Harvest Before the Bitter Cold

Posted on by Julia

December 18, 2025

December 14 (Sunday), was an overcast day, with the polar vortex expected to arrive by Monday morning. With temperatures expected to get down to a low of 17F, I needed to get the garden prepared. Harvesting the garden was a high priority!! I harvested all the radishes that were ready. I harvested the ready greens: Japanese greens, arugula, radicchio, and sorrel. The sorrel and radicchio were sweeter after a few frosts.

While I harvested and mulched the garden beds, Bruce moved the bucket garden into the garage. Once I was done mulching, Bruce wanted me to see the layout of the bucket garden. Bruce put some of the buckets in a dark room. I set up the grow lights in the dark room for the plants. I did not take a picture.

I had a nice bunch of radishes from the garden. I washed the roots and leaves, putting the roots out for snacking.

I washed all of the greens and chopped them up. I also included the radish greens in the mix.

I turned the greens into something based on hortopita (Greek greens pie, similar to spanikopita). I didn’t have feta cheese, so I used some Kefalograviera cheese and Manchego cheese instead. Since I didn’t have any phyllo dough, I made a thin sourdough crust. I tossed in chopped green onions, harvested from the garden, into the pan with the onion I was sauteeing.

It made for a nice meal at the end of a busy day.

On December 15 (Monday), we woke to bitter cold of 18F. The high didn’t get over 30F.

It was a good day to stay inside! I made sesame seeds sourdough discard crackers.

On December 16 (Tuesday), we woke to 17F. It warmed up into the 40s. I checked the netting-covered hoop garden. Surprisingly, everything looked good. I lifted up some of the mulch to take a peek at the plants. They looked okay. I knew that plants can look okay and show the damage later.

We went grocery shopping. Suzassippi (https://suzassippi.wordpress.com/), I found where the powered buttermilk is in the grocery, next to the chocolate milk powder.

When we got home, I made sourdough sandwich bread.

On December 17 (Wednesday), the polar vortex retreated back north. Bruce went to check on the RV, while I did a marathon of sourdough discard cracker baking. I made two half sheets of crackers for Nox. They were plain crackers with no sprinkled salt on top, cut into triangles. I made three half sheets of Aleppo pepper crackers. Three sheets of crackers with the Savory Spice blend, Bohemian Forest, gifted to me by my friend Jeanne from ajeanneinthekitchen.com

The dark-eyed juncos were out in force.

The sunset was beautiful.

Today (Thursday, December 18), was a rainy day on and off. We had several birds at the bird feeder during a break in the rain. I even saw a red-bellied woodpecker hanging from the bottom of the feeder getting seeds. Unfortunately, he took off before I could get a picture.

Just for fun, I made volcano potatoes for dinner. I didn’t take any pictures, but a couple of the potatoes looked great, while one split down a side.

In the evening, we had a downpour with strong winds. I hope we don’t have anymore trees down.

25 thoughts on “Harvest Before the Bitter Cold”

    1. Volcano potatoes are baked potatoes with one end cut off, the insides scooped out and mashed. The mashed potatoes are mixed with sour cream, cheese and bacon. The mashed potatoes are put back into the empty potatoes. The filled potatoes are stood upright. You might need to cut a small bit off the bottom of the potato so it will stand upright. Once the inside of the potatoes are stuffed and upright, you mound more of the mashed potatoes on top into a cone shape. You place cheese on top of the mound and bake again until the cheese melts. Once the cheese melts, you take the potatoes out, add sour cream, bacon, and chives to the top. Serve. The presentation is impressive and it has a nice texture.

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      1. My mom used to make something like this called twice baked stuffed potatoes. Delicious! We eat lots of sweet potatoes cut up. I use the air fryer and marinate with some oil and a few spices, sometimes good honey.

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      2. I also make twice baked potatoes for special occasions. They are easier to make than the volcano potatoes. We’ve been mostly eating sweet potatoes since I grew 122.6 pounds of sweet potatoes. The purple sweet potatoes aren’t as sweet.

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      3. We are both losing weight. My husband because of his cancer treatment and myself, I needed to lose a little. Easier on my hip and moving around. Much better now since retired for 5 months! Getting back to normal feels great!!!! Husband is steady weight now, so that is good.

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  4. I just checked: Muscle Shoals 41 degrees; Golden Colorado, 59 degrees. You want to rethink this relocation stuff? Are you responsible for regional cooling? Is Nox being kept warm? At least there’s some mighty good eatin’ going on.

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    1. Yes, it is funny when Golden is warmer than North Alabama. The Colorado weather followed us! 😆 Nox was shivering when we took her out in the cold. 🥶She used to love racing around in the cold and snow. Her age has caught up with her.

      There is always good eating at my house!

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  5. Just got back from Suzassippi’s blog inspecting her oatmeal rum raisin cookie recipe and I am now actively looking around to see what I can find to bribe her to produce a batch for me. I guess I’ll have to try my hand at homemade but if disaster happens, I’m blaming you for putting this temptation in front of me. Oatmeal raisin cookies are my kryptonite. 🍪🍪🍪

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    1. I am not sure what would make a good bribe for Suzassippi so she would make cookies for you.

      Fair enough!! I know you can make these cookies.
      I love oatmeal cookies and plan to make the original ones from Dorthy’s post from A New Vintage Kitchen. I’ll have to wait until I get back from helping out my father-in-law. We’ll be gone for a week and couple of days starting tomorrow.

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  6. That is cold, brr. Your pie looks delicious! I just bought some fresh spinach today. Trying to cook more healthily for both of us now that I am home more. We did have a lovely lunch recently at a very nice old restaurant as guests. It was wonderful but our appetite has shrunken so. Stay warm.

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Published by Julia

I am a retired software solutions architect. I have been married to my husband, Bruce, for over forty years. We have a 12-pound dog, Nox, who we love dearly. She has been with us since 2009. We went full-time RVing for 3.5 years and saw much of the United States. We bought a ranch house on a hill in the middle of five acres. We are working on creating our homestead. I love cooking and enjoy sharing recipes. I am also an artist and I’ll share my current projects. Reading is my favorite hobby.