Productive.

From the beginning of the growing season in April through August, this 20′ x 20′ plot (plus a much smaller one in the back yard) has yielded (list below photo):

5.4 kilos of Chocolate Cherry Tomatoes

4.2 kilos of Piennolo del Vesuvio tomatoes

0.6 kilos of Purple Heart tomatoes

0.1 kilo of Beefsteak tomatoes

3.9 kilos of cucumbers

5.2 kilos of green zucchini

2.3 kilos of Cocozelle zukes

2.8 kilos of Kusa zukes

0.5 kilos of tomatillos

0.3 kilos of jalapeno peppers

0.4 kilos of Sugar Rush Peach peppers

0.4 kilos of Cayenne peppers

0.3 kilos of Scarlet Runner Bean pods (after a short harvest time we’re letting the beans go to 

4.7 kilos of asparagus

2.2 kilos of haskap berries

48 bulbs of garlic (huge aromatic cloves, enough for replanting and for cooking well into winter)

An unrecorded amount of rhubarb

Lots of lettuce

More tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, and *maybe* some figs are on the way.

And from elsewhere in the yard:

1.5 kilos of blackcurrants

An unrecorded amount of redcurrants

More rhubarb

Some pole beans

Some chives and green onions

We’re very unlikely to have bought this volume of most if not all of this produce. The green zukes alone would have cost around $40 at the grocery store. We will never be self-sufficient yet we know our produce is pesticide- and herbicide-free.

A much more productive, healthy, green, critter-friendly, use of 400 square feet than growing, and mowing, turfgrass.

Dinner

Pan-roasted salmon garnished with cilantro and quick-sauteed diced jalapenos, oven-roasted skin on sweet potatoes, and jasmine rice also garnished with cilantro. Delicious.

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From cutting board to pot

The vast majority of what we eat, we prepare ourselves. It’s healthy; nutritious; tasty; the way to control ingredients; and a very important skill/art to engage in.

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Dinner on the way. Clockwise from top: garlic; roast pork loin; potato; carrot; onion. Offstage and waiting to play their parts: salt and pepper; turkey stock; crushed tomatoes; Hatch green chilies;  ground cumin.

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It’s quite good.

I will return on Thursday.

More goodness

Eggs, from a co-worker.

Back on Thursday.

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Harvest

More of our gardens’ bounty. Butternut squash, sweet potatoes (and more to come!), and an experiment with corn. I think this is the only ear we got; we should do a little better next year once some trees are pruned which will allow more sunlight to reach the garden.

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Attractive

Brussels sprouts are quite tasty roasted. The plants are also quite pretty.

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Dinner is served

Pizza. Crust made from dough made by Faye, topped with mozzarella, chocolate tomato, just-picked basil sliced very thin. Simple. Delicious.

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