Harvest Monday 6.8.15

A week into June and the main harvest has been AVOCADOS! Yippee! We got a few last year, but this year I have lots and lots. There has been avocado slices on salads, and mashed avocados in sandwiches, some guacamole and now I'm at the point where I can't quite keep up eating them all as they come in. So- Now I will start trying to figure out how to preserve the stuff. I've heard of people freezing it but I just don't know how well it works. Anyone have experience? I know I can at least vacuum seal and freeze the guacamole, but I'm not sure about any other uses for it besides that. Shame, too because what I see on the trees should be the perfect amount for 9-12 months...but no way to keep the fruit from falling and becoming useless.

Such is the gardeners life. Oh! I almost forgot the other big harvests have been tomatoes (2 bushes are diseased already but the fruit is mostly edible)lemons, limes and jalapenos. I mean - seriously? Could the irony here escape anyone at the moment? It's the perfect guacamole ingredients. I'm adding some garlic to it, but other than that it's all homegrown. :-) LOVE IT!

Pomegranates have been coming in, too. Unfortunately they are not ripe, they are bursting from the rain we've had. :-( Booo!!!!! Normally our springs are really rather dry and that just hasn't been the case here. Our daily rain pattern doesn't usually pick up until late June but this year it started in March. So the not-quite-ripe burst fruit is going to the chickens who just don't seem to care that the fruit is more tart than sweet. LOL. They are also eating my aphid ridden kale and unfortunately the butterflies that seem to be showing up en mass this month.
Hope all is well where you are. Don't forget to stop by Daphne's to see what gardeners are harvesting all over the world!

See you soon!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 6.2.14

Ah, yes. Harvest Monday. I missed a few weeks, and didn't link into Daphne's place a few times so it seems I've been gone forever. But, I haven't. I've been harvesting little bits here and there. The last of the blueberries are in and I'm already mourning their loss. It's only been a few days since the last picking but my fridge seems empty without them.

Also harvesting tomatoes, beans, peppers and carrots. It's been a good couple weeks and I've had the best harvest ever of beans. These beans are a bush variety and thanks to ducks and chickens - well fertilized. :-) I don't know if that is the main difference or if the weather was just perfect for them lately, but this is the smallest planting I've ever done and I harvested almost twice as much as my Romas in twice the space. I plan on cooking them tonight to do a taste test and if they are nearly as good as the roma beans I will be letting them go to seed.

Here are the pictures for the week:

 

The ducklings are doing well and the chickens still hate them. It's something I'm going to have to deal with soon...they need to be housed together and soon. We plan on taking the majority of the ducks to Alabama on the 4th of July. But, the one that stays needs to stay in the chicken run. This should be interesting. I don't know what to do to help the situation as the ducklings where inside the run in a wire cage for weeks with no attitude change from the hens. I would think about replacing the hens at this point to introduce an entirely new flock together but it's not chick time at the feed stores anymore so I would be forced to buy from a hatchery and I'm not sure that is a good answer. I'd need to find homes for the rest of the chicks.. Ah well- so I keep trying. They do well together in the yard, but not in the run.

 

See you soon!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 2.24.14

WOW! Time is certainly flying around here. I picked up mulch this weekend and didn't even find enough time to get it spread out. It just seems like there are never enough hours in the day right now.

This weeks harvest brought some lovely additions to the lineup. It's definitely not winter any more here and while I'm quite sure we will see a couple more days that cool off I don't think we'll see 40's at night any more and certainly not below 60's in the day.

Why do I think this? Because this weekend while I was trying desperately to beat the clock and get some of my planting done - it was like soup outside. Normally we have a few weeks of warm (OK, hot) weather without the humidity. It's our version of 'Spring' around here. It only lasts for a few weeks, but once the humidity steps up it's officially Summer. I'm thinking we may have bypassed that whole Spring thing instead.

OK- So what did this warm weather bring to my line up?

