How to Grow Your Own Food – Weigh In Wednesday

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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This past week  I was able to harvest potatoes, onions, spinach, broccoli, and a few raspberries for my family to eat.  And for the chickens I harvested Swiss chard, bok choy and kale.  Chickens LOVE kale.  Yee-Haw!

Sadly, I have not reached my goal of 2,000 pounds of vegetables.  However, after a few walks around the garden this weekend, I’m fairly confident I will be able to harvest the remaining 41+ pounds of food I need to reach my goal.  And since I’d like to be able to have a few weeks off from garden chores, I may end up going on a harvest binge here in the next week or two.  I’ll keep you posted.

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Here is what I have harvested so far this year:

Banana Squash 6lb 2 oz

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 9 oz {mixed berry pie recipe}

Bok Choy 9 lb 14 oz

Broccoli 5lb 14 oz {pasta salad with broccoli, carrots, and sun dried tomatoes}

Broccoli Rabb 1lb 6 oz {chickpeas with broccoli raab and bacon}

Cabbage 58 lb 4 oz {how to make sauerkraut}

Carrots 117 lbs 6 oz {carrot cake jam recipe}

Cauliflower 4 lbs 11 oz {cauliflower hummus rocks!}

Chives 1lb 3 oz {chalkboard painted herb pots}

Cucumbers 55 lbs 5 oz {cucumber salad}

Anna Swartz Hubbard Squash 184 lbs 1 ounces {Hubbard Squash Pie}

Butternut Squash 41lbs 6 oz

Golden Hubbard Squash 22 lbs 5 oz

Sweet Meat Squash 15 lbs 1 oz

Kale 5 lb 6 oz {how to make kale chips}

Lettuce 15 lb 1 oz {bbq chicken salad}

Mint 4 lbs 12 oz {Fresh Pea Salad with Spinach, Feta and Mint}

Onions 41 lbs 11 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 128lb 4 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

Spaghetti Squash 36 lb 10 oz

Sugar Pie Pumpkins 3 lb 10 oz {how to make pumpkin puree}

Misc. Pumpkins 352 lbs 11 oz.

Acorn Squash 12 lb 14 oz {stuffed acorn squash}

Radish 16 lb 6 oz {how I bartered radishes for avocados}

Raspberries 2 lb 10 oz {how to make a raspberry buckle}

Spinach 2lb 7 oz {garlic spinach dip recipe}

Sprouts 10 oz {how to grow sprouts}

Strawberries 18 lbs 9 oz {strawberry basil jam}

Swiss Chard 31 lb 13 oz {rainbow Swiss chard recipe}

Tomatoes 186 lb 11oz {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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Total Food Harvested in 2012: 1958 pounds 12.25 ounces

I have spent a total of $516.21 on seeds, soil, plants and supplies for this year.

If I could only have one gardening book on my bookshelf this would be the one. The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food By Tanya L.K. Denckla. This book is loaded with growing methods of practically every vegetable the backyard gardener is going to grow in their garden. I received this book several years ago and it’s still the one I use when I have questions. Amazon currently has this in stock and ready to ship.