100 Days, 100 Harvests

rhu-sins, dried sweetened rhubarb  recipe in this link

I'm doing this thing where I'm trying to harvest something, anything, and put it away for next fall or winter, 6 days a week for about 100 days or 3 and 1/2 months. I began in late May, harvesting some greens to freeze, dehydrate, or can. I've since added herbs and dried sweetened rhubarb that I can use in place of dried cranberries.

chive blossoms to freeze for use in cooking later

I know that as the summer progresses, I'll have even more to harvest. My intent is to not only spread out my harvesting and food preservation, but also to get me to start thinking of all of the food available on my property and see new sources of edibles as well as notice the foods that I often overlook until much later in the season. By the end of September, I hope to have put away enough produce to get us through early to mid-winter.

bundle of 20 grape leaves, tied up with thread, blanched, frozen, and thawed ready for stuffing

When it comes to preserving the harvest, I tend to think about the "regular" garden veggies, like green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, and the like. Yet, as I've discovered, there are so many other "fruits" and "veggies" that can be preserved. Two years ago, I decided to try freezing grape leaves. I roll a bunch up, tie with string, then "blanch" in the microwave. I then bag them up and keep in the freezer. They work well for stuffed grape leaves later in winter. This year, I decided that in addition to making chive blossom vinegar, I'd also freeze some whole blossoms to add a pop of spring in cooking when the garden is asleep. 

my latest experiment -- rose "lemonade" no lemons involved

Earlier this week, I'd read about making rose "lemonade" by steeping rose petals in water for a couple of days then sweetening. I've got a jar going. If I like the flavor, I'll be harvesting and dehydrating a bunch of rose petals to use later in the year. While walking the perimeter of the yard this afternoon, I noticed the black currant leaves. They look fresh and bright green. I think I'll pick a few handfuls tomorrow to use in hot tea when the weather chills. They're rich in vitamin C.

100 days, more or less, for at least 100 harvests. This is part of my plan to get more out of my garden this year than I did last year.

I found another blossom that we like in salads

On top of the light green lettuce leaf in the salad spinner --

Isn't this pretty? This is a cluster of pale pink thyme flowers. They're tiny but packed with classic thyme flavor. Our thyme just began blooming last week. I've been using the little flowers to add punch to meals, including in salads or broken up over meatloaf and polenta. With some flowers, all they add is beauty to meals. But with thyme blossoms, even the flowers are loaded with flavor. I'm looking forward to other herb blossoms. I'll be trying them all!