Grow, Harvest, Eat

Last weekend was an absolute whirlwind of activity!  Do you ever feel like you need another weekend to recover from your weekend?  Yeah…me too!  Happy Monday!!!

There was the work on the chicken coop first thing Friday morning in order to help make the Ladies a bit happier after all the rains and mud and chilly nights we’ve been having.  Then there was the freeze warning on Friday evening that forced me to come home and harvest by headlamp after a very long day and work week in general.

Then there were the errands and shopping followed by the tearing out of (pretty much) the entire garden on Saturday…We made through Friday nights freeze warning but are facing more throughout the coming days and weeks.  I figure with the baby coming, I should just get as much done as I can now instead of worrying about it later.

After the garden was torn out (with the help of an amazing friend) we made our way up into Fish Girl’s old room and turned it, officially, into a Guest Room/Studio by moving around the furniture and bringing my drafting table up into the space.  The room has amazing light throughout the first half of the day, so I am very excited about actually being able to paint again now that I have a designated space.

Finally, Sunday was filled with cooking and preserving in the form of a pot of tomato sauce, 10 lasagnas (yes, finally…one large and nine two serving smaller lasagnas for easy meals once the baby is here), roasted beets with coconut oil and balsamic vinegar, tomatillo salsa, seven quarts of pinto beans, 11 pints of celery soup base, fried green tomatoes and brownies.

Tired?  Yes.  But, man it feels good to have some things done before our Little One joins us!

Grow

With the big tear out, there’s very little growing and producing in the yard right now beyond a couple of luffa and some greens and we are patiently waiting for the potatoes to fully die back.  I still have not planted out all the starts under the grow lights, but that will have to happen this week along with the hoop house going up to protect it all from our cold nights.

I did receive our garlic in the mail a couple of days ago, so that needs to go in the ground soon, too.

Harvest

Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to tally up all of my final harvest numbers, but I will get to that at some point this week and see where we’re at goal-wise.  I know we are no where near where I hoped we be when I set my goals (550 lbs +), but I guess Nature had different plans for our area this season.  There really is only so much one can have control over 😉

• Carrots (mixed) – 4 oz
• Chard – 8 oz
• Corn – 3 lbs
• Cucumbers
  • Lemon – 9 oz
  • White Wonder – 10 oz
• Eggplant
  • Early Long Purple – 12 oz
• Mint – not yet weighed
• Onions – 1 lb 2 oz
• Peppers
  • Shishito – 6 oz
  • Ring-o-Fire Cayenne – 1 lb 9 oz
• Rhubarb – 4 oz
• Rosemary – 2 oz
• Sage – 4 oz
• Squash
  • Butternut Squash – 2 lbs 4 oz
• Thyme – 2 oz
• Tomatillos – 2 lbs 3 oz
• Tomatoes
  • Black from Tula – 6 oz
  • Cherokee Purple – 1 lb 11 oz
  • Small Sweet Red Cherry – 5 oz
  • Indigo Rose – 14 oz
  • Orange Flesh Purple Smudge – 2 lbs 12 oz
  • Roma – 4 lb 14 oz
  • Yellow Taxi – 4 oz
  • MISC. green tomatoes – 13 lbs 12 oz
• Eggs – 45

Eat

I won’t pretend that we’ve improved our habits exponentially in the last week, but both Tool Lady and I are trying very hard to not work 10-12 hour days every day and eat out for (pretty much) every meal.  Harvesting so much from the garden on Friday has helped us plan many of this weeks meals and will also help me figure out how to better plan our plantings for next year so we can better utilize the space to grow what we will actually eat when times get tough.

Breakfast
French Toast with sausage
Veggie Omelette with Bacon
Cereal with berries
Protein and berry shakes
Breakfast sandwiches
Bagels and cream cheese

Lunch
Lasanga
Cheese Ravioli
Sandwiches
Vegetable Fried Rice
Salad with turkey

Dinner
Celery Soup
Vegetable Lasagna
Green Chile Stew with squash
Tuna Patties
Butternut Squash Ravioli
Shrimp Quesadillas
Tamale Pie

Snacks
Tomatillo Salsa with tortilla chips
Roasted Beets (with coconut oil and balsamic vinegar)