Fall Harvest

Just before the frost/freeze that we had last week I was able to harvest the few remaining things in the garden, a five gallon bucket of tomatoes is now nesting cozily in boxes of newspaper waiting to finish ripening. Pictured below are some of the grape tomatoes, a squash, and my mystery growth.

This second picture is a closer view of the unknown object that I rescued from my compost barrel. I'd been watching this unknown vine grow during the summer, my first guess at it's identity was squash but then it blossomed-a small, delicate yellow bloom- so then I thought cucumber, and again waited to see the result.

As I was stripping the main garden I decided to take a last look and noticed several orbs smaller than an egg, definitely not a cucumber, then tucked away under the abundant leaves I spotted this and picked it. Gourd? maybe but don't remember throwing any in there (yes it wasn't the best made pile or it would have heated enough to kill any seeds) an immature squash that I don't recognize? Any ideas anyone? In the meantime I'm resisting the urge to dissect and letting it dry or ripen?

Gathering from Nature

This is the best time of year to begin gathering nature's bounty. We have been busy digging wild leeks, also known as wild onions or ramps. They seem to grow best in open hardwoods and have reached their peak when the trilliums are in bloom and just before they send up their own blossom spike. We have had enough rain this spring that they are a nice size this year (sometimes they are about half as big) but you can see from the picture below that in the onion world they are not huge.

Flavor wise they seem to me a cross between an onion and garlic. They can be eaten raw or cooked, I've even sauteed the whole thing(bulb with leaves attached) but that can have the same effect as beans on some systems!

My favorite way to use them is remove the outer layer of dirt and root, then slice and dehydrate. They make the cutest little "onion O's" and store well in a plastic bag for a year or two (if they last that long) I use them in soups, stews, sloppy joes, omelets, as whole rings or crushed in my fingers. My daughter already has her request in for her share.

Enjoy the woods, but please remember to harvest responsibly. Leeks have roots but are also attached to (I think) a rhizome which connects groups of them and helps them spread. To not disrupt their system, I use a garden fork to loosen the clump, then hand pull several of the bulbs, leaving a few to nourish the mother root, firming the loosened dirt back in place with my foot. As I write this, I'm thinking I really make work out of the process, but I've been picking this way for years and not disturbing the other wild flowers around them.