Full speed ahead!

Three pounds, seven ounces! June 2025

I thought my first cauliflower was massive, but the one above was a full pound more;  I went on a cauliflower marathon over the weekend where I picked and processed them all (eight in total):  most went into the freezer, heads and greens.  I also made almost 3 L* of sauerkraut with the stems:  I shredded these in my food processor, making quick work of them.  The son also cooked most of one head into cauliflower cheese for dinner:  delicious.

In fact I have so much veg all of a sudden, it feels like I'm in autumn harvest already and it's not even summer solstice yet!  I'm desperately trying to keep up with the lettuces (I'm passing them out at work, even) and the snap peas are suddenly covered, as are the artichokes.  The broad beans too, though these aren't cut and come again like the peas and artichokes--once they're gone, they're gone.

It's also raspberry, strawberry and gooseberry time!  I've started a freezer bag of the gooseberries as we have quite a lot, but the kids are eating up the other two as they pick them.  Also got some redcurrants and blackcurrants;  the daughter (age 5) is taking care of the reds but it's up to me to pick the blacks, something I haven't gotten around to for a couple years in a row:  I need to be on the ball this year.

Right now we're eating what can't be preserved--mainly lettuce and artichokes--and I'm freezing, fermenting and drying what I can:  cauliflower/leaves of course, broad beans, snap peas, some herbs (for winter use), gooseberries.  I'm going to have a chat with the husband about starting the Vegetable Challenge, though I may slightly update the rules (this is my own challenge and I get to set the rules after all).  The only veg he's been buying recently are onions.  I think it may be time. 

---

Besides harvesting, I'm actually still sowing some seed for late summer/autumn planting:  spring onions, cauliflower, cabbage.  Although the big push is in spring, I don't stop the seeds until around August/September.  Just planted out my third batch of spring onions (been eating the first, still waiting on the second to grow a bit bigger), and I've pricked out my third batch of lettuce too.  I'll be planting all these out as other crops finish later on in summer.

*Both metric and imperial?  I'd prefer 100% metric but my old-fashioned kitchen scales have imperial weights, whereas all my containers are measured in metric.  Work with what you have, right?