First Harvest

It was the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last time that we eat these leafy greens!

Last night was my first harvest from the garden this season, not including the herbs we’ve been snipping here and there.  Each year, lettuce is always one of the first things, if not the first thing, ready to harvest.  However, as exciting as my first harvest from the garden always is, this one happens to have something new, something other than just lettuce…

Let me start by saying the beautiful red lettuce is my absolute favorite lettuce to grow.  It is called Quattro Stagioni.  It’s an Italian variety that doesn’t get too bitter in the summer heat and is relatively slow to bolt.  Not only does it tolerate heat pretty well, it performs amazing when it gets cool.  We were harvesting it last year up until almost November, even through a number of light frosts.  I think it was the first snowfall that finally did it in.

In case you’re wondering where I find my seeds, because you won’t find Italian lettuce varieties like this just anywhere, I buy them online from New England Seed.  We found New England Seed the first year that we put in our pumpkin patch because of their excellent selection of bulk pumpkin seeds.  We’ve been ordering all our seeds from them ever since!  But I digress….

Now, what is that among my lettuce?  It’s KALE!  Not only had I never grown kale until this year, I’m almost ashamed to admit that, until this salad, I had never eaten kale!  And you know what?  It’s pretty darn good!  You will definitely find me on the kale bandwagon from here on out!  I think it’s going to be a fixture in our garden in the coming years.  Every once in a while I try to grow spinach, but spinach is fickle, this stuff is not.  Sorry spinach, you’re out for good, kale is in!

I asked my husband what he thought of the salad and he said it was good.  I never told him what was in it, but he also never asked.  As far as the toddler, apparently she only eats salad when Grandma shares with her…

So, last night was the first time, and it certainly won’t be the last time, that we grow and eat kale!

 

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