Spring Harvests

Fava beans and beets from the garden.

Friday was the first entirely dry day we've had in ages after a month of May featuring rain almost every day. (Wettest May on Record: more than 9 inches!)  During the deluge, we were distracted from the garden by a Huge Project away from our land.  

Despite some serious neglect over the past month, the vegetables and herbs are happily doing their things, with slug damage and some serious weeds being the only real challenges.  And lo and behold: there is food!

On Friday we harvested fava beans, beets (roots and tops), red onions, garlic scapes, lettuce, and lambsquarters. We've been eating spinach, lettuce, and all sorts of greens out of the garden for a while, but Friday night was the first spontaneous full-on dinner from the garden.  

We had a warm orzo salad with garlic scapes sauteed in butter, fresh fava beans, basil pesto from last summer's garden, and a lemon/olive oil dressing and a cold salad with goat cheese, red onions, french lentils, and grated beets on a bed of shredded lettuce. Mmmmm!  It tasted like fresh spring.

Various friends dropped in and out during the luxuriously-paced preparation of dinner and helped with the double-shelling of the fava beans, which was the most time-consuming part.  Thank you SF, KT, LJ, and MT.

Fava beans after having been removed from pods, blanched, and awaiting shelling.

We planted the favas in December, and the beets and onions in November, all with heavy mulch. They made it through the winter and are a delightful way to kick off Spring garden-eating season!