It is somehow already a month, actually more, that we have been harvesting from the garden! As I am saying that it sounds crazy and weird that is has been that long already. But we have been very fortunate to have harvested a lot already. So this blog, we are going to break down what we have been harvesting and some things we have done with that harvest!
To start, the majority of our harvest has been herbs and flowers. So not so much produce but a decent chunk of medicinal prep has started. To start we have harvested bloody doc, plantain, catnip, orange balm, lemon balm, lemon verbena, citronella, oregano, borage blossoms, mint, basil, nasturtiums, marigolds, strawberry leaf, blackberry leaf and hyssop. I’m not gonna lie, I feel like Im missing some in this list but it is all that is coming to my mind. So for medicinal purposes we have bloody doc, plantain, catnip, lemon balm, borage blossoms, mint, nasturtiums and hyssop. These all are herbs that can be used medicinally and we dehydrated them to have on hand for later use. The lemon verbena and citronella are going to be used for bath products. For example, citronella has been turned into bug spray! Lastly orange balm, oregano, basil, nasturtiums, marigolds, strawberry leaf and blackberry leaf will be used for food reasons. We will use some for teas, some for cooking herbs, some into infused vinegars and the part I’m most excited to try, nasturtiums ground into salt! Nasturtiums have a peppery taste and mixed with the salt, I think it will be the perfect salt and pepper mix! We have already dehydrated about 3 gallons of nasturtiums and had to put some into some Mylar bags to save for a later date. Yet we keep going on harvesting them! These have been our best plant in the garden so far.
Produce we have managed to harvest would be Zucchini, Squash, cucumber, blueberry, Blackberry, beans, Mexican Sour Gherkins and radishes. Now this one, this had me excited. The zucchini and squash we just ate with an easy sauté. Actually the green beans we did the same but we also have so many popping up that we put some into the freezer too. I would like to try freeze drying some because I have some fun ideas but Im not fully sure we will get to that point yet. The Mexican sour gherkins and berries, we have just been eating right away. I have put some of the blackberries into the freezer as well. I am planning to make some blackberry lemonade concentrate but I currently do not have lemons and have plans to get a big quantity to make lots of lemonade concentrates. Now the radishes, I am so stinking excited. We tried making Kkakdugi, to which is a Korean side dish that is like a kimchi but with radishes. Now traditionally it is made with Korean Radish and they are huge! We just used the radishes we had in our garden (Dochon- a Korean radish but it is a smaller variety) and we actually made about 3 batches of the recipe. To which for our family, is perfect because Jeremy and I live off of spicy food. We ended up with almost a gallons worth of Kkakdugi. I will have to share this recipe later on! It is definitely spicy but if you like spice, you will be just fine. I want to try another recipe similar to this but with cucumbers. (Jeremy doesn’t know just yet) It is literally the same style recipe but with cucumbers. It’s called Cucumber Kimchi. I have a feeling with this recipe I will be addicted to it as I love cucumbers way more than radishes. So I plan to make that today or tomorrow! I will share that recipe too!
We have so far only canned strawberry items, to which those didn’t grow in our garden. Our strawberries are being moved to get them off the ground so we didn’t get a big harvest at all. With that we only canned strawberry jam, syrup and lemonade concentrate. So far the canning session of the year has been minimal. I think for the canning side, we will go crazy when the tomatoes come in and probably around peach time too. I want to can up a few more jars of peaches for the shelves.
In the search of preserving though, I have found a group on social media that love to freeze dry a lot of their produce and while watching those videos, I have become inspired. I like the thought of being able to have easy snacks on hand but also its a great way to preserve the harvest. We just need to get our freeze dryer up and running again. But I think I will be following along on this families freeze drying journey and implement some of those ideas into our family too.
So ending June, not too much craziness has gone on. We will be sharing some of the recipes and meals that Jeremy has made or I have made but for now we have kept it pretty simple to start! The garden season isn’t over and we definitely have a lot coming our way. But I would say the herb side has been kicking our butts more than I thought it would!