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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Last night Chino the Handyman stopped by to the talk to the Handsome Husband, and me being the super smart gardener that I am, made sure he didn’t leave our driveway without a few zucchinis.

Yesterday I was able to barter some of our extra garden produce for sugar and a turkey, and last weekend Monkey Boy and The Girl held a last minute garage sale and set up a small table and sold some vegetables.

Basically, I can’t keep up.  So while I’m doing the best that I can cooking, and canning our extra summer produce,  I am also seeking out ways to barter and sell it to our friends and neighbors as well.

Having a large garden is really a lot of work.  If you are not planting, you are picking, and if you’re not picking you are preserving.  But I’m still having a blast.  Even if my hands are stained with berry juice and my refrigerator is packed tight with produce.

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Here is what I have harvested so far this year:

Basil 1 lb 9 oz {how to make pesto}

Beans 18 lbs 8 {green bean salad, how to can green beans, dilly beans}

Beets 48 lb 140z {how to can beets}

Blueberries 3 lb 2 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 104 lbs 4 oz {carrot cake recipe}

Cauliflower 4lbs 11 oz {cauliflower hummus rocks!}

Chives 1lb  2 oz {chalkboard painted herb pots}

Cucumbers 16 lbs 8 oz

Kale 1 lb 4 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 14 lbs 8 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}

Peppers 1 lb 6 oz

Potatoes 37lb 0 oz {potato soup recipe}

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 10lb 7 oz {dehydrated strawberries are awesome}

Swiss Chard 24 lb 5 oz {rainbow Swiss chard recipe}

Tomatoes 7 lb 3 oz {roasted corn salad with tomatoes and feta}

Zucchini 130 lb 14 oz {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: 593 lbs 1.25 oz

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

Life is good!