No, the baby cauliflower isn't part of the Sept. and Oct. harvest tally - it's for this month or the next, but I am soooo happy to see it!
The fall veggies are trickling into the kitchen - it's a slow but steady pace. We are having some of our broccoli with tonight's supper, but we're having some of the last of the pepper harvest, too.
The harvest-tally confirms that October is our big transition month, when the garden slows its production of the warm-weather veggies, and the cool weather veggies begin to appear on our plates. It always seems like such a slow change, but once autumn truly arrives, it's a wonderful thing!
Tucked away for the winter, we have plenty of dried cowpeas, dehydrated peppers, tomatoes, and blueberries, and smaller amounts of dehydrated squash and okra; there's a basket of sweet potatoes on the floor in the kitchen; we have some canned green beans (put up before the house was smashed by the tree); a batch of blackberry jam; and a big basket of home-canned goodies given to us by a very good friend as a house-warming gift when we were able to move back in. The near-future of our meals is looking very local!
Our last couple of months of meals have had a significant, from-our-yard element, too. Here is what we brought in from the yard in the last two months. As usual, the weights are recorded in kilograms:
September
Tomatoes, ripe
|
6
|
Peppers
|
4.95
|
Southern peas
|
1.75
|
Eggplants
|
0.75
|
Bush beans, green
|
2.05
|
radishes
|
0.2
|
Oct.
Tomatoes, ripe
|
1.5
|
Bush beans, green
|
0.85
|
radishes
|
0.3
|
Southern peas
|
0.4
|
Peppers
|
3.9
|
Potatoes, sweet
|
9.8
|
Bok Choy
|
0.7
|
Lettuce
|
0.5
|
Broccoli
|
0.4
|
Sept. total 15.7 kg = 39 pounds and 9.8 oz
Oct. total 18.35 kg = 40 pounds and 7.2 oz
Running total: Jan. through Oct. = 393 pounds, 2 ounces
We are closing in on 400 pounds of food, which is pretty good for a yard that doesn't get full sun and considering the complications this summer brought to the life of the main gardener.
Hope everyone else's gardens are doing well!
Sorry to hear your house was smashed by a tree, was it the recent wind damage from last week? 400lbs, wow!! That is amazing! I watched Food Inc this weekend and considering the fragility of our food system. Growing your own becomes more attractive each year.
ReplyDeleteI see September and October totals in your post. Does that help?
AtlantaTreePro - The house was smashed way back in July (photos are here: http://atlantaveggies.blogspot.com/2012/07/crazy-disaster.html ), and we ended up living in a hotel for almost two and a half months. The whole ordeal cut into my gardening time quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I'm pretty happy with the harvest totals so far. One really great thing about keeping track is that I can see the gaps more clearly; if all goes well, I should be able to fill those a little better each year. My main motivations for veggie gardening are that I love plants and good food, but it doesn't hurt that growing some of my own helps stabilize my own food supply!
Thanks for the note about the post. I am seeing the right data now, too. I have no idea what was going on with blogger, but the glitch seems to be resolved.
Hope your garden is growing well!
-Amy