Harvesting veggies When I first started growing vegetables, I was confused at harvest time because I didn’t know just when to pick my veggies. I discovered I’m not alone. For many novice gardeners, our only knowledge of what ripe fruits and vegetables look like comes from the grocery store. Yet, when we begin to grow our own produce, it rarely looks like the blemish-free, polished and waxed fruit and vegetables at the store.
Here are some tips on how to harvest three popular homegrown goodies at the peak of their ripeness and flavor. Tomatoes Nothing can compare with a homegrown tomato. After one season of growing your own, you may never want to buy a tomato in the store again. Store-bought tomatoes can often be almost tasteless because they are often picked while they’re still green, and then sprayed with ethylene gas to force artificial ripening. The picking, transporting and storage process prevents natural ripening and sugar accumulation. Tomatoes undergo a very interesting physiological change when they are about half pinkish-red and half green. At this “breaker” stage, they form a thin layer of cells that seals the fruit from the stem. This layer of cells prevents any nutrient flow from the plant to the fruit. Tomatoes can be harvested at or after the breaker stage and they will ripen normally, but they need to ripen in the sun, such as on a windowsill, for the sugars to fully develop. Tomatoes that are left on the vine continue to ripen and develop sugars because they are exposed to sunlight, not because they are gaining anything from the plant. Store freshly harvested tomatoes on the counter or in a basket, as refrigeration kills their flavor. Some tomatoes, such as green zebra, German grapefruit, and lemon boy, never turn red. So, be sure to save your seed packets or plant tags, as these will often have pictures of the ripe fruit that you can refer to when deciding if it’s time to harvest. Eggplant Generally, eggplant should be harvested when the flesh is springy, and the skin is shiny purple and tight. Test for springiness by pressing into the side with your finger. If the flesh springs back, the eggplant is ready for picking. Eggplants that are past their prime are dull and soft with wrinkled skin. When ripe, white-skinned eggplant, such as Rosa Bianca, will have skin that is glossy white with pink stripes. Melons When trying to determine a melon’s ripeness, look at the condition of the stem and skin color. Cantaloupes “slip” from the vine, leaving a scar where the stem was attached. The bottom, or end opposite the stem, will be soft and fragrant. Their straw-colored skin should be bright. A ripe honeydew may remain attached to the vine, but should also be soft on the bottom side, opposite the stem. While on the vine, watermelons will have a small, curled tendril extending from the vine opposite from where the stem is attached to the vine. This tendril will turn brown and dry out when the melon is ripe. The stem should still be green and difficult to remove from the vine. The skin touching the ground should be buttery yellow. All melons continue to ripen after they have been removed from the vine, and should be stored in the refrigerator or a cool place. This is a reprint of an article I wrote when I was the commercial horticulture program coordinator for the western area of University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. For more specific gardening and horticulture advice be sure to visit your local Cooperative Extension office.
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I started wearing my Whoop strap on July 1st and have been blogging about my experience. The Whoop strap is a wearable performance monitor that measures your strain (workout intensity), recovery and sleep. One of the first things I learned is that my recovery was very low. I felt this is my body, and it was incredibly powerful to see those feelings validated by my personal biometric data. I looked into what factors negatively impacted my recovery and was (not really) surprised to learn about alcohol's negative impact on recovery. I have always known that my performance in the gym suffers if I have 2 or more drinks the night before. Now I have actual data based on my body on how alcohol impacts my recovery. To get a sense of what happens to me when I have more than 2 drinks I listened to the WHOOP podcast. I learned some very, very powerful things. First - Dose make the poison and all it takes is ONE drink for our body to have a decrease in heart rate variability, an increase in resting heart rate, an increase in disturbances, less time spent in the restorative stages of sleep. WOW! One drink does all that. Imagine what 2 drinks will do! Here are some of the negative impacts I learned from the WHOOP podcast.
