Raspberries, garlic, and saskatoon jelly

As predicted, raspberry production is now a gallon a day. This was a quick pick this morning on one side of the yard. Most of these are going into the freezer for later processing. The rest are getting eaten fresh or given away. We finally finished last year's frozen berries yesterday!!

I noticed that these thorny-assed black raspberries, which I thought I had eliminated, have managed to make a comeback underneath the saskatoon bush. They are tasty (much richer in flavour and not as acidic as red raspberries) but the thorns are horrendous.

The wind has also been beating some of the canes against the fence, leaving CSI-like splatter behind.

Jess was home this week. In addition to picking some berries, she helped me pull the garlic.

We ended up with 90 heads this year, which is enough to get us through the winter and also to have some to give away or barter with.

After they dried enough that I could brush the dirt off, I hung them in the garage to cure. The garage reeks of garlic. As soon as you open the door, you can smell it.

Overall, the size of the heads is much improved over past years. A few years of selective breeding had increased the average head size to at least commercial sized. A few are huge.

The rest of the garden is slowly coming along. We have enough dill weed so I'm letting some of the plants seed, both to give us some dill seed and also to ensure it comes back next year.

Jess did a quick harvest of ripe cherries off the tree. I did a second cull today and, pitted, we have one and a bit cups (which is the first significant harvest we've had). Not bad for year three. I will probably try some cherry tarts to use them up (they are frozen right now).

Part of Jess's job requires seed harvesting. It is berry season up north and they picked dew berries, saskatoons, and wild strawberries last week. Her last shift was processing the berries, basically juicing them to get the seed out so they can dry and be collected. This meant she could bring home some saskatoon juice (it takes a lot of berries to get a litre of saskatoon juice).

There is some much pectin in the juice that it starts to set immediately on its own. We decided to make jelly. I used a crab apple recipe to get to the proportions.

The chunks in the show below are just juice that has gelled on its own.

The flavour is good and we got four small jars plus a bit of excess in the end.

We did. however overcook it, so it is hard to spread. Jenn suggests we ball it and cover it in chocolate to make some kind of bonbon.

The rest of the yard is still blooming. Below are what remains of my lilies after five years of lily beetle infestation. Super pretty for a short time but just too vulnerable to bugs to bother re-establishing any number of them, when dallies grow so well here.

I suspect we'll still be dealing with a raspberry glut next week. The apples are showing encouraging size already, probably a function of the additional rain we've had this year.

Grapes, plums, berries and pie

Summer is moving along and I'm starting to see some fruit. After several years of languishing, the grape vine has sent a goodly number of bunches this year. I may get enough to make grape jelly!

The plum trees we put in two years ago have also set some fruit for the first time and I counted four plums on the bigger trees. We'll see how many make it to autumn.

The raspberry apocalypse has begun and we're starting to pick about half a gallon a day, That will likely ramp up to a gallon a day by next week.

We also have a nice showing of dayliles.

I spent some time this week picking saskatoons. With the rhubarb also ready, Jenn and I decided to make pie.

The results were delicious! And I will be definitely be canning one pie filling this summer for a winter treat.

Jess is also back from the north and has brought with her a litre of Saskatoon juice from rending the berries to extract the seeds. I think we'll make jelly with it.

Dehydrating!

I spent some of this week fiddling around with the dehydrator. First up was some mint and some dill weed. The dill self-seeded into the carrot bed and needed to go because it was shading them. The mint is just everywhere so I decided to try to make a virtue of weeding it.

Three trays of each reduced to 500ml jars of dried. I then charged up and used the vacuum sealer Jenn bought me for father's day. Works like a charm, so far!

Last week's haul of garlic scapes means this year's garlic crops not far behind. We still had a fair few of last year's bulbs so I peeled them and then rough minced them.

These went into the dehydrator for about 15 hours until they were crispy dry.

I then used the magic bullet to powder them and vacuum sealed. The garlic powder is insanely pungent!

Outside, we have just been weeding a lot. I have almost got the daylily midge problem licked with careful removal of infected flower buds.

The potatoes are also coming along nicely. I have, I think, finally thinned the carrots and beets enough and can just focus on weeding.

I did the first real harvest of the saskatoon bush, putting about half a gallon away for saskatoon-rhubarb pie later on. The rain has really meant a bountiful harvest.

The peas, which are way behind, are finally starting to form some pods!

The real story in the next two weeks will be the raspberries. The rain means we have a bumper crop. If it get hot soon, we will be drowning I just pulled the last gallon of frozen raspberries from the freezer to eat.

Hopefully, the beans and melons and cucumbers will start to make some progress to match the squash plants (which are now vining).

Garlic scapes

The garlic scapes are ready so I spent Saturday harvesting and processing them.

The main garlic bed this year had 100 or so heads so it took a bit to gather them all up. There are also lots of strays around the yard from bulbs and heads that went unharvested in past years. I'll collect these as I see them while weeding.

It was a good haul this year and most of my usual "can you take some?" people were like "nah, bro" so I just bulk processed most of them.

The dog was very interested in being poisoned, apparently. The garlic smell was overwhelming and I quickly went nose blind.

I ended up with about half a gallon of chopped scapes that I blanched, drained, and then froze. This will mostly be turned into pesto once the basil catches up in late August.

I also kept a few scapes for roasting this week and turn the blanch water into a garlic potato soup for lunch. Overall, a pretty fun morning.

June update: Peonies, squash and apple

Alright, several weeks of travelling (followed by frantic weeding) have kept me away from the blog but things feel more in hand now.

Peony season is just ending and it was amazing this year. Lovely blooms and one plant that was struggling last year seems to have recovered (I suspect all of the rain got in June helped).

The carrots are up and look so much better than this photo suggests. The beets have also germinated after a second sowing along with green beans. I pulled the radishes and, after an unsupervised trip to the green house, replanted the areas with a mix of pepper plants and some flowers.

The rain has also helped the squash, which are starting to look viable! The basil has been less happy with the water and could use a week or two of heat.

The potatoes in the raised boxes are about to set flowers. The potatoes in the ground are a few weeks behind (which is fine).

The cucumbers and squash I have planted to trellis up struggle, for reasons I do not really understand. The soil has been amended over and over. They may just need some time. Everything seems a bit set back by the cooler June. Or, possible, I have been cursed.

The daisies are running wild in the yard and may require action.

The water has been good for the apple trees, which have fruit and it is starting to get big. Both trees got a sharp pruning last year so I'm not sure what that will mean for the overall harvest.

The community garden, where I do not have a plot, has also busted out with the rain.

Today is garlic scape harvest day so that is probably the plan for the weekend. The saskatoons and raspberries will be the next crops--likely in two weeks.