Why the first tomato of the year. This was the plant that took the few frosts we had and kept kicking! It was the only plant to not succumb to the freezing temps and I only covered it twice - only the nights when it truly froze and not frosted. It thrills me to know end to have it on my table, but... DARN it's not a slicer. I am so ready for some slicing 'maters. This year I'm turning to hybrids mainly for my tomatoes. Burpee's Big Boy and the small salad tomatoes (Fast girl or something to that effect) for me. I'm sure to plant a few others along the way but these are the the plants I"ve chosen for the main crop. I'll need a few sauce tomatoes and cherries for salads when I plant those I might pop in an heirloom just because they are such lovely tomatoes. 

ANYWAY- I also got to harvest the first green beans of the season! WHOOT! I wasn't sure these plants would survive, and indeed and entire crop of flowers was frozen off of them, but the plants managed to make it through with only some of the outer leaves frozen and the fruit drop as well. Now that the warm up has occurred they have flowered over and over. I'm so glad I took the time to figure out the best place to plant these and protect them from the weather. 

Another 6oz of broccoli...again. For whatever reason that seems to be the magic number for these plants. I'm OK with that. 'd rather get 6 oz a week that none! :-)

That's it. Only one picture with a couple harvests.

See you soon!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 11.18.13

Ah, it's Harvest Monday again. Maybe I should just start doing monthly installments.

I don't have much to share. I didn't take pictures of the last of the black eyed peas, or the single tomato that I got. My purple sweet potatoes are flowering like crazy (but that isn't a harvest, is it?) I got a few sprigs on cilantro as well. Things are super slow right now. I guess I need to really work on that soil problem so I can get the rest of my cauliflower in. It's no longer growing so at the least I need to up pot the little seedlings.

 

My neatest harvest this week? Crawfish!

 

We are heading to Alabama and this catch is coming with me. ALIVE! I also have a tank full of tadpoles to go as well. It will be nice to have these crustaceans in our pond though. I'm hoping for a few more to put in the lake as well. Then in a year or two we should have enough in there to harvest. I do love to eat crustaceans. They (all types, not just these) are some of my favorite food.

 

I am still getting a few eggs, but the laying has slowed considerably now. It's good and bad. I no longer have a large stash of eggs in the fridge waiting to be eaten, but then I also know that the laying will stop soon. Will I end up buying eggs before this is all said and done? That would be bad. I'm also no longer going out to the run as often. I find without my favorite hen out there it's harder to pay attention to the remaining two. Especially when one is aggressive. :-(  I guess it's time to start thinking about what I can do to remedy this situation once and for all.

 

Preparations are in order for our first fall hunt in Alabama. We are hoping for a turkey and quail for Thanksgiving and the first of the deer for the freezer. It's looking a bit shabby in there and it's time to refill! If it's warm enough we'll also harvest some of the fish from the lake. It will be good to get the freezer stocked again. I always worry that we won't have enough meat for the year and until the freezer is completely packed it will be on my mind.

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 7.15.13

Hey, Lookie there! It's Monday again! Harvest report time. I'm linking in like usual to Daphne's Dandelions. Thanks Daphne, once again for being such a great hostess. Make sure you stop by her place to see what is being harvested all over the world!

 

Here at my place it's avocado time! Of course, that doesn't man much. I only had about 6-8 set on the tree and then the dab-blasted squirrels got all but one before I managed to cage the thing. BUT, Oh but a harvest is sweet indeed when it is the first of it's kind. After all this tree is one of 5 avocado trees on my property. One of them was killed back this year and it looks like it will not be making a come back. It's no longer healthy so it's compost bin bound. The tree this fruit came from is Mexicola. It also got frozen not this past year, but the year before. It's only about 4 foot tall. All the other trees make fun of it. The most promising tree towers more than 20 foot taller than it. Yet, it was the first to bear. Go figure.

What? You wanted to see this luscious fruit? OK!

