Harvest Record 10/21/12

Leeks: 5 lb. 4 oz.
Parsnips: 2 lb. 3 oz.
Misc. Beans: 14 oz.
Chard: 9 oz.

Blast from the Past

Four years ago, about this time of year, I was living in a shit apartment and gardening was just a tickle on my brain.  I had just met Naomi a few months before, too.  While at the pharmacy, I saw a Chia Garden Herb set.  I remembered growing a Chia pet as a kid once, and was sort of intrigued and bought the thing on a whim.  It had thyme, basil, chives, and something else in it.  The basil lasted the longest, and it was thriving a full year later, at which point Naomi and I were living in our first apartment together.  We didn't have a garden that year either, but my dad, who lived practically across the street, was kind enough to set aside a tiny spot in his garden for us to grow a few things.  That basil just kept on cranking, and it was great!  It lived on various windowsills and the pot was overcrowded, but it didn't mind. 

Time went on, and we moved into our current place, a place where we were finally able to realize our dream of having a garden.  We dug up part of the sod in the yard and buried a fence, and had our first garden (what is now the chicken run).  We worked like crazy in that garden, and it produced a little bit.  We had some tomatoes, a few pounds of finger-sized carrots, 6 softball-sized cabbages, amongst other things.  I forgot about growing herbs on the windowsill. 

Then we progressed into our current large (too big then) garden.  We had basil out our ears last year.  This year, with as crazy as the spring was, I never really got around to establishing a basil bed in the garden, and here we are without any pesto in the freezer.  My mom made a soup for us today, and it calls for adding pesto once served.  So here I am, 4 years later, and for the first time since that cold fall in a shitty apartment, and I've planted basil in a pot on the windowsill.  I hope that it will grow as tall and as strong as it did that winter we've mostly forgotten about, mostly because of the bitter cold in a drafty old building!  On Sunday, Naomi and I will celebrate our 6-month anniversary by going to Miya's Sushi to enjoy their invasive species menu!

Skipped Records

While cleaning up, I found a harvest record from 9/30/12:


Lazy Wife Beans: 1 lb. 12 oz.
Sky Rockets: 6
Purple Pole Beans: 1 lb. 1 oz.
Scarlett Runner: 2 lb. 11 oz.
Bush Beans: 5 lb. 7 oz.
Butternut Squash: 48 lbs. (14)


Additionally, last Friday night into Saturday (10/12-13) we had our first frost of the year.  I found 3 luffa gourds, and promptly peeled them.  I think only one of them was mature enough.  

Cold Weather

It looks like we might get that frost I was hoping for on Friday night!  I should be in bed already, but I'm prepping garlic for planting tomorrow!

Always Improving Something

As of this afternoon, the chickens have double the space to play, scratch, poop, lay around, eat bugs, and whatever else a chicken does.  I finally got around to expanding their run.  I think they like it.  I just need to get some cover crops sown in there so it doesn't turn into a mud pit and so it DOES turn into a salad bar. 

A few nights earlier in the week (maybe Oct. 7-9) the overnight temp dipped into the upper 30s.  It was warmer/wetter today, so we'll see what's coming.  I'm ready for frost.  I'm also ready for eggs!

A Celebration!

Just a few nights ago, I mentioned to Naomi that I wanted to start a new tradition in our family.  For a few years now, we've been talking about making our own harvest celebration that was at a more appropriate time.  Thanksgiving is too late in the fall to be a proper harvest celebration, as most stuff is put up and the big harvest bulk, along with the stuff that's not fit to keep is long gone by then.  One of the best things about the harvest is the surplus, and taking time to be thankful for the bounty.  Careful planning (even a little rationing, eek!) can come later, but we need a time to let loose and enjoy.

While sitting in my treestand a few evenings ago, I was reflecting on this time last year.  It's been just a year since I shot my first deer on October 7, 2011 (I think), plunging Naomi and I into a weird place in the world, one where we became meat-eaters, but not in the way that our culture accepts as normal.  We still don't eat factory-farmed animals, and we eat teeny tiny portions compared to the national average.  The best part is that it's something that doesn't take ANY resources on our part, other than my time afield.  These animals are the definition of free-ranging organic.  Each one of them lives in total freedom.  I see this as a better option to things like genetically-modified soy protein products trucked into town from hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away and farmed unsustainably.  The same path that led us to growing as much of our own vegetables brought us to this decision to eat wild game animals.  So, this led us to choosing the date of October 7th as our harvest celebration.

We had decided that our first year, it'd just be the two of us. We wanted to ease into this new festival of ours.  However, by the time band practice was finished and we were thinking about our preparatins, Sal and Maria were hanging out and we decided to ask them to stay.  We didn't allow them to help us in any of the preparations, either.  As they waited patiently, we prepared the following:

Harvard Beets
Stewed Radish Greens- saved from sometime in early summer
Fried Potatoes with Onions- the onions weren't from our garden, but were purchased from a local farmer in bulk for winter storing
Stewed shell beans with rice- the rice, of course, is from the store, but grown in the US.
Roasted Butternut Squash with nutmeg and cinnamon- spices came from the store too
Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Garlic
Wheat Bread- made by me, but the grains weren't mine either.  Maybe someday I'll figure out this wheat thing

and it looks like this:

We hope that in years to come, this celebration can grow in size as we become more productive.  There will be some challenges, like when the date falls on a weekday and we're both working, but we'll make it happen.  And finally, here is a harvest record for October 7th, 2012. Some of these are the last that their plants have to offer.  It was 38 degrees last night, and I heard the heat come on in our house early this morning.  Here's to a good year!

Jalapeños + Cayenne peppers: 3 lb. 4 oz.
Shell Beans (the last) 2 lb. 1 oz.
Tomatillos: 2 lb. 9 oz. (not the last and not sure how I feel about that)
Fish Peppers: 1 oz (maybe 2 dozen)
Bell Peppers 10 oz. (4)