Summer is always a busy time here at La Pasera with many crops producing in abundance. We always grow more than we can use fresh but the remainder doesn't go to waste. We will process many of our crops into pickles, soups, jams and burgers whilst others will be frozen, dried or bottled.
We have had a slow start to summer which has meant most things are about a month behind from previous years. The beetroots are at that stage where they are small but sweet and tender, perfect for salad, delicious in beetroot and coconut soup and absolutely brilliant just simply juiced fresh.
We are trying Kohlrabi this year, a first for us and we will probably eat it in salads. It seems to have split a little, probably due to erratic watering or fluctuations of temperatures. I'm a bit disappointed with the taste but Luis likes it. I might try pickling some to spice it up a bit.
The sugar-snap peas are a little disappointing and no where near as sweet as previous years. Instead of eating them raw in salads we will probably use them for soup. The carrots are beginning to crop and so far seem sweet and quite a size.
The gooseberry crop has done really well this year and has not suffered due to gooseberry sawfly. We made sure that rhubarb leaves were placed under the bush whenever we cropped it and this acts as a physical barrier as ell as a natural insecticide, it works. We will make as much gooseberry and mustard seed pickle as possible as this is one of our favourite accompaniments to bean-burgers, cheese or savoury and Indian dishes. The big challenge has been to keep the blackbirds away but this year we put netting up early which seems to have worked.
Elsewhere the raspberries and redcurrants are producing well and we will shortly be harvesting these for the freezer or to make fruit leathers in the dehydrator.
We have had a slow start to summer which has meant most things are about a month behind from previous years. The beetroots are at that stage where they are small but sweet and tender, perfect for salad, delicious in beetroot and coconut soup and absolutely brilliant just simply juiced fresh.
We are trying Kohlrabi this year, a first for us and we will probably eat it in salads. It seems to have split a little, probably due to erratic watering or fluctuations of temperatures. I'm a bit disappointed with the taste but Luis likes it. I might try pickling some to spice it up a bit.
The sugar-snap peas are a little disappointing and no where near as sweet as previous years. Instead of eating them raw in salads we will probably use them for soup. The carrots are beginning to crop and so far seem sweet and quite a size.
The gooseberry crop has done really well this year and has not suffered due to gooseberry sawfly. We made sure that rhubarb leaves were placed under the bush whenever we cropped it and this acts as a physical barrier as ell as a natural insecticide, it works. We will make as much gooseberry and mustard seed pickle as possible as this is one of our favourite accompaniments to bean-burgers, cheese or savoury and Indian dishes. The big challenge has been to keep the blackbirds away but this year we put netting up early which seems to have worked.
Elsewhere the raspberries and redcurrants are producing well and we will shortly be harvesting these for the freezer or to make fruit leathers in the dehydrator.
Your beetroot carrots and redcurrants look mouth-watering, we are way behind this year, it has been so dry and dare I say it warm since the cold spring left us, being warm and dry our spinach has bolted this year, last year it was great.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anne, it has been an atypical year for most things this year. Sounds like you are having similar problems.
ReplyDeleteWe've had a wonderful redcurrant crop this year, the best yet. I made a big batch of redcurrant and strawberry jam yesterday. I've not yet been able to find gooseberries locally, but the rhubarb leaf tip is a good one to store away for when I manage it.
ReplyDeleteRedcurrant and strawberry jam sounds good - I'll mention it to Luis who loves jam. In late autumn I can send you a bare root gooseberry if you'd like one Andrea?
ReplyDelete