Harvest Monday 9.30.13

It's still September, and no- I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth. It just seems like it. Linking into Daphne's Dandelions. (Sorry I missed y'all for so long!)

My harvest? Well they have been many but my brain refused to remind me to take many pictures. The last few weeks I've harvested green beans, (YIPPEE! They're back!) black eyed peas, lady peas (ha, that sounds dirty, doesn't it?) loads of sweet potatoes, a few leeks, some strawberries, (WAHOO!) lemons, limes and... I know there is something I'm forgetting here. Eggs. Yes, eggs. How could I ever forget them?

   The citrus is from the tree that I am treating for "greening disease" Following the protocol of antibiotics and an overabundance of fertilizer this tree did not produce edible fruit last year, but this years fruit is once again edible! I'm shocked but also aware that I am only prolonging the inevitable. I'll lose the tree eventually and if the replant any of the dead groves around me I'll take my tree out so as to not reinfect their new stock. Meanwhile though, I'm enjoying fruit again this year!





The leeks are a few representatives of what I pulled out of the garden over the last couple of weeks. These were destined for stir fry and some soup. I wasn't feeling well this past weekend and soup was just the thing for this Mamma.

Poor Dusty. I miss my little (OK, LARGE) girl. She had gotten down to a single tail feather and one side of her neck feathers were completely replaced already. She was looking rough, but really coming along nicely in her molting process. I think that within just another 10-15 days she would have been completely feathered in except the tail and ready to rejoin the flock again. It was nice to see her turning back to white. It was so strange that her down was grey. I don't know why I didn't think it would be. I have checked her thoroughly for mites time and again but never noticed that. Go figure. See that her feet had completely feathered back out again?

I now know why she passed away. She was murdered. It was an act of carelessness really. I did it, and I feel completely terrible. I didn't realize that her food dish in her isolation pen was holding water. It had rained every day that week, and her food had gotten moldy. I'm a bad chicken Mom. :-( Moldy food can kill a chicken quickly. She didn't act sickly at all. I spent a good hour outside with her as she preened and hunted up some grub the night before and she was acting completely normal so I know she went quickly and didn't suffer, but it still hurts to know I was responsible.




 Large eggs this week, and limes, too. The next round of seedlings are almost ready to go into the garden. If the rain will hold off for just a couple days it would be nice. The seedlings tend to do better with a watering rather than our crazy rains when they are first transplanted.

I pulled up a little more than half the sweet potato bed. Remember that this is the half I just harvested last month. I have continually harvested from this bed all year long as I needed them and yet I still had a decent yield. This bed is almost 4' square. After providing spuds all year long it gave me 4 taters that were unusable thanks to the rain (splitting) and 8 pounds of beautiful usable delectable sweet potatoes. These spuds are going to the crock pot to be used this weekend for my Father-In Laws Memorial. Well- for afterward when we all gather together.




Funny how funerals and food go together hand in hand. I guess that it's just a way to comfort ourselves.  We find comfort in each other and in food that we are familiar with. I'm going to put a crushed pecan and brown sugar crust on them. I'm hoping I'm not the only one that finds them soothing and comforting. TO me sweet potatoes always remind me of family coming together for the holidays and this is no exception. It may not be a holiday but we will all be coming together.

The other half of the sweet potato patch will be allowed to continue on until the first frost. The night before I'll go out and yank a few of the vines and keep them in a vase in the kitchen so I will have good starts for the next year. Sometimes I don't even need them!

Well- I think that's it. I'm busy with guests and arrangements and still trying to get the garden ready for those little seedlings. It's going to be a wild couple weeks. Hopefully things will settle down soon.

Be back soon!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 5.20.13

I think I've hit the peak of harvests now. It will decline fast. So while I'm happy at the moment I know that it won't last long.

For instance? In the last 48 hours my zucchini plants when from having one green worm boring into it - to a complete infestation. the blossoms now have worms, the leaf stems have worms, the baby zucchini have worms. I do not have worms, but I do have a bad attitude. I knew it was coming, but I'm just NOT happy about it. If Mr. Giant corporation can come out with super germ warfare why can't it come out with a zucchini plant that fights back? LOL. Then again, as big as those plants get? Maybe having them fight back isn't such a good idea. What would happen if they decided they wanted to keep their bounty? That wouldn't be a pretty picture!

OK - On to serious matters. This weeks harvest!

