Monday Harvest 7/30/12

Things are starting to come in in drips and drabs.  It seems like forever to me since so many here are having such great harvests.  Actually if I look back in my journal everything is just about on time, I am just impatient.

7 3/4 # of bush beefsteak tomatoes

Basil 2 1/2 oz chive 3/4 oz

More basil 7 1/4 oz

First broccoli 8 3/4 oz

2 more Bush Beefsteak tomatoes 5 7/8 oz  One of these was sacrificed for next years seed.  They are fermenting on the cupboard now.

First green pepper King of the North 3 7/8 oz  Hoping they get a little bigger

Pulled all of the onions that I had put in from sets.  The tops were pretty much laying on the ground and dieing.  These filled a 16 qt basket.  Will weigh when the are cured and cleaned.

Don't forget to visit out host, Daphne's Dandelions, and see what others are harvesting.

Monday's Harvest 7/23/12

Oh Boy, Oh Boy!! I have a harvest.  Maybe I will get to fill those baskets yet.

 My first tomato.  It is a Bush Beefsteak grown in a pot so not as big as they are suppose to get. 3 3/8oz.

 Went to get a few small potatoes from the volunteers to make salt potatoes.  Boy was I surprised.  This is 2 plants.  3 lbs 7 5/8 oz. of reds and 1 lb. 14 3/4 oz.of kenebec.

 My one and only Tom Thumb Baby Bibb lettuce. 3 1/2 oz.

 Detroit Red short top beets  14 1/4 oz.

 The tops were still tender of 7 3/8 of greens.

And of course my ever faithful onions from sets 1 lb 2 3/4 oz.

Check out our host,Daphne's Dandelions, and see what others have harvested this week.

Monday's Harvest

Well still not much shaking here in the form of a harvest except the weeds.  However I am still pulling a few onions as I need them to eat.

These are from the sets I bought that were just marked yellow onions.  They are quite mild but a bit tough.  These 6 weighed in at 1 lb. 5 oz.

The patio tomatoes are doing real well even though no ripe ones yet but counted about 80 tomatoes and they are still setting.

However, I do have great expectations for a big harvest this year so bought myself some new gathering baskets.

Please visit our host,Daphne's Dandelions, and see what others are harvesting.

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard 7/12/12

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted.  This is an extremely busy time here on the mountain.  So much to do and I guess I don't have the energy I had in my early 60's so it takes a lot longer.

Have been having a difficult time sticking with my personal challenge with the low food budget and high quality meals.  Besides the cost of food especially meat on the rise and my DB now being on a special diet and eats 6 times a day and all 6 meals have to have protein.  Have made some good buys this week however.  Was able to buy a whole top round for $2.71 a pound which is cheaper than I can buy ground meat around here by quite a bit.  Still have to butcher that yet.  It will be cut into thick steaks for London Broil and beef stir fry.  There will also be some for stew meat and or ground beef.  It weighs 29# so there will be lots of meals in it for the 2 of us.  The only draw back of buying meat that way is you pay for more fat than you would at the supermarket.  However it will not go to waste.  Some will be used for the ground meat since the meat itself is very lean and the rest will be frozen for the birds next winter.

Also got a good by yesterday on 1/2 loins of center cut pork.  Bought 2 of them which made 10 meals of boneless pork chops for the 2 of us plus 4 1/2 # of meat to make my next batch of breakfast sausage which will be soon.  I have pork fat in the freezer to add to it as when I do Canadian bacon all fat is removed before brining so have it available for making sausage with the poor ends of a loin.

One day a week ground beef is on sale here but still over $3 a pound so yesterday was the day.  Made 2# into meatballs that are headed for the freezer this morning.  8 meals.

Also made a pound of the ground meat into jerky for DB's snacks that he has to have.  Here it is ready for the dehydrator.  I don't actually have a recipe for it but make a pound at a time.  Add a good quantity of Goyea Adobo seasoning and soy sauce.  Mix it up and let it sit in the refrig overnight then put it into the dehydrator.  He loves it and it gives him both a protein and a fat for one of his snacks.

Have a big pot of spaghetti sauce on cooking and did at least use something from my garden.  My onions are doing great and am pulling a few as I need them now so into the spaghetti sauce they went.

Another expense I am struggling with is no time to bake so haven't been making bread.  My bread now cost me more even to make since the whole grain flours are quite a bit more expensive but have been buying the bread and around here it goes for about $4 a loaf.  Double what I can buy white bread for and fewer slices.  I do use the light bread some which is 1/2 the carbs per slice.  Has anyone ever seen a recipe where you can make that bread yourself?

Don't forget to stop by our host,  The Gardener of Eden, of Thurdays's kitchen cupboard and see who else has a recipe to share or what they are stocking in their freezer or pantry for the winter from their garden.

Harvest Monday 7/8/12

Yesterday as I weeding the big vegetable garden I was thinking.  What am I going to post for Harvest Monday since I haven't harvested anything and nothing is going to be ready in the near future.  My mind as a tendency to wonder when I weed.  It is very quiet except for the sound of my water feature which I can hear from the garden.  As I worked I had an amusing thought about all that I have harvested this week.

Now you have to understand to even consider farming in the middle of the wilderness, on recovered forest land only 4 years ago and on top of it in zone 4 that you need to have some sort of warped sense of humor.  I have actually been having a heavy harvest for almost 2 weeks now.

Yep that trail is loaded with almost nothing but grass from my vegetable gardens.  I can't get a lawn to grow but my gardens seem to be a place where it thrives here.  Maybe I should try planting vegetable in my lawn and I would get better grass.

Yep and those are rock.  As I weed I also harvest rocks.  You will find piles of these all over my garden waiting to be picked up and hauled off to some better use.  Maybe some day in my second life I will be able to put a tomato cage in the ground without several tries and without the wires looking like they got run over by a Mac truck.

 Volunteer tomatoes.  Have no idea what kind but they are now in the weed bucket

 These are a large Italian paste plum tomato that I call DI after the gentleman that shared the seed with me.  They were given to his family many years ago by an Italian neighbor who had brought the seed directly from Italy.  This are from seed I saved last year.  Also my struggling brussels sprouts.  There are also some volunteer potatoes and I haven't actually planted potatoes there in 2 years.

 Shelling beans that I saved seed from last year.

 Jersey Giant another large Italian Paste Plum tomato original seed from Bakers Creek that I collect every year.

Russet potatoes a bit spotty.

I am seriously thinking of planting my potatoes this fall at least a few since the volunteers seed to do so well each year and try a little experiment with planting a few tomatoes the same way.

Be sure to visit our host of Harvest Monday, Daphne's Dandelions, and see how others gardens are doing.

Harvest Monday 07/02/12

Well still not harvesting anything but looks like there may be hope in the future.

Volunteer potatoes.  I thought I got them all out when I turned the soil this spring but apparently not.  This was where I planted the 40 strawberry plants this spring that didn't make it.

Please visit our host, Daphne's Dandelions, and see what others have growing.