Yes thank you. I'm always interested to hear what folks find they are REALLY using from their food forests or other permaculture plantings. Sometimes I am surprised to find that something I think of as a minor food someone else uses extensively.
At this point for us the largest harvest probably are the wild edibles I forage... Wild Leeks (Ramps), greens like- stinging nettles, dandelion; Milk weed is a prolific producer here and in season we have it every other day for about 3 weeks (leaving plenty for the monarch butterflies); wild mushroom - variable but can be prolific (I also have mushroom bolts I've inoculated, a little more reliable); glean apples, from neighbors yards and wild trees (much of that preserved as Hard Cider - yum). Most of the plantings hazelberts, apples, pears, gooseberries, currants, grapes, hops, hardy kiwi, plum, blue berry are all tiny trees and plants and will move into production over the next 2 to 8 years.
We have good luck overwintering Kale here and are able to harvest from under plastic into December and January - under the snow. I usually cover at least one patch of younger plants in the fall, hoping for winter harvest... works about half the time. This year mice and moles or something moved in and beat me to most of it. Kale from the freezer is one of our mainstays and this year I dried kale for the first time. I have a gallon jar of crispy Kale leaves. I remove a few every week into a smal jar (to keep it crisp and avoid opening the main jar too often) and keep by the stove. I crush a handful into all kinds of dishes, especially a quick Asian soup I throw together for lunch. The moisture from the food usually is enough to reconstitute the greens.
I also leave all my Kale plants in the ground a the end of the season. In Vermont they die back completely to the ground but often I get a number of plants sending up sprouts in the spring from last years roots. I leave the best and most convenient of these (sometimes even transplanting to another spot) for early greens - they are out earlier than we can plant in the open and can take a frost or even a freeze in the spring. By the time the annual plantings of greens are coming along, the Kale has bolted (these 2nd year plants don't have large leaves.. they're fine for an early harvest but don't produce much volume) I let it go to seed and then as I need the space I pull the plants and shake the seeds all over the garden area. I have volunteer Kale everywhere, it picks its best spot and I let it go there or transplant to where I want them. I haven't "planted" Kale in 5 years. For me learning to leave it so it can self seed means that it is practically a perennial.
Favorite way to eat kale? Fry a little garlic in olive oil, throw in chopped kale, toss to coat with oil and then splash in enough water to steam, salt well. Ahhhh.
-Kelly
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