As we get deeper into autumn, my allotment visits are growing further apart; now the chickens are back in their yard at home, the son has again taken over their daily care and I'm only going to the allotment a couple times a week instead of every day.
Last week the daughter and I went up twice before school (on Monday and then on Friday) to pick tomatoes and beets; I've been enjoying the beet greens even more than the beet roots themselves. I learned a new way to cook them: separate the stems from the leaves and cut them into bite sized pieces. These will be cooked in boiling water until tender, then cooled in cold water for a few minutes. The leaves are treated the same, but won't take as long to cook. Once cooled, drain the stems, and drain the leaves and squeeze out all the extra water. I combine them in a bowl and season with soy sauce, a little vinegar, sesame oil and sesame seeds. Serve room temperature or chilled.
At the weekend, the whole family (self, husband, son and daughter) walked up in the wind and rain to plant out the garlic harvest. We cleared away most of the squash vines, and in the process discovered two more squashes (one fairly big--how did I miss them?); then lightly dug rows in the bed for about 120 garlic cloves. I'd saved the largest heads from my garlic harvest in the summer, and there is still plenty in the pantry to last me (hopefully) till next summer. The daughter and I planted them and the son collected a couple of wheelbarrows of manure-y straw (from the on-site stables) to mulch over the top, in the hopes of preventing weeds germinating.
While we were there, the husband also picked another pound and a half of tomatoes, and the son found a couple of artichokes to go with the handful of green beans and two squashes I picked. Still lots of veg!
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