June 11, 2012

Apricots are again the story for Harvest Monday. The first week we harvested 21 pounds. On Saturday we gathered 20 pounds and on Sunday 41 pounds. The image below shows only one side of the kitchen and the remainder after we stewed them, made a huge apricot cobbler for company and ate with most every meal.

We’ve given them away to family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. They also add nicely to the tips for dog groomer and hairdresser. The friend who shared figs with us last summer eagerly received a dozen or so.

The apricot harvest is from three trees planted in one hole and pruned as one tree. (See the June 4 post for details). The ‘Gold Kist’ is almost finished for the season. The big producer this week was 'Royal Rosa’ while the 'Blenheim’ apricots are still green and undersized. My scientist/husband/gardening companion estimates that 40% of the crop remains. That could be another 50 pounds. No need to buy apricots by the lug box at the farmer’s market as in previous summers.

So what to do with such a bounty? First, eat and share; then, stew and freeze to enjoy until next summer. With so many, I’ll make apricot jam from my Mom’s recipe and freeze some of the most succulent for apricot desserts. I haven’t taken time to comb my summer fruit file or check Epicurious, but I’m sure to find other ideas. Leave a comment to tell me about your favorite way to use apricots. 

If I have time, I’ll publish more details of what I’m doing with the apricots on Thursday and link to Thursday’s Kitchen Cupboard. 

Elsewhere in the edible garden, I harvested the very last of the carrots–a pretty homely but tasty bunch. Note the white carrot. I’m guessing these are an assortment of 'Nantes,’ 'Circus, Circus’ and the Ferry Morse planting strip carrots.

The marionberries await a stretch of sunny days (here in the fog belt/June gloom) to ripen. For now, we monitor the berries turning black and savor one or two daily for breakfast. They’re added to the slower paced blueberries and the modest strawberry harvest. The rhubarb takes a back seat to the apricots for now but I did stew some earlier in the week and there’s more in the fridge. The 'Dorsett Golden’ apples ripen just in time to cook with the rhubarb.

There’s more than enough 'Bright Lights’ Swiss chard to share and cook; and when pruning the 'Washington’ naval orange, this past weekend, my husband found another dozen oranges and that many off-blooms ripening. So we had fresh squeezed juice with Sunday waffles.

When will I ever get the summer garden in or the quinoa sifted?  But ah, can you hear the deep sighs of satisfaction and thankfulness?