A late summer harvest

An almost final harvest of beets in my small vegetable garden here in Quebec yielded some nice-looking beet greens, along with a few (very small) beets.  Clearly, more nutrients will be needed next year in this bed!

beet greens and stems

 The scarlet runner beans have been beautiful -- this was probably close to their last harvest, too.

scarlet runner beans with linen bread bag and beeswax wrap in background

Both beet greens and scarlet runner beans will be on the dinner menu tonight, but in cutting up a yellow zucchini and a small bit of cauliflower (both from Quebec), I was reminded of these peppers I bought a couple of days ago, also from Quebec.

peppers from Quebec

I had just picked them up (they were on sale), noticed they were from Quebec (a point of pride and attractive labeling here), and put them in the vegetable bin.  Taking them out this afternoon, I was struck by their lack of uniformity (I guess I thought they had been greenhouse grown, as these sorts of peppers usually are), but then noticed that they were field-grown. 

Yikes.

Where the heck do folks grow "field-grown" peppers in this climate?  Well, apparently, south of Montreal, these vegetable producers do so, and have been doing so for some time.

"a passion for 6 generations" the label says

Remarkable and fun to discover.  I guess the very long days compensate for the cooler temperatures (in terms of pepper production).  Broccoli and cauliflower, I get, but peppers seem a lot more challenging.