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

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Holy canolies!

Well it was a great week for harvesting tomatoes and greens, but the big winner was pumpkins!  Yesterday I was able to harvest a little over 170 pounds of pumpkins from our backyard pumpkin patch, plus the day before our big harvest, Girly Girl’s kids were able to come over a pick several pumpkins for their front porch as well.

Even though things are staring to wind down in the garden, there is still plenty to do outside.  I still have my fall potatoes to harvest, as well a more squash, Swiss Chard, kale and there are still a few tomato plants to pull yet.  Let’s just hope I can get the 225 +/- pounds of vegetables I need to reach my goal of growing 2,000 pounds of produce in our backyard garden before the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Eeeek!  I’m excited!

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Here is what I have harvested so far this year:

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 3 lb 1 oz

Broccoli 4lb 14 oz {pasta salad with broccoli, carrots, and sun dried tomatoes}

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

Cabbage 57 lb 0 oz {how to make sauerkraut}

Carrots 117 lbs 6 oz {carrot cake jam recipe}

Cauliflower 4 lbs 11 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 3 lbs 9 oz

Golden Hubbard Squash 22 lbs 5 oz

Sweet Meat Squash 9 lbs 13 oz

Kale 4 lb 1 oz {how to make kale chips}

Lettuce 14 lb 6 oz {bbq chicken salad}

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

Onions 34 lbs 9 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 70 lb 10 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

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

Misc. Pumpkins 352 lbs 11 oz.

Acorn Squash 11 lb 10 oz

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

Raspberries 2 lb 9 oz {how to make a raspberry buckle}

Spinach 2lb 5 oz {garlic spinach dip recipe}

Sprouts 10 oz {how to grow sprouts}

Strawberries 18 lbs 9 oz {strawberry basil jam}

Swiss Chard 28 lb 9 oz {rainbow Swiss chard recipe}

Tomatoes 178 lb 9 oz{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}

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So that’s what I’ve grown so far this year… How about YOU?

How is YOUR garden doing?

Total Food Harvested in 2012: 1775 pounds 12.25 ounces

I have spent a total of $516.21 on seeds, soil, plants and supplies for this year.

The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the only book that teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving baskets. ~ Amazon