Turkey Tracks: November 1, 2018
Blue Hubbards and Fall Food Bounty
Fall and winter vegetables have been harvested now.
I grew these Blue Hubbards. The big one on the right is the normal size. The vines ran all over the place this year, but did not seem to be setting fruit until well into August. I did not think I would get a single big Blue. Imagine my surprise when I found these beauties hiding in the mass of vines.
Blue Hubbards are terrific keepers, and I love the flavor. I will either roast them whole or will cut them into slices, cut off the really tough skin, and will roast the flesh pieces with a healthy fat, rosemary, and garlic.
Here’s what I came home with my last pick-up at my CSA, Hope’s Edge. CSA means Community Shared Agriculture. One pays a little in the late fall to reserve a place and provide seed money for the farmer. The rest is paid in the spring—it amounts to about $20 a week and I get much more value than that as the season progresses. Below is produce worth way more than $20. These delicious vegetables will keep a long time when properly stored, and I will be fed by Hope’s Edge for many, many weeks to follow.
When I got more greens like kale or beet greens than I could eat in a week, I blanched them and froze the extra portions. So, now I have some packages of greens ready to be defrosted and eaten this winter.
I started thinking about my own garden and what came out of it this year: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, haricot bush beans (filet beans), radishes, lots of gorgeous lettuce, herbs (parsley, rosemary, basil, French tarragon, mint, multiple thymes, multiple sages, chives, nasturtium flowers and leaves), garlic, zucchini, and the blue hubbards.
Despite the cool weather and the drought, it was a good growing year.
Lovely to see this fall bounty. The mint you sent back home with me is doing well in my cabin garden.