Monday, October 19, 2009

Harvest Monday October 19, 2009

Sadly this is my one harvest photo this week. Just a small bit of broccoli and a not quite ripe Magdalena squash (not counted since I don't know if it is edible or not yet). I also harvested just a small bit of raspberries. It was too cold out last week for many to ripen. I didn't get to eat them though. They were saved for the family that came in last weekend.

I do have more veggies to harvest out in the garden, but I was trying to eat up what was in my fridge, plus this weekend we had a Bar Mitzvah so I wasn't eating much but party food. Right now I have one carrot left and a little lettuce. So next week I'll be out harvesting some more greens.

I did a little stocking up from the farmers' market. We ate the corn for dinner, but I buy extra sometimes to cut off the cob to freeze. This time four cobs were saved. The pumpkins were too pretty to pass up and since they are sugar pumpkins I'll puree them up in a month or so. I'm going to need a lot more squash. The squash was not looking all that good at the market this week. I want some that can store and the few people that had butternut squash didn't have stems. Squash doesn't store well without the stems. Maybe next week will have some better looking squash. I hope so. If not I'll buy it, puree it and freeze it all.

The meat is grass fed hamburger. I'm trying to figure out how much I eat. The markets will close down at the end of October (just two weeks left) and won't start up again until next June. So how much should I buy to get us through the winter? We rarely eat beef except hamburger. I would guess we have a roast about twice a year and steaks about once a year. But we do eat hamburger probably once a week, occasionally twice. We eat about 1/4lb per person. I have two people to feed right now and 4 people for about a month over the holidays. I'm guessing I'd need to buy 18-20lbs of hamburger before the markets close. Right now I have 10lbs. Next week I'll get more.

I also tried to buy my free range eggs. There is just one lady that sells them. Recently she is out of eggs a lot. Sigh. This week she had none. Luckily I know this and the week before I got two dozen. I hope she has more this week. I'm really going to miss them when the markets close down. I'll have to buy eggs at Whole Foods. Mass market free range eggs are not the same as little farm free range eggs where the birds can really free range and eat bugs.

Now onto the tally.

  • Berries 0.17 lbs
  • Broccoli 0.21 lbs

Weekly total: 0.38 lbs
Weekly spent: $0
Yearly total: 199.48 lbs
Yearly earned: $700.97

If you would like to join in showing off your harvest, put your name and URL into Mr. Linky below. It doesn't matter how big or small your harvest is. You don't have to count the pounds like I do. If you have had a harvest this last week, show us and join in!

16 comments:

  1. Yes, I'm first! Harvests maybe dwindling but I bet that broccoli was tasty. The beef looks good, never had grass feed before. We eat a good amount of beef, burgers & steaks in the summer and rib roasts and stew in the cool months. Just made hamburgers with brie & poach pears the other day, so good.

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  2. Hi Daphne - thanks for the tip about butternut squash. I saw loads the other day at the farmer's market and was thinking of getting some. We're not big squash eaters but I thought I'd give it a go this year. I would love to have chickens on my 1/2 acre property but an concerned that they are too much work.

    Also, I'd trade your little broccoli for my no broccoli any day...one of my failures this fall..sigh.

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  3. Amazingly, I squeaked out a few more peppers this week before I yanked he plants in the hoophouse.

    If you were closer I'd supply your eggs! Let me know if you ever head up this a-way.
    Ali

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  4. Our farmers market is missing a meat supplier altogether. Which is a shame as I would support them. I go periodically hoping to find meat, eggs, and local fruit. Unfortunately, the vendors are all selling veggies (which mine are not only better looking but actually have greater variety most of the year then they do) and herbs/crafts. Every once in a while a local baker is there and he has really good baked goods and breads. There is occassionally a cheese maker too who I love to support because the cheeses are really fresh and good. Anyway, I would love to have access to grass fed beef and free range chickens and eggs to purchase.

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  5. Dan, my husband isn't a beef fan. He is much more into chicken and fish. He likes hamburger though so we do that. When my daughter comes home we go for things like roasts. She loves beef and I'm always trying to feed her since she needs to put on some pounds. I make stews in the winter, but tend to use leftovers from going out. I'm not a big eater and when I go out to eat I tend to bring half of it home.

    Thomas, I miss having a pet so would love them. My issue with chickens is travel. I'd need someone that would take care of them when I'm gone. If I end up with a place with a big enough yard I might get some, but only if I can find someone willing to look after the chickens when I'm gone. My close friends would do it I'm sure, and probably would love the eggs, but there are certain vacations where they come with me. I'd need a not quite so close friend that is geographically close.

    henbogle, I haven't been to Maine in years. I'll look you up if I ever visit :>

    kitsapFG, our town's farmers market is like that. They don't have meat or eggs (though they have fish). So I rarely go to my town's, but we have two neighboring towns that have larger markets that are just as close to my house. The Arlington market where I usually go is wonderful. We can get all sorts of baked goods, honey, maple syrup, goat cheese (though I can't eat soft cheeses and wish they had someone that did hard cheeses), fish, lobster (we are in New England), meat (including rabbit and goat), eggs, and of course all kinds of veggies. There is even a small vendor that does just Asian greens. I wish there were a large organic farm there. There are two that are organic, but are smaller and often don't have what I need. I'm usually buying from the IPM farm since it has what I want. I wish I could buy the free range chicken from the meat vendor. They do sell it, but you can only get it in huge bags or a whole chicken. With just two of us we need smaller portions.