OOOO... It looks so large. It's only 4" long. LOL. But as they say a harvest is a harvest! It's going into guac. a small serving of guac but darn it guac non-the-less! We really lucked out because it started to ripen on the tree while we were away in Alabama and this is what it looked like the day we came home. If we had been gone another 2-3 days it wouldn't have been any good and I would have cried!

 

Also on our harvest menu this week, and only this week the Concord grapes. Of course I didn't bother to tell the husband and kids not to eat them and when I came back from harvesting the peppers for the guacamole - well it was down to this...

From 3 bunches of grapes to a few measly nibbles left for the Mom. They left me what had fallen off the bunches. Lovely. I hate to tell them but it still tasted just fine. The fruit only split because of how much rain we've had lately. But I did learn a hard lesson. I didn't trim the vines back last year in hopes they would take over the play house this year. They didn't. Not only did they not grow as much, they didn't produce as nearly much. MUST. CUT. BACK. the grape vines. :-(

 

Last but not least on my harvest list for this week are some more sweet potatoes. I saw a few mounded up and really was craving some so I felt around the base of a few plants and grabbed these out from under them.

YUM!

 

Not on my harvest list, but harvest here in Florida by my parents in Jacksonville and gifted to me while I was visiting this weekend:

 

 



A big bunch of yummy tomatoes and one of my favorite things, EVER... Canned tomatoes.

I have serious issues with canning. I just can't get post doing it all by myself the first time. I know once I do it I'll be fine, but until then I am over joyed by receiving gifts like these!

I should say I also received some beans, but there is no proof! They are all gone! :-D

Just like the first jar of tomatoes. ;-) YUMMO! Thanks again, Nancy!

 

Guess it's time to get back to work for me. Tonight I have plenty to do. I have to separate one of my flock who is picking on another member. I'm hoping to curb the behavior even though I don't think it will work. I'm going to start with a week of isolation. Wish me luck!

 

See you 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~



Garden Bloom overview (partial/May)

 

I splurged on one plant to see what it was all about this spring. I'm glad I did. It was a "super Roma" tomato plant, and so far, it's been SUPER! It's taken our extreme temperatures and my lack of care and spat back loads of tomatoes.

Zucchini is still going strong for now...and the potatoes are still taking turns flowering. This is the last of the taters to flower. In the back you can see the single radish I've let go to seed. This bed hasn't been productive in a year, except for radishes so I figured why not?

The apple tree is blossoming. The first blossomed failed. I wonder how the trees are doing in Alabama?

I'm so curious, and my hubby is going on a quick trip in 2 weeks. It should be early blackberry season there, too. Wondering if I can talk him into bringing back some and taking pictures of my trees...

Pomegranates are doing well this season. I can't wait for them. It takes SOOO long for them to ripen. It nearly hurts to wait so long!

I've got grapes on the vine, too! Not as many as last year, but that is my fault, and it's OK. I knew better with my choice of plants but I just had to have the Concord grapes because I love them so much. They are worth it. Delectable little jewels that they are. 

There is so much more just since the 10 days that I took these pictures. The mulberries are blooming again... Joy? The cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumbers, string beans, Lima beans, all going like gang busters right now. 

The weather is changing daily again. I know that everyone has been talking about how weird the weather is, but well and truly I've never in my lifetime seen 50's in the middle of May, and yet this morning that is what I awoke to. Absolutely amazing.  

Oh, did I mention I fixed a sprinkler head that my hubby tried to fix for the last year? He even replaced the entire head and that didn't work. It was the pipe that was stripped causing the sprinkler head to sit wrong. It just took a little finesse and a lot of muscle and determination to get it right. I do get the feeling at some point in the future we'll have to re-do the entire line section there, but for now it's working again, and I'm rubbing it in that a woman fixed what the man could not.

