Today seems like Harvest Day. Of course it’s this time of the year, so it’s no coincidence that stuff is ready to be harvested. But it’s kinda funny if you know that I only have 1 m2 of soil to plant and this kind of harvest! This is the story:
Cherry Tomatoes:
In the past years I’ve always seeded and planted tomatoplants. Often it happens that tomatoes fall of the plant and rot in the soil. This year I scooped of some old soil of my square meter garden and put it in an old big pot we don’t use either. Obviously this old soil and my square meter still contained lots of seeds from the rotten tomatoes of the past! So without sowing tomatoplants myself this year we still had a lot of tomatoplants! And with a good harvest… Lara like to eat those cherry tomatoes, but I also made some salads with it and a portion of pasta sauce. The harvest of today ended up being dried in the oven and is now in a jar with oil. Ready to be used as “sundried tomatoes” in the near future!
Stewing pears:
A few weeks ago I noticed an pear tree near a house in our neighborhood. It was loaded with lots of pears! I know the guy who owns the place is single and I didn’t think he’d use all those pears for himself. So one day I walked up to him and asked him. I was right; he loved the tree, but doesn’t like stewed pears (it is the kind you need to stew). He told me other people were also interested, but I could feel free to come around and have some for myself. So this afternoon I did and he showed me a whole basket full of those pears already. And the tree still isn’t empty! So I got about 2 or 3 kg’s. Those are stewing now with a stick of cinnamon, some sugar and wine. I’ll put them in airtight jars later. Saves me space in the freezer and they’ll keep well for a long time!
Beetroot:
Another wild roamer. I haven’t had beetroots in my garden for 2 or 3 years now, but this one has nested between some stones and our shed. He did well and this afternoon I harvested him. I’ll cut it up, cook it and freeze it. I’m the only one in our family who eats it, so it’ll be just one little meal for me!
Red onions:
That’s the only thing I planted this year! There were about 20 onions I planted, but I only got to dig up 7 or so. The others are overgrown by the tomatoplants. Well, doesn’t matter. That’s the fun part about gardening; if it grows it’s nice. If it doesn’t, it’s ok too. We don’t have to live from it!
Figs:
Up till three weeks ago I’d never tasted a fig. I just thought about how I’d like to taste one, just out of curiosity. Jamie Oliver has some recipes with figs, so I guess that got me thinking. A couple of days later we walked out of church and amazingly enough I noticed a figtree in the church yard! I’d never noticed it before…
The day after I e-mailed our pastor Piet and asked him if anyone was using the figs. I’d regret it if such fruit would simply fall off and rot away. I’d love to try some recipes! Piet responded very enthousiastic; only he and his wife and one other church member ate the figs, but that’s it. I could totally do what I wanted with it. If I found some nice recipes he’d love to know, so he could share it with other people through our church magazine. Fine! So the day after (and a couple times after that) I harvested the ripe figs and experimented with it. I mostly cooked and pureed them. The puree can be used as a sauce on top of yoghurt (with some honey, nuts and cinnamon) or as a base for muffins (awesome!). I also dried a few, so I can use ‘em later in pieces in some other baking.
The puree keeps fine in airtight jars. I have some more ideas I’d like to try and fortunately the tree is still full with figs-to-be.
I love finding out what goes with figs. I noticed vanilla is a big friend, but I think caramel is also a winner…
Now back to the kitchen.