 5lbs 6oz of new potatoes, a few bell peppers, jalapenos, 6lbs of tomatoes, the last of the snap peas (the vines are still there but no more weight will be recorded. The vines will come out this week)
Zucchini, Beans bush and pole, carrots, cucumbers, eggs (of course!) strawberries - but most get eaten in the garden because we only get a couple a day and a leek.

Oh, and that is 6.2 ounces of mint y'all! I made a few drinks this week that needed mint. Some hot tea, and some cold drinks. I'm weird. I really like cold mint. But I prefer it in my chocolate. LOL.

 

 

This weekend saw phase 1 of the big major project done. I"ll share here in a day or two. I also have a couple lovely recipes to share this week with some recent harvests. But, for now I'm late posting this so...

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~



Harvest Monday 2.25.13

The end of February - already? Wow time flies! It's nearly March already, hard to believe. But, I do have a harvest to report! Linking into Daphne's Dandelions. Make sure you stop by and check out what people are harvesting from all around the world! Thanks Daphne for hosting. It amazes me that you still host when you are off and running on vacation. LOL
This week brought the first mulberries!

The tree is loaded to the hilt with them. I thought surely I'd lose them in the freeze, but they were safe and sound!

Look at them all getting ripe and juicy just for me and my gang. Later in the year they'll be given to the chickens but the first crop of the year is ours to devour! :-D

Last years first ripe berries came on March 19th. So a full 3 weeks early this year...

Also on the harvest list is:

 

 

A decent leek. I'm hoping for potato and A leek soup. LOL... I only had one at harvest size. I tried to move the rest of the juveniles. I hope they hold up all right. I dug them nice and deep, moved the soil surrounding them. Hopefully they'll make a good transplant and still be good to harvest in a couple months. I figure after eating something in the allium family I'll need something to freshen our breath. Some MINT perhaps? :-D I needed to transplant the Mother plant so I harvested as much as I could, and transplanted the heart of the plant. This time to a POT! I also have a chocolate mint and I am temped to plant them together but I"m afraid I won't be able to tell them apart until it's too late. I don't want them to intertwine and I don't know how I would keep them FROM getting across to each other. What other herb could I plant in with the mint that wouldn't be completely strangled out by it? I don't do a lot of gardening in pots. I only grow a few trees that need frost care in pots, so call me clueless!

 

I also harvested a side salad. Not enough for all five of us mind you. Just one side salad. Mine, that is. ;-) 1 small tomato and a couple strawberries on top of it made it rather delicious if I say so myself.

 

OK- gotta get back to work now.

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

 

 

Harvest Monday 6.11.12

This is the last large harvest for the Summer. The rest will be the drabs and dribbles that happen due to the heat. That is until the cowpeas start setting in large numbers. That won't happen until I'm ready to start my fall garden late in the year when everyone else is already turning under and ending their gardens for the year. The cycles are wacky here for sure.

To clear the way for the summer crops a lot of the beds needed cleared the bush beans,  the allium bed (and carrots with them) both had to be cleared:

before....and after.....

It was so steamy out. It even fogged up the camera!

*note the now completely covered trellis~!* 

Green garlic, and red and yellow onions - sorry y'all get the dirty pics - they are still drying on my kitchen table. I had to run out right after ripping all this out. I had a birthday party to go to, and no time to purty up the pictures.

 

But I did get a great harvest this week. Unfortunately it's all the carrots until winter unless there is a stray hiding somewhere. I still have about 20 onions in a planter, but I don't expect them to do anything. I'm only leaving them because I didn't find time to do anything with them and I sure don't need 'em. If I run into a neighbor or a friend who would use them I'd give them away.  I also pulled the leeks in the above photo. Wrong time of year for them but I'm not arguing. They are a good size and they cleaned up really nice. They just got knocked down when I took out one of the old less productive broccoli plants. I've got 3 that produce for me still and a few that haven't been so I was getting rid of the ones that don't.

Here are the tomatoes that were harvested a little green -boy did they turn! And a single cuke.  A day's picking of the concord grapes and the rest of the carrots.

*WHEW*  What a week. Unfortunately I won't have much to show for a while, and now I have a lot of planting to do. I still need to get rid of the big old zucchini plant and start those tomato seeds for fall. It may be sweltering out now, but that is just the time to get things ready for fall!

Linking in to Daphne's Dandelions. Don't forget to stop by her place and see what people are harvesting all over the world. Thanks Daphne for being our ever present - FANTSTIC hostess!

'Till next time!

Barbie~