One Hundred Dollars a Month

This year my goal is to grow 2,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables. I think I can do it. With 16 raised garden beds, a greenhouse, a raspberry patch and a few more planting beds sprinkled throughout our property, I believe growing 2,000 pounds of food is an attainable goal. Even if I do live right in the middle of high maintenance suburbia, and my neighbors think I’m nuts. ~Mavis

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m almost there people!  This week I was able to harvest a little over 13 pounds of food from our backyard garden.  Brussels sprouts, apples, cauliflower, kale, Swiss chard and broccoli all made their way into our kitchen {or the chicken run}.  Not to shabby for the middle of November if you ask me.  Later today I plan on going out to the greenhouse to see if there is anything left to harvest.  Fingers crossed.

With only 28+ pounds to go I think I can do this.  How crazy would that be?  Crazy lady in Suburbia grows 2,000 pounds of vegetables in her back yard, just because she thought it would be fun.  Yep, I’m a nut!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is what I have harvested so far this year:

Apples 6 lbs {how to make applesauce}

Banana Squash 6lb 2 oz

Basil 1 lb 9 oz {how to make pesto}

Beans 21 lbs 3 {green bean salad, how to can green beans, dilly beans}

Beets 58 lb 20z {how to can beets}

Blueberries 4 lb 9 oz {mixed berry pie recipe}

Bok Choy 9 lb 14 oz

Broccoli 9 lb  {pasta salad with broccoli, carrots, and sun dried tomatoes}

Broccoli Rabb 1lb 6 oz {chickpeas with broccoli raab and bacon}

Brussels Sprouts 8 oz

Cabbage 58 lb 4 oz {how to make sauerkraut}

Carrots 117 lbs 6 oz {carrot cake jam recipe}

Cauliflower 7 lbs 3 oz {cauliflower hummus rocks!}

Chives 1lb 3 oz {chalkboard painted herb pots}

Cucumbers 55 lbs 5 oz {cucumber salad}

Anna Swartz Hubbard Squash 184 lbs 1 ounces {Hubbard Squash Pie}

Butternut Squash 41lbs 6 oz

Golden Hubbard Squash 22 lbs 5 oz

Sweet Meat Squash 15 lbs 1 oz

Kale 6 lb 1 oz {how to make kale chips}

Lettuce 15 lb 1 oz {bbq chicken salad}

Mint 4 lbs 12 oz {Fresh Pea Salad with Spinach, Feta and Mint}

Onions 41 lbs 11 oz {Kentucky Fried Chicken Cole Slaw}

Oregano 4 lbs 15 oz

Mushrooms 9.25 oz {read more about how I grew mushrooms}

Peas 38 lb 13 oz {fresh peas and bacon recipe}

Pears 8 lbs 15 oz {how to make pear jam}

Peppers 5 lb 8 oz {Homemade Salsa}

Potatoes 128lb 4 oz {potato soup recipe}

Howden Pumpkins 59 lbs 11 oz

Cinderella Pumpkins 45 lbs 4 oz {roasted pumpkin seeds}

French Pumpkin 13 lbs 4 oz

Jarrahdale Pumpkin 39 pounds 7 oz

Spaghetti Squash 36 lb 10 oz

Sugar Pie Pumpkins 3 lb 10 oz {how to make pumpkin puree}

Misc. Pumpkins 352 lbs 11 oz.

Acorn Squash 12 lb 14 oz {stuffed acorn squash}

Radish 16 lb 6 oz {how I bartered radishes for avocados}

Raspberries 2 lb 10 oz {how to make a raspberry buckle}

Spinach 2lb 7 oz {garlic spinach dip recipe}

Sprouts 10 oz {how to grow sprouts}

Strawberries 18 lbs 9 oz {strawberry basil jam}

Swiss Chard 32 lb 2 oz {rainbow Swiss chard recipe}

Tomatoes 186 lb 11oz {roasted corn salad with tomatoes and feta}

Zucchini 257 lb 11 oz {how to make zucchini relish, zucchini salad, zucchini brownies}

Miscellaneous 8lbs 2 oz {This means we let someone come and pick vegetables, or did not get a chance to weigh them individually, and this was the total weight of all the vegetables combined}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Total Food Harvested in 2012: 1971 pounds 15.25 ounces

I have spent a total of $524.20 on seeds, soil, plants and supplies for this year.

The Complete Kitchen Garden By Ellen Ecker Ogden is available from Amazon for only $9.98 is full of garden designs as well as over 100 season recipes.  Yum!