Monday, October 15, 2012

Harvest Monday, Late October version

Yesterday all of the tomatoes got pulled from the long bed, and today I'll sort the green from the red and haul all the vines away. As always, I have more ideas for next year's tomatoes. Who knows if I'll implement them? They need better and taller staking -- like jumbo cages -- from the very beginning. Maybe I'll hit Denise and Kevin up for more bamboo and use that.

It's Monday again, though, and Daphne hosts Harvest Monday at her blog. Here's my contribution, and as always, it's partial. For example, I did not photograph the green-and-red-filled trug.

The peppers keep pumping out beautiful fruit. Here's the yellow and orange ones from yesterday. They must be roasted and sort of pickled -- on goat cheese over crusty bread, it's just divine. More peppers next year!

The chickens are routinely laying 6-7 eggs a day, and oddly enough, it's not too much. Half the family has eggs for breakfast, and then there's the weekly French toast breakfast. . .


Speaking of eating a lot of food, we are really feeling the price increases in things like milk and chicken. Our food bills are growing right along with the kids! Here's what I got out of a 5 pound bag of whole wheat flour, though:


Fortunately, the freezer means I can bake once a week, or maybe twice, and generally get close enough to the amount needed for toast with those daily eggs! I am going to have to get back to making baguettes, foccacia and ciabatta, though. Buying those is pricey.

What's coming out of your garden or kitchen this week?

12 comments:

Erin said...

I am trying to bake bread for the week today too! :)

Unknown said...

Your bread looks delicious. Last year, I asked for the King's Flour cookbook, because I'm determined to learn to bake bread. Still haven't tried it, but I'm feeling the urge now that it's cooler in SC. Thanks for the inspiration!

Annie*s Granny said...

I'm rethinking my tomatoes for next year too, after a disappointing season this year. My fault, I crowded them in too closely, so the yield was small and many didn't ripen.

The bread looks so good. I've found myself making more bread and buns lately, just to avoid those trips to the grocery store. Prices are going up, our SS checks are not increasing yearly as they used to (1-2% cost of living increase for 2013? Give me a break!), and at the rate they are going, we'll probably be paying the banks a fee to hold our savings, as interest rates have dropped to nearly nothing. End rant.

Michelle said...

I love my 5 foot tall concrete reinforcing mesh tomato cages, but even they aren't tall enough for the most vigorous growers. I've got a couple more weeks of tomato harvests left so I'm saved the chore of that cleanup for now. This year I'm going to leave the cages in place and grow my favas in them so that they don't flop all over the place.

Ah, did you know that your link on Daphne's goes to one of you July posts?

Love those yellow peppers, I may have to experiment with some of those next year, all of mine are red.

Stefaneener said...

Erin, I love being ahead for the week.

Julie, I found the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book to be a really good primer when I was learning. Now I'm experimenting with no-knead long ferment recipes. Enjoy!

AG, I hear you. The poor dairy farmers here are slaughtering their cows, and milk prices keep going up, up, up.

Daphne Gould said...

I so love the smell of baking bread. I made hamburger rolls yesterday, but on Saturday I made cardamom bread. Sadly with just the two of us I have to cut it in half and freeze it. We just can't finish a loaf of bread anymore.

Kristin said...

Those yellow peppers rock and the way you plan to eat them sounds wonderful. I should eat my lunch before I read your posts.

Stefaneener said...

Augh, Michelle,thank you! It's fixed. I used to use those tomato cages and loved them, but I can't store them. So the 6x6" fence method, but they're short. . . I really think individual bamboo "prisons" is the answer. Maybe.

Kristin, I had goat cheese and peppers on bread for lunch today : )

Daphne, I would have to give it away if we did not live with a plague of locusts. I wonder how I'll cook when there are fewer mouths to feed. The holidays are ideal for the Sicilian Mama approach to cooking.

A.N.N.'s Educational Services said...

My garden is taking a back burner but I still harvest peppers and tomatoes. I plan to clean/uproot the area this week. Your blog inspires me to want to garden again...next year. I really enjoyed tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini this year. I think I am going to pass on the winter growing season. I bake bread on Wednesdays for the week and it is great.

kitsapFG said...

Thank goodness for the garden, hens, and knowing how to cook from scratch. We only have the two of us to feed now so our food demands are much lower - but I remember the days of having a teenager in the house and trying to keep her fed without breaking the bank.

MARTI PERALTA said...

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Dan said...

Nice peppers and bread! Things certainly are getting expensive. They say inflation is about a percent and a half here. I was hearing that they have changed the calculation over time and if it was calculated as it was in the 1970's it would be closer to 15%!