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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Red Alert!
I need to find something VERY HEAVY to grow between now and the end of the year. Any suggestions you might have would be great. Yikes! Maybe I should start to looking into harvesting bark, or dandelions. Hmmm. Remember the ornamental cabbage I planted a few weeks ago? Well heck ya it’s going to be harvested. Who knows, if I get really desperate, I might take up making mud pies again like I did when I was three years old, because technically I am enriching growing dirt, right? I wonder what 675 pounds of homegrown dirt looks like.
Get a grip Mavis. Get a grip.
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Here is what I have harvested so far this year:
Basil 1 lb 9 oz {how to make pesto}
Beans 21 lbs 3 {green bean salad, how to can green beans, dilly beans}
Beets 58 lb 20z {how to can beets}
Blueberries 4 lb 7 oz {mixed berry pie recipe}
Bok Choy 9 oz
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 57 lb 0 oz {how to make sauerkraut}
Carrots 116 lbs 14 oz {carrot cake recipe}
Cauliflower 4 lbs 11 oz {cauliflower hummus rocks!}
Chives 1lb 3 oz {chalkboard painted herb pots}
Cucumbers 54 lbs 2 oz {cucumber salad}
Anna Swartz Hubbard Squash 184 lbs 1 ounces {Hubbard Squash Pie}
Golden Hubbard Squash 22 lbs 5 oz
Sweet Meat Squash 9 lbs 13 oz
Kale 2 lb 11 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 34 lbs 9 oz {Kentucky Fried Chicken Cole Slaw}
Oregano 4 lbs 15 oz
Mushrooms 9.25 oz {read more about how I grew mushrooms}
Peas 38 lb 13 oz {fresh peas and bacon recipe}
Pears 8 lbs 15 oz {how to make pear jam}
Peppers 5 lb 8 oz {Homemade Salsa}
Potatoes 70 lb 10 oz {potato soup recipe}
Howden Pumpkins 59 lbs 11 oz
Cinderella Pumpkins 45 lbs 4 oz {roasted pumpkin seeds}
French Pumpkin 13 lbs 4 oz
Jarrahdale Pumpkin 39 pounds 7 oz
Sugar Pie Pumpkins 3 lb 10 oz {how to make pumpkin puree}
Acorn Squash 1 lb 8 oz
Radish 16 lb 0 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 16 lbs 15 oz {dehydrated strawberries are awesome}
Swiss Chard 25 lb 0 oz {rainbow Swiss chard recipe}
Tomatoes 106 lb 7 oz{roasted corn salad with tomatoes and feta}
Zucchini 257 lb 11 oz {how to make zucchini relish, zucchini salad, zucchini brownies}
Miscellaneous 8lbs 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: 1325 pounds 1.25 ounces
I have spent a total of $516.21 on seeds, soil, plants and supplies for this year.
The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the only book that teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving baskets. ~ Amazon
Brandi says
Love your garden! Puts mine to shame 😉
Maelynn says
You should count your eggs in the total weight. You have be “growing” the hens all year and harvesting their “fruit”.
I am so impressed with what you have accomplished!
Linda M says
Well, Mavis what about counting all that food you have picked up that would have went to the garbage heap otherwise. I say you “picked it”, just not out of your own garden and it would be fair game toward your ton of food. Also, you have my “permission” to count the pounds of food you have foraged….none of it paid for and would have gone to waste otherwise. I think you have done an awesome job….just need to re-think what you include in your “picking:)”. You go, girl…you are Awesommmme!!!! P.S. If you think you must grow more…turnips can get pretty darn big and like cooler weather…around here some of the farmers plant them and then turn them under as enrichment for the soil for next year.
Amanda M. says
ohhh the egg idea is fantastic! Weigh eggs!
Cindi Myers says
I agree — count those eggs and plant some turnips!
Saralie says
I second that motion!
Cyntha says
Don’t forget what you’ve grown by inspiring us! What you’ve already done is very very impressive! I love it that you’ve gone out in the community and shared carrots and zucchini with others.
Cyntha says
Also, I definitely agree, the eggs should be counted!
Lori B says
Darn it! Everyone beat me to it. I had the same ideas! Definitely count the eggs and I think you should count the free fruits and veggies you’re “harvesting” from the local store that would have been tossed.
Jamie says
I’m impressed. You absolutely should count ‘foraged’ food. I just started reading http://www.amazon.com/Hunt-Gather-Cook-Finding-Forgotten/dp/1605293202
Hunt, Gather, Cook- maybe that will help? It’s getting close to mushroom season in the PNW.
Sarah says
You’re doing a great job! Hang in there! I wonder if you could plant a couple of pallets of beets in your greenhouse? And some buckets of carrots?
Penelope says
I was coming to say the same thing. Weigh those eggs! Want to weigh my food too? I could not possibly do what I have done without your suggestions and encouragement so you could count my stuff in.
And add that reclaimed food to your count…. I’m with everyone else on that.
Elaine Standley says
Cabbage broccoli brussel sprouts turnips mustard collards green onions all grow well in cooler weather. How about green house tomatoes? And I agree with the egg weigh in idea. Thats backyard produce too! 🙂
Elizabeth says
Harvesting wild dandelions is a favorite activity for our family! You can use the greens for salad, the tops can be battered and fried, and also the tops can be made into homemade wine. Sounds weird, but the wine was very good. I was pleasantly surprised the first time we tried it. Also, the greens have long been considered a “gap” food, because it was one the first greens that could be harvested in the spring before anything else!
Desi says
What about all your compost that you create/grow. That takes work and is worth it’s weight in gold.
Heidi says
Have you harvested all of the 100+ tomato plants yet? I agree with the masses, count the eggs! They are all part of the garden ecosystem.
Kristy says
There are some flowers that are edible (other than dandelions). Maybe you have some somewhere in your yard that you could count. The two I know about for sure that can be eaten are pansies/violas (can eat the greens on some of these too) and some marigolds (flower only). You don’t want to eat any that you buy from a nursery though since you don’t know what was put on them before you bring them home. We had candied/sugared violas for my daughters birthday and everyone liked them.
Mavis says
Ha! I SHOULD count the dandelions.
Lissa says
Well I’m in the same boat as everyone else….at the very least, count the weight of eggs from the year….I bet that alone will put you to the 2000lb mark. If not, add in foraged food, then reclaimed. That is (my) priority levels that could be included in this challenge. Regardless, I am SURE that you have met it! Fair and square 🙂
ddf says
I am just impressed with the fact that you “attempted” to grow that much food! I think the fact that you had a goal, and tried, is impressive. I hope you do get to your 2,000 lbs….but if you don’t…I for one will not count you a failure and I certainly won’t stop reading your blog. YOU ARE AMAZING!
Miriam says
I vote turnips, beets, radishes, onions, garlic, and lettuce. They don’t mind the cold/snow as much as other plants, though onions at least grow slowly, but the radishes are known for faster growth. Carrots were another good idea someone mentioned. Any rooty thing that will be protected in the ground is a good idea.