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  6. Mercy, Daphne, reading the comments on this post makes me realize how lucky we are here in the middle of nowhere, PA! First of all, please tell Thomas that chickens are the easiest and most entertaining livestock/pets there are, as long as you keep the scale small. (That goes for you, too. They're SO rewarding! But you're right, when you're on vacation you need a petsitter to drop by every couple of days in warm weather or every day in cold weather and make sure they have food and fresh water.) Our local farmers' markets have family-farmed free-range chickens and eggs, family-raised and smoked, etc. meats of all kinds, Amish and Mennonite cheeses, pickles, preserves, and other specialties, and tons of produce, breads and baked goods, and etc. We're really blessed!

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  7. Hi Daphne, my neighbor and I have a chicken joint venture. The coop is on his property and we share the work and (some day, the girls are still young) the eggs. I get the poop for my compost! We are rarely gone at the same time. I have a pet sitter for my 4 cats who can check on the girls if I need here to and the neighbor's son drops by regularly when they are out of town.

    There's one more big harvest of tomatoes to torment you on my harvest post today - sorry.

    My Magadalena Big Cheese look just like yours. I think the weather will stay warm long enough for them to fully mature (got my fingers crossed).

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  8. gardening in a city lot can be surprisingly fruitful. i think of it as intensive gardening. this year we were blessed with tomatoes, squash and peppers in abundance. oh, and walnuts.

    our chickens are still laying about an egg a day (they are molting with a vengeance), despite the shortening days.

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  9. I'm with Thomas. A little brocc is better than no brocc at all. Mine was off to an excellent start, then just gave up. Probably started too late.
    How was the (other) Magdalena squash ? Did I miss your comment or has it yet to be savoured ?

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  10. Considering the weather we've had in the past week, I wouldn't feel sheepish about that yield. I haven't even bothered checking my broccoli and raspberries at the community garden, mainly because of lack of time, but I also believe they are done.

    The choices at your farmer's market sound similar to ours in Roslindale. I think last Sat. was the last one, how about yours? Which town?
    I am sure going to miss it over the winter. We had ground beef too; made some tacos that were quite tasty.

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  11. our friend Ben, I've yet to buy anything from the bakers that go to the market. I like to bake so tend to make things myself if I'm going to.

    Michelle, that is nice that you can share the flock with a neighbor. I wouldn't mind doing that especially if you can share the work.

    chook, your walnuts are wonderful. They would end up in a lot of things if I had my own tree.

    miss m, I agree. I'm only one person anyway so a little is fine. I've yet to have broccoli really pull its weight though. It always produces just a bit. Enough to enjoy but not really go crazy with. I haven't eaten the squash yet. I've been eating the more perishable food first, but soon. As the harvest peters out I'll need that squash to fill in.

    Sally, My raspberries will still produce if it ever gets warm enough again. They just slow down when it is cold. This week is supposed to get into the 60s barely so maybe I'll get a bit more. Maybe. All three of the markets close to me go through the end of October. So I have this week and next then they are done. I'd better be all stocked up before then. I go to the Arlington market which is on Wednesdays.

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  12. I tried to stock up this week at the last farmers market of the season for me. Luckily our area does a few holiday markets where you can buy produce that the farmers have stored. I know it will be strange to buy vegetables at the grocery store again next week.

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  13. Hi-
    Your blog is feaured on my weekly, online garden tv talk show, Garden World Report.

    We have a special, "Garden Book and Blog Awards" and you are on it! Congratulations.

    http://www.livestream.com/gardenworldreport/beta

    Please share the link and information about the show with your friends and Blotanical community if you want to.

    The video player is embeddable and has share links.

    Thanks

    Shirley Bovshow

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  14. Hi Daphne, Just discovered your link through Michelle's blog and thought I'd sign up. I can';t promise to have much each week... and that's if I remember to take photos... but will try :-)

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  15. Whew! I was able to post one more time for Harvest Mondays this week. But this will be the last week to show a harvest that came from the 2009 Garden Spot. There is nothing left to harvest.

    I hope temps improve so you can enjoy a few more raspberries.

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  16. Emily, I would love a holiday market. I wonder if any of the towns around here do that. I would think it would be hard because it gets so cold.

    Shirley, wow thanks for visiting. Stuart put up a link to the video on Botanical for everyone there to see.

    Jan, thanks for joining. Well this week I didn't have much. Sometimes I forget to take photos and I'm dragging it all out of the fridge. Sadly if it was eaten it gets no photos.

    GrafixMuse, Oh how sad. It is getting to be that time. I'll still be harvesting until the ground freezes since I have tons of carrots. I'll wait to pick the bulk of them until I have to.

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