A July 4th Harvest
Happy Independence Day! I wish you all a safe and wonderful long holiday weekend.
Yesterday, we harvested some of our first vegetables of the season here at my Bedford, New York farm. My garden is looking excellent and producing such wonderful and nutritious foods - broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, Swiss chard, carrots, parsley, peas and so much more. I am so happy to have an abundance of fresh produce to share with my family and friends on this July 4th.
Enjoy these photos.
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- The day was quite warm and humid, but everyone at the farm is always so excited to harvest from the garden. Carlos, Sanu, and Ryan are ready to pick more of these beautiful vegetables.
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- Here’s Ryan with just a few of the pretty bright orange carrots he picked.
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- We planted many peas along the garden fence – shelling peas, which need to be removed from their pods before eating, and edible pods, which can be eaten whole, such as snap peas.
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- The peas are plump and ready for picking.
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- Next, Ryan harvests some of the Swiss chard. Swiss chard is a leafy green vegetable often used in Mediterranean cooking. The leaf stalks are large and vary in color, usually white, yellow, or red. The leaf blade can be green or reddish.
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- Once the vegetables are picked, they are brought up to my Flower Room, washed and placed in big coolers. Here’s our bucket of lettuce, Lactuca sativa. Lettuce is a fairly hardy, cool-weather vegetable that thrives when the average daily temperature is between 60 and 70-degrees Fahrenheit.
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- Vicia faba, also known as the broad bean or fava bean is an ancient member of the pea family. They have a nutty taste and buttery texture. I always grow lots of fava beans.
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- In this bucket – a white variety of cauliflower – beautiful, and so, so healthy. There’s also a head of broccoli, which is high in vitamins A and D, and a big head of green cabbage.
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- I am so excited about this year’s growing season – there are so many delicious vegetables growing in my garden.
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- Once up in the Flower Room, Sanu starts washing and cleaning all the produce. Sanu gives the kale a quick wash, so it isn’t too, too wet. Kale has purple or green leaves and can be eaten in a variety of ways.
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- Sanu checks each kale leaf to make sure it is clean and then bunches them together before bagging.
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- Here’s the Swiss chard – cleaned and ready to place in a bag.
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- Kohlrabi, also called German turnip, is a biennial vegetable. It is the same species as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and kale. Kohlrabi, which can be green or purple, is a bulbous vegetable surrounded by two layers of stiff leaves attached in a rosette, like a cabbage. It has long leafy greens that shoot out from the top. All parts of the kohlrabi can be eaten, both raw and cooked. It is delicious steamed, sautéed, roasted, stuffed, creamed, in soup or stew, and eaten raw.
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- And look at all the peas. Our peas are so fresh and green, and picked just at the right time – when pods start to fatten, but before peas get too large.
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- We also harvested a generous bunch of parsley. This will find its way into my morning green juice.
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- Lettuces can generally be placed in one of four categories: looseleaf, butterhead, crisphead, and romaine. Sanu washes the lettuce heads and then turns them upside down to drain some of the water.
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- Then she places the lettuce in our giant Dynamic Salad Spinner from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. It spin-dries lettuce and other salad greens quickly, quietly, and efficiently. https://www.johnnyseeds.com/tools-supplies/post-harvest/salad-spinners/sealed-dynamic-salad-spinner-9799.html
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- These lettuces look so pretty – my daughter and grandchildren will have many delicious salads.
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- Sanu then carefully scrubs all the dirt from each of the carrots.
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- I always like to grow many varieties and colors of carrots. Most are familiar with the orange carrots, but they also come in red, yellow, white and purple.
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- Next, all the fava beans are wiped clean and dry. Fava beans are a rich source of dietary fibers, proteins, vitamins B9, B6 and B1 and minerals such as iron, copper, and manganese.
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- When storing all these greens, I wrap the vegetables in moist paper towels and then put them in large plastic bags. These will remain in the refrigerator until they’re packed in coolers. Happy July 4th! What are you doing to celebrate this Independence Day? Share your comments with me below!
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