So close to being done shelling the beans and peas. Filled 2+ leaf bags so far, total will probably be 3 when I'm done. It's a lot of shells that's for sure. I feel like I'm behind on everything, especially taking pictures of the beans. I did wait a bit extra this year to be ensure dryness but I'm a bit worried now I won't have enough sunny days to get pics. I hope it works out.

Peppers are nearly done being processed for seeds. The spaghetti sauce made with an enormous amount of roasted peppers turned out extra delicious. They did shrink with roasting, that helped a lot. We had leftovers today which were even better. The only thing that may have improved my sauce was peeling all the peppers before pulsing it with the hand blender. Tiny bit of texture was left in, but that was too many peppers to peel.

Here's my easy veggie spaghetti sauce. I like to make it in the oven since it's less work, but stovetop works too. Just more stirring.

At least a dozen bell peppers, 2 dozen is better
10 garden tomatoes, or a tall bottle of passata
4 celery stalks, chopped rough
1 big onion, chopped rough
6+ garlic cloves, same
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt, lots of dried basil & oregano

Roast the peppers in a tray/pan first. If they get dark, you gotta peel 'em because that'll add a bitter flavor. Then add everything else. Cover. Roast at 350 for hours, adding water as needed. Adjust salt to taste, an extra pat of butter can help or a teaspoon of sugar to get the flavor ratios right. Pulse somewhat with a hand held blender for a better texture when done. Finish with grated parmesan and/or mozzarella, finely chopped parsley and ground peppercorns.