:-)

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 5.13.13

It's Monday again. This time it comes directly after Mother's Day weekend. I hope that you have a lovely weekend. I know I did. I didn't just have Mother's Day. I had Mother's weekend. :-)

But, as for the harvest. It was fairly meager pickings this week. I actually harvested more than I care to admit because a rather large amount got eaten in the garden. I pulled the pea vines and well, any peas got eaten while I was there. We had a few cool days so there were more than I care to admit. But the vines were well and truly shot and our hot weather is upon us and not relenting so I knew the vines had no hope. I also ate about a half pound of blueberries. I now have 5 pounds in the freezer, so a decent amount for the year. Not enough for our large family, but a good start!

As for what I can actually attest to?

Zucchini made a major come back this week. This one in the picture is only one of 10 that we ate. I grilled a few, but this wasn't out favorite this week. Our favorite is oven roasted with grape seed oil, mozzarella  garlic, spices and tomato..oh - YUM. Even picky teenager eats it like it's going out of style.  We try to take major advantage of it this time of year because it doesn't last long. I have two very strong plants right now but the bugs have come out this week and that means the plants (not just the zucchini) are going to be suffering soon.

I knocked the tomato off the vine but it is nearly ripe now. I also took one that was starting to blush and ripened it with a banana. That was the one we used for the zucchini oven roast. The snap peas are still giving and looking O.K. The vines are hanging tough for now. Not producing well, but still just enough to save their booties.

The blueberries are just giving  the bare minimum they can now. The mocking birds found the fruit this week and I got dive bombed by 3 of the suckers Saturday. I may have to invest in a pellet gun. Wonder if Mockingbird stew is any good? Kidding...sort of.

 

I'll be back to give details of my weekend later. For now- I'd better get back to work.

 

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 2/11/13

It's Harvest Monday again.

 

This time I'm not linking in though. I don't have any pictures, and nothing wonderful to report. I did have a small harvest this week though.

 

1 zucchini and 2 tomatoes. :-)

 

Hey, it may not be much, but it keeps me going.

 

We also harvested the flu and another ear infection. That is why I'm not linking in and why I have no pictures to share yet again. Tomorrow I head back to the Dr's for what I am afraid pretty sure will be the assurance of the next round of surgery for my littlest.

 

It seems each Spring I get to report this event. Unfortunately it is preceded with so many sleepless nights that by the time we get here I'm relieved to get the surgery scheduled and then by surgery day I may be nervous for the surgery but the actual surgery it self is such a relief! Sleep is in my future, I just KNOW IT!

 

We have flu complications as well. Friday Kate was feeling perfectly fine after fending off her bout of flu. Today she is snotty and wheezy. Looks like we will be heading back tot he Dr's again for her this afternoon or tomorrow as well.

 

We had plans for hunting this weekend, but I'm not so sure that is going to happen now as it requires us to leave them each at different grandparents houses. My fingers are crossed for miraculous recoveries for both, but my brain is realistic and preparing for the reality of another quiet (LONG NIGHTED) weekend at home.

See you soon.

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 1.28.13

GEEZ! It's the end of January already, I can't believe it.

I guess time really does fly when you are having fun. :-) This weeks harvests are strange for me. I'm still unsure of exactly what type of greens I had planted, but I did harvest them this week. 7 pounds of greens,  just shy of 2 pounds of tomatoes a zucchini and 2 pounds of sweet potatoes. 

Ah, the greens wilted a bit from the heat. I can't believe how warm it got on Sunday.

I only harvested the sweet potatoes because I was moving the location of the patch. This is what has grown from the slips since my Fall harvest. Half of the new planter box will be sweet 'taters. I think they got too much water in the box against the fence and while I don't mind where they were at, it will be easier to control their willy nilly growth this way. Besides it will be pretty to have the vines hanging over the sides. :-D We vegetable gardeners don't always have the advantage of appearances first.

The girls enjoyed helping out with the harvesting and took advantage of my being preoccupied. The greens were a little more roughed up by the time they were done. LOL. They didn't do much but peck at them, but it was still funny to tell the kids they were eating greens that had been henpecked. *snort* They are back to laying very well again. I can't help but to think of it as a kind of reward for them. They also got to pick through the compost that went into the new planter.

