I live, write, and garden in the PNW with my husband of 27 years, disabled daughter, college-aged son, and my 84-year-old mother. We have paid off $250,000.00 worth of debt (if you include the interest) in the last fifteen years and as of 6/12/2020 are 100% DEBT FREE!!!!Last week when we had temps in the high 80's and low 90's the garden put on a huge amount of growth. Today that growth culminated in a pretty decent harvest.
I picked my first yellow zucchini, my first cucumber, 4 tomatoes, my first bunch of bunching onions (not shown), a quart of blueberries (not shown) and enough green beans from my second sowing for two people to eat.
The tomatoes will go in my spaghetti sauce tomorrow, and I'll save the green beans for later in the week because there will be more to pick in two days and then there will be enough for everyone at one meal. The zucchini I will eat with my lunch tomorrow and the cucumber I ate for breakfast with eggs from our chickens. Delicious. Even though it is a pickling cucumber it still tasted great eaten raw. And really, how do you pickle one cucumber?
The ducks have started laying eggs! I don't have a picture of those yet, but they look like longer chicken eggs that are kind of grey and mottled. They are really good, too.
I love the fact that today's breakfast was completely homegrown. You can't get more local than a zero mile foodshed! Not that that is practical for most days, at least not yet, but it was still very satisfactory.
DH and I are going to check out the new farm stand that proclaims to have both local and organic produce today. I am hoping for organic, local tomatoes, as I will not have enough to put up for my needs for the year. I'd like to start with about 25 pounds of tomatoes to make into sauce and go from there. I have a feeling I will have to do that a few times, but I don't want to overwhelm myself by doing it all in one go.
I am definitely going to triple my tomato plants next year. I really want to be able to grow them all on my own eventually since it is really hard to find tomatoes that are not canned with BPA in the liner. Since DS reacts badly to BPA it's not worth going through another year eating something we know will hurt him. We use tomato sauce at least once a week so it's one of the first things that is getting my focus.
It might cost a little more to buy and can them myself, but it gives me a bit more peace of mind. If I didn't need them to be organic I could do it for cheaper. I still might, just depends on what I find.
The Garden Exploded
August 21st, 2012 at 08:48 pm
August 22nd, 2012 at 12:40 am 1345596037
The vegetable harvest looks great! I am so jealous. Fresh tomatoes are fantastic.
I have a question for you. We have this program in Ontario that gives incentives to home owners and commercial properties for any energy saving measures. Have you ever heard of a heat sweep? I don't know much about agriculture but I know they keep the heat steady and are much more energy efficient than lightbulbs. Do you need this sort of thing for your feathered friends?
August 22nd, 2012 at 02:16 am 1345601766
We don't use a heater in the hen house. They do get a red light that produces heat on the very coldest of days, but it doesn't drop much below 20 F here at the coldest, most days are closer to 32 to 40 and they produce enough body heat to stay warm. They huddle close even in the summer. We also use the deep bedding method in the winter which creates its own heat source from the bottom layers of bedding and manure composting.