Harvesting the Garlic Scapes

Back in June we went out into the garden with an empty basket... it was time to harvest...

... the garlic scapes!!!

The garlic puts out these curly thingies that, if you let them grow, will turn into garlic flowers and drain the bulb/clove of all its oomph... so better to cut these off...

You have to do it before they do 2 full circles...

We almost left this too long....

And we have a good quantity of garlic this year too!

While Mama's doing that...

The strawberries did beary well this year...

Yum!!!

And the lettuce is bursting!

Seee!!!!

Potatoes are doing well too...

Here's the scape harvest (part of it)... some of the garlic was a bit slower (different type) so we'll have to come back for more scapes later. We could pickle these... or make garlic scape pesto or... so many options.

 

Mystery Object

We went to the beach!

It's so nice down here.

Lots of neat logs to climb.

And my humans even brought a snack! Hummous and veggies... along with fresh tomatoes from the garden.

Bu then... I found this weird thing while I was poking around the logs...

It's this roundish green thing...

What do you think?? Any ideas?

We are all perplexed by it... it's kind of hard...

Mama suggested that I take a bite out of it but... I'm not that silly.

I'm pretty sure we have a pocket knife in here... don't we? No... we don't. Sigh.

Maybe there's something in the first aid kit? Ah yes... there is!

It's Mama's pen knife from when she was a kid... seriously... this is like a little bear sized knife!

I don't wield knives but... Mama took a slice off and... ewwwww... the black bits are full of worms... ick!

But then... there is something else in there!!!

It's a walnut!

Oooh... there must be a walnut tree nearby.... oohhhh....

Over there... somewhere... I better go investigate.

Good thing I went to the arboretum a few weeks back. They had a walnut tree there so I will know what one looks like!

Uh-huh... I think that's a likely candidate.

Let's go check it out.

Yup... those are walnut leaves for sure.

But I only see those green things way up there...

But there are some on the ground!

This is so cool! I am going to gather some up...

There we go... this is a all a big experiment... we'll see how things go with these... how easy they are to peel and stuff.

 Cause... the truth is... it's a Black Walnut... and Mama found that out after she peeled a couple dozen of those things at home. Her fingers got died a deep dark brown!! hahahahha!!!

Whirlwind Garden Update

Uh... hello... I have been beary busy harvesting stuff in the garden. My goodness... things are ripening beary quickly!! So, Chef Sandy needs to get to work and process some of this bounty.

First up... some hummus...

Well... no... we don't grow chickpeas but... we had taken some out of the freezer so needed to make the hummus! But stay tuned for a different version of hummus.

Our raspberries are going totally wild...

So I need to freeze these on the cookie sheets...

That way they won't be a big lump in the ziploc bags...

These 2 trays of cookie sheets are already done...

This year we tried broad beans...

We had no idea what to do with them but...

One recipe said try broad bean hummus! So we cooked them for about 5 minutes... and then let them cool...

Also harvested some peas... last year we put them in the freezer without blanching. Cause some internet site said that would be good. NOT! This time, we blanched them for 1.5 minutes... and then froze them. Much better...

And we have two heads of green cabbage!!! One head is going to make coleslaw... and one is going to make cabbage rolls... more on that later.

We shucked the broad beans and whizzed them up in the food processor...

Added the usual hummus additives... tahini, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil. It actually tastes quite yummy but with a different flavour than regular hummus. I am pooped!!