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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This past week were were able to harvest over 80 pounds of goodies from the garden, mostly in the form of squash.  The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird had been begging to pick her first pumpkin of the season, and when she did, she was surprised it weighed in at over 24 pounds.  We could have picked more vegetables, but with school starting up and lot’s and lot’s of canning to do, we decided the harvesting could wait a few more days.

I am starting to get a little worried about the heirloom tomatoes.  With so many green tomatoes, and the chilly mornings ahead, I hope most of the tomatoes will able to ripen before the cold weather really starts to set in.  We shall see.

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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 3 lb 15 oz {mixed berry pie recipe}

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 53lb 14 oz {how to make sauerkraut}

Carrots 116lbs 12 oz {carrot cake recipe}

Cauliflower 4lbs 11 oz {cauliflower hummus rocks!}

Chives 1lb 1 oz {chalkboard painted herb pots}

Cucumbers 29 lbs 7 oz

Hubbard Squash 29 lbs 2 ounces

Kale 1 lb 1oz {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 23 lbs 12 oz {Kentucky Fried Chicken Cole Slaw}

Oregano 4 lbs 15 oz

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

Peas 38 lb13 oz {fresh peas and bacon recipe}

Pears 8 lbs 5 oz {how to make pear jam}

Peppers 4 lb 1 oz

Potatoes 40lb 8oz {potato soup recipe}

Pumpkins 24 pounds 3 oz

Radish 15lb 12 oz {how I bartered radishes for avocados}

Raspberries 2 lb 7 oz {how to make a raspberry buckle}

Spinach 2lb 5 oz {garlic spinach dip recipe}

Sprouts 10 oz {how to grow sprouts}

Strawberries 13lbs 6 oz {dehydrated strawberries are awesome}

Swiss Chard 22 lb 1 oz {rainbow Swiss chard recipe}

Tomatoes 15 lb 2oz {roasted corn salad with tomatoes and feta}

Zucchini 177 lb 8oz {how to make zucchini relish, zucchini salad, zucchini brownies}

Miscellaneous 8lb 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: 777 lbs 11.25 oz

I have spent a total of $509.05 on seeds, soil, plants and supplies for this year.