Last few Harvests

Well I made one of the last few harvests yesterday. Good thing I did because it frosted last night and when O and I went down to collect eggs the zucchini plants and basil had froze!I even made a plea on facebook to have someone, anyone come pick Romas and take them the heck away. No takers, so I made another 6 jars of tomato sauce. When Tracy was here the other day she gave me the idea of clipping some of our cornstalks for decoration--that was the only thing that they were good for.

Here is our total harvest breakdown (still counting eggs, and zucchinis...there are so many flowers still I am hopeful if it doesn't keep freezing we may get a few more babies!)

I used tally marks if some of the numbers are silly!

Heads of Lettuce- 40

Cilantro bunches- 6

Fingerling, Blue, and russet potatoes- 40# total

Kale bunches- 45

Peas- 75pods

Turnips- 7

Plums- 25

Cherries- 4 cups

Tomatillos-95

Zucchini-130

Basil- 60 bunches

Green beans- 4#

Beets-8

Roma tomatoes- 695 (ohmigosh!)

Leeks-5

Lemon cucumbers- 25

Soybeans- 1#

Peaches- 1#

Fennel- 2

Eggs- 124 eggs to date

Total garden investment (besides time, ha!)

Chickens- 10$

Feed-60$ (so far)

Feeders/waterer- 30$

Drip system- 100$

Seeds and Potatoes- 40$

TOTAL- 200$

(does not include energy or water costs for greenhouse/drip)

We did only notice a small increase in each bill, under 5$

Also, if you count the cost savings of driving to the store, that is priceless if you have been to our home you know it takes a bit to get to the store!

On one of my "night's off" I went to the gym and then to Raley's where we usually purchase produce. I obtained many prices of our foods. Adding up all of those prices for the quantities that we produced the grand total came to around 700$. This included organic eggs @ 3.99/dozen which we used to purchase. So, after expenses, our garden essentially saved us 500$ from April-October.

I was in a CSA (community supported agriculture) at Mercy and received a veggie/fruit box for 40$ every 2 weeks. This was a great service and I felt that I got quality organic produce for 80$/month. It is also comparable to growing your own (80$/month for 7 months= 560$).

BUT we weren't necessarily doing this to save $. This large garden was something that Chris and I spent our time together working on, learning on, reading many books, watering, weeding, hoeing, planting, loving, and harvesting together, mostly during my pregnancy. It was something that we didn't know that we both had a passion for, that we discovered together. Crazy after 11 years we didn't know something that we had in common deep down- the love for the earth, creating life and nourishing it with love! Oh, I guess I crossed over to Owen talk:) It all goes together.

-Chels