Many of you that garden have been harvesting for a while longer than I have, but now I'm truly in the midst of it. Once the fruits of our labor (pun intended) start coming in, it seems there's not much time for anything else.
My latest mint harvest yielded five more cups of dried peppermint. The bed now looks fairly sad, but I think it would start re-growing if it got a good dousing of moisture. We're to the point where we need to haul out the sprinkling system again.
 |
All of our garden areas need a good clean-up effort. There are those nasty weeds trying to get ahead of me that need to be pulled out by their tenacious roots. The plants are all big and healthy to the point that they look more than a little blowsy and disheveled. I need to do a trimming of all the vining crops so they will stop putting so much effort into growing another twelve inches each day and start working on developing the fruit. At this point, it's not looking good for pumpkins and winter squash to have time to mature, but we'll keep the hope and wait to see how that goes.
We've been existing on meals that are thrown together with the bounty from the garden and whatever else I can add in a short period of time. Lots of eggs appear at our meals; thankfully the chickens are laying well.
Right now, there doesn't seem to be the time for many of those every day, little necessary tasks like trimming my fingernails (they grow so fast . . . I think it must be nutrients from the soil because they're frequently grimy) or putting away clean laundry (hey, at least it is clean) or cleaning out and organizing the refrigerator (which is stuffed to the burping point with abundance from the garden that either needs to be eaten or preserved).
Yep, harvest time. Wonderful, hectic, busy harvest time. We work for it from early, early spring so as soon as I have a minute to sit (pant-pant) and think about it, I'll appreciate it all to the utmost!
Sounds like a wonderful "issue" to have. Glad everything is growing well for you guys.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the midst of harvest and preservation frenzy as well. We're eating well; lots of fresh fruits and veggies, eggs and cheese, but I'm pooped at the end of the day1
ReplyDeleteGarden in full production but not enough to preserve this year. But every meal is graced with delicious additions!
ReplyDeleteMoving and shaking going on. Come on over !
Look at those wonderful blueberries! (Sorry, not quite as excited about seeing your beans - ha ha). I've only just been freezing a bag or two of beans here and there. I can't wait for ripe tomatoes! -Jenn
ReplyDeleteOh, so happy all your hard work is paying off! The berries and beans look wonderful! I have a new blog which will post here. For some reason I cannot access my old blog. It used my old email and I think when they updated Blogger it got rid of it. Oh well, take care and I hope you get some rain.
ReplyDeleteAnother 5 pounds of beans frozen yesterday, 2 pound of young carrots, blanched and in the dehydrator now. Wish I could share my squash and pumpkins with you,they are going gangbusters. Wild raspberries are done but with the deluge of rain we had over the weekend, hopefully the blackberries will be prime this year. Those BB look amazing! We harvest wild ones, but this year the late frost did them in. You have inspired me in the Haskap direction, and I plan to enlarge the patch this fall in prep. for more bushes next spring.
ReplyDeleteWow those berries look great! So do you use well water to irrigate? We're on City water and luckily we're on a small irrigation company so our bill does not go up in the summer. We still mulch mulch mulch to conserve water though. You guys should find somewhere nice and cool and go for a swim or is the water too cold haha? Northern Minnesota Lakes sound like they might be cold all year oh, good luck with your Harvest! Chicken pictures please :-)
ReplyDeleteSeeing all the beans and blueberries is wonderful! Such a great reward for all that hard work!! Take super care!! xo
ReplyDeleteOh wow that is a big harvest! Our blueberries are done for the year and have been for a few weeks now. Our one pathetic bush actually gave us about 4 cups of blueberries. Instead of just eating them all fresh I made your Blueberry Buckle recipe, it always turns out fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing that recipe cause I use it with grated apples and any other fruit I have and it always turns out so yummy.
ReplyDeleteDFW - It is a wonderful "issue" to be so crazy busy right now. I picked and froze the last of the peas today (well, tonight) and I think that's the last of the harvesting for a while. There are still beans out there but I have all we need so they've been offered to someone whose crop failed.
ReplyDeleteLeigh - Yep, it's definitely the time of year when you just keep going all day long . . . and still have that long list for tomorrow! But it's all good.
Goatldi - I think you're doing fantastically in the gardening department for this first year. I'm going over to your post as soon as I get done here.
Jenn - I just put a cold blueberry/whipped cream pie in the refridge for tomorrow. And, yes, I'm anticipating that much more than I would be a serving of beans on our dinner plate! ;o)
Sam - Bummer that you seem to have lost your old blog. Wonder if you can rectify that somehow? We've got the sprinkler going again tonight in the garden. But there's a possibility of rain this weekend so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
Rosalea - Oh, blackberries! I love 'em, but our climate is a little too cool for them. I've tried them twice with no luck and our neighbor tried some two years ago but didn't do much better. I think you're going to be happy in your pursuit of the haskap bushes. I'm already wishing I had made more haskap syrup this year. I do have some berries frozen that I thought we'd use in smoothies but maybe they will be turned into syrup! It's so, so good on pancakes, waffles or French toast.
ReplyDeleteNancy - Yes, we do water with well water and I sometimes worry about it being too cold because it really is ice cold! We have watered from our pond but it's only fed by rainfall (no spring or other input of water) so in a year like this when we've had too much dryness, we don't want to drain it anymore than it already is. Funny you should mention "chicken pictures" as I've been thinking about that. I'll do so soon!
linnellnickerson - Harvesting more blueberries is on the schedule for first thing tomorrow morning . . . before it gets too hot. Hoping for another nice batch. I'm done picking beans as I have all we need (and probably a few more) but a friend is coming to get the plethora still left on the bushes.
Sparkless - You're welcome and I'm so glad you make that recipe! I've never tried it with other fruit, but it is a good dough recipe so I can see it being adapted to using other fruit. :o)
Sorry, Mama Pea but you don't know what dryness is! Here at my home in the desert SW, we have had only 3.75" since the beginning of 2020. It has come in only sporadic sprinkles. Our heaviest rain this year was .75" over two days. We are burning up. If it wasn't for the graciousness of a local rancher selling us irrigation water, we would be done on our 40 acres. However, this graciousness from our neighbor has allowed us to have a garden that is producing more food than we can eat or put (all freezers/fridges-4 total) are jam packed and the harvest is just starting to get going. With this covid "madness", we don't see our neighbors regularly and can't find homes for the excess! Pray for rain for us. We've forgotten what it's like to smell it, relish in it, and not have to water within hours of receiving it. Your gardens are beautiful as well as all your healthy animals. Take care and much continued blessings are wished for you all.
ReplyDeleteHello, Anonymous - Oh, I know, I truly can't fathom what it's like to try to garden or have enough water for animals or any other necessities in areas such as yours. I suppose not matter what climate we're living in, we have certain challenges to work around. (Or with!) Some folks wonder that we can garden as we do in our so-very-short season. I wonder how you can manage to produce adequate amounts of food for your family (and have extra!) when you have to treasure each and every drop of water you need. Yes, sending a prayer your way for your much needed rain and for all of us to make it through this current "madness" our society is enduring.
ReplyDelete