 

An update on the build of the first planter box coming soon. It didn't come out quite how I planned. LOL. It's all good, just not what I was envisioning. Apparently when you've been married for almost 20 years your husband thinks he gets to have his input. I let him because I don't want him hating the garden and the work I ask of him. Smart, right? It was hard to let him do stuff though. I wanted it done MY way. In the end it is still functional and satisfies us both. I guess that is what matters most.  ?  Right  ?

Linking into Daphne's Dandelions for Harvest Monday. Thanks Daphne! You're a doll for always hosting~

See you soon!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 1.14.13

Welcome back for another ugly edition of Harvest Monday! LOL. Linking into Daphne's Dandelions once again. Thanks Daphne for being such a great hostess!

I just don't have very much going on lately. I spent the weekend pruning like crazy and hopefully it will pay off in the next 2 months. Everything already thinks that it is Spring and the blooms are beginning early. Too early. Hopefully this will shock the systems of the larger trees into waiting just a little longer.

Anyway the harvest this week? Pecans, Zucchini and 2 tomatoes.

I'm pounding away at the pecans. Another 8 pounds have been put away. Vacuum sealed and stored away for another year. This years crop was a disappointment. I am not sure that it isn't our fault for waiting so long to gather them and then leaving them up in Alabama rather than bringing them home to Florida with us. But, it's all part of the learning process. It could just have been an off year. We definitely didn't get enough rain and that would have to do with only half of the pecans being filled out well. But the a lot of them are also damaged in other ways. Shame, too because this years color is one of the best. Ah, win some lose some.

In the past I always put the pecans into like sized bags, but this year I am varying the size bags I am making. Some bags will be larger for baking sets of pies and things and some smaller for fresh eating and the likes. Hopefully this will serve us better and keep me from needing to open a second bag for just a handful of nuts and then forgetting that I have an open bag. Not that they go to waste around our house. We are a nutty bunch. The kids and the hubby make sure that any unused portions get eaten in case I forget for too long. Funny though, we may eat an cashew here or there but 90% of our nut intake is pecans and peanuts that we grow here or that we get from the property up there. My goal this year is to try once again my hand at growing enough peanuts for our peanut butter consumption. We eat a lot of peanut butter. I'm also going to make a pecan butter as soon as I'm done picking these darn things. It's worth a try. I'm not sure I'll love it but the kids might.

See you soon!

Barbie~

Blogger issues

Turns out the picture problem has been going on since Friday. At least I know it isn't me. I'm trying to skirt the issue by uploading int he HTML format. Let's see if it works...

The first large bowl of pecans. These have now been dried and are awaiting vacuum sealing  
                             
Zucchini, tomato and oranges...
                            
My sweet girls gift of eggies. <3 I'm not sure which I like better. The chickens or the eggs. LOL.

So, if you have blogger and can't upload pics from your computer switch to HTML format and good luck!

See you soon!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 6.18.12

Linking into Daphne's Dandelions for Harvest Monday. Make sure to join the fun over at her place. Stop by to see all the different things being harvested all over the world!
Harvests are much slower now.

This is the main harvest this week:

The onions I harvested? Just over ten pounds worth and when all was said and done I was only able to save my sanity and 25 ounces. Talk about a let down.  19 ounces in garlic. 1 pound of leeks.

This weeks harvest totals - 1lb 2oz concord grapes, 8oz tomatoes, 2oz broccoli, 6oz okra and a few measly greenbeans I'm not counting because I fed them to the hens (next door) I also got 2oz basil and a large fistful of parsley that I started to dry until I realized there was something wrong with it. (looked like pin holes through the leaves...*sigh*) so I'm yanking out the old parsley and starting a new batch. This one was 3 years old so I had to expect it to have something wrong sooner or later.

The garden is (mostly) bare and awaiting turning under. I got all those spots yanked out that needed it and now summer planting can start as soon as I can get the turning, compost topping and sowing done.

'Till next time!

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~