Still harvesting. Amazing!

I was wrong. I didn’t pick the last of the leaves off my brussel sprout plants the other day. I was just out in the glorious sunshine and thought I should uncover my kale so it can take advantage of the rays.

And I was able to harvest the smallest leaves off the tops of my brussel sprout plants! They’re showing no signs of suffering in this cool weather.

I can hardly wait for next year when I can have 15 plants instead of 5 because the leaves are still my favorite new leafy green.

I’ve been enjoying them rolled up and thinly sliced in a mixed veggie salad the last several days; purple cabbage, onion, orange pepper, carrot, hemp seeds, black sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, olive oil and blueberry vinegar. YUM.

And if you’re wondering what that little spot of green is beside the leaves, it’s an actual brussel sprout! 🙂 Obviously way small but still a real brussel sprout! Gee, can you tell I’m excited?

I have another photo with a fork in there too so you can see just how small it is.

I’m so sad now, they never had a chance to amount to anything worth eating. . . .

I’m going to harvest my kale later today. Who knew I’d be picking anything on October 3rd?? It’s wonderful. And since I have kale in the freezer, I’ll probably make a soup with this batch. If my sister lived closer, she could come and get it but she’s too cheap to drive SO FAR. I’m a whole 20 minutes away! Crazy, eh? Another city entirely, in my opinion, would be ‘so far’.

Her loss 🙂 My gain.

Make time to eat!

It’s not unusual for me to get so absorbed in what I’m doing, I forget to eat. Well, okay, that’s not entirely true. I neglect to eat. Like today. Here it just after 1 in the afternoon and I’m finally having something! My growling stomach should’ve forced me into the kitchen hours ago.

At least I’m making up for it by having a blast of nutrients in the form of a freshly made juice. I ventured into the garden this morning and harvested the last of my brussel sprout plant leaves. In a post I published earlier in the gardening season, I mention these lovely greens. They’re fabulous! I LOVE them!

I’d only considered consuming them when I realized I wouldn’t actually get sprouts. I was thrilled to learn the leaves are edible and even more thrilled when I found out how mild in flavor they are. It’s also late in the year for having anything still alive in my garden (in fact, the only other veggie I have yet to pick is kale) and these aren’t showing any ill effects of the cooler weather or frequent rain. I will absolutely be planting these again next year even if I never get sprouts. I highly recommend trying them. They’re an incredibly sturdy plant and the leaves aren’t dainty in any way. Torrential rains simply shed off them like water off a duck’s back (not that I’ve ever seen water shedding off a duck’s back).

They’re great cooked in a stir-fry with garlic slivers, onions and red, orange and/or yellow bell peppers. Add a can of black beans and some seasonings (if you like, I don’t bother) and a diced tomato or two. Roll up in a homemade, whole wheat tortilla. Yummy! Or try them thinly sliced in a mixed greens salad. You probably won’t even know they’re in there but you’ll reap their benefits. (Hey! I used ‘they’re’, ‘there’ and ‘their’ all in one sentence and I did it correctly). And, of course, use them in juicing. Smoothies too, although I have not done so yet.

I picked 38 leaves today, in various sizes since I was taking all I could get. I’m sad gardening season is over. However, I do enjoy winter so I will get over my sadness 🙂

As you can see, my sprouts really didn’t yield anything worth saving. They’re smaller than a green pea, lol.Fortunately, the leaves made up for any effort I went to by starting the plants from seed.

Aren’t they beautiful? Green as can be and no damage from bugs. I mean not ONE single bug hole. I wouldn’t care if there were anyway. I’m just loving these leaves so much I could go on and on about them 🙂

I used 12 smaller ones in my juice and the rest will go in the fridge to be used soon in the above mentioned stir-fry. Trust me. If you can plant brussel sprout plants, even if you detest brussel sprouts (how could you??), please give them a try. You can never go wrong eating more leafy greens. And variety is fantastic!

My apple and brussel sprout leaf juice was wonderful. A bit foamy but sweet and refreshing.

Now I’ll have a meal of homemade soup (cooked on my wood stove to see if I could use it rather than my electric range) and a homemade sourdough bun. And I’ll remember to have breakfast tomorrow.