Here is my recovery for the past week. I worked out Mon-Tue -Wed - Friday and went for an long easy hike on Sunday. I was really surprised my recovery on Wednesday was so high since i had done the workout Kelly on Tuesday. I think it caught up with me on Thursday because I had a few beers on Wednesday and my recovery tanked. Luckily I recovered on Friday and Saturday only to have a gradual slide into the red by Tuesday. I didn't do any workouts over the weekend, just a long slow hike on Sunday. What did I do? I drank. I drank more than 2 drinks Saturday, Sunday and Monday and it shows on Tuesday. The WHOOP sleep podcast discusses at length the deleterious impact alcohol has on sleep. I looked at my sleep data for Saturday, Sunday and Monday it shows a slow decline of deep sleep and sleep efficiency. I rely on both of these for solid recovery. I am very interested to see how I will rebound this week. We have some big workouts and I plan to keep to my regular schedule. The one thing I will be altering? I won't be drinking more than 2 drinks and I won't drink 6 hours before bed. Click on the link below to listen to the entire WHOOP podcast on alcohol. It's just over 30 minutes and totally worth your time. If you are interested in joining me on a Whoop journey, use my link to get your first month free. If you're already a Whoop user, join our True Spirit Whoop Group with the team code: COMM-AD6416.
We quietly had our 6th Anniversary in July and we're celebrating by LOUDLY honoring our members who've been with us since our first year. Today we celebrate Matt who's been with us since November 2014. Thank you Matt for your loyalty and dedication to yourself and our TSCF community. Matt Conner, Why Do You Do CrossFit?What was your fitness life like before you started training with True Spirit CrossFit?
Nothing, I had never heard of it. Mind you, this was back in 2008. My friend, Steve Rast, came to visit from CA who had some experience with CrossFit in the early days and noticed a new CrossFit gym had opened in Bozeman and asked if I wanted to try it out with him. The rest is history. What brought you to True Spirit CrossFit in the first place? I had always liked Leslie's coaching so I thought it would be great, and it was, and it is! What was the first thing fun or positive thing you experienced while training with us? I had already done lots and lots of CrossFit workouts before coming to TSCF, but never much mobility. Even though mobility is still a huge challenge for me (as Coach Heidi reminds me of every class), it wasn't until I came to TSCF that it became a part of the daily workout routine. I think it really has helped me with being prepared for the WOD as well as decreasing soreness and recovery time. Are you working on any special CrossFit related skill now? Working on getting Muscle-Ups back! How has you life changed since training with TSCF? It's an overall happiness factor. When I get to come to CrossFit and hangout and workout with all the great people that go to TSCF it makes my day! It's so much fun having some friendly competition with everyone and knowing we are all becoming better and stronger athletes together. What's your favorite True Spirit CrossFit memory? One of the best is from January 2017. It was the 10k Row day for the last Row'd Royalty workout. I was really anxious about it since in the 8+ years of CrossFit I had never rowed a 10k. And, as an 8 year veteran of CrossFit, any workout over 20 minutes seemed really, really long. I came in to the usual lunchtime class I attend and Jennisse and I were the only ones in the class of the 5 or 6 athletes there rowing the 10k. We both got on our machines after a quick warmup, and without much fanfare, just started to row. It was great having someone next to me to row with (as is the case with every CrossFit workout). Shortly after starting the row I entered a "zone" trying to maintain a 2:00 per 500m pace knowing that would be a challenge to maintain for 40 minutes. I was able to do it and ended up finishing the 10k even a little faster in 39:42. It was kind of a resurgence for me in finding my inner mental toughness again, and it really felt great! Myth Busting Monday: The Myth of The Magic ExerciseOh how I wish there was a magic exercise, or a magic pill, or a magic food, or a magic program that would melt belly fat, make us sleep better, or make our lives AMAZING! The truth is, the magic is in consistent choices of what we eat, how much we eat, how frequently we move our bodies, how much we drink (or how little depending on what we're drinking) and how much we sleep. It's our lifestyle that makes our lives magical, not some miracle product someone is trying to sell you. You've all seen these magical miracle ads on Facebook, the look like this: THERE IS NO MAGIC OTHER THAN CONSISTENCY.
Consistent choices that move the needle towards your goal are what is going to give you the results you want. It's not exciting or sexy. You can't bottle it. Or make it into a magic shake or pill. Nor can you create a MLM program off of it. Consistency, that's where the magic happens. |
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