August 12, 2013 - Harvest Monday

This week saw the last of the summer corn being harvested.  I'm experimenting with a fall planting, so there could be more corn in my future if Mother Nature is nice.  She wasn't nice on Friday night, when we had a strong wind storm.  It blew one of the large broccoli plants over, nearly uprooting it, knocked a few peppers off of their stems, and broke off a few pepper plants.  The extra peppers were given to the daughter, as she is into juicing them.  The wind also blew the empty corn stalks over, but that was no loss.  I spent a day cutting off the stalks and bundling them for garbage collection, and two days digging out the roots.  One more day of digging roots and the corn plot will be ready for compost, then it can rest until spring.

The broccoli plants are going crazy with side shoots, as well as one main head!  I'm surprised they are producing so well, with temperatures still in the mid to high 90s.  The cucumbers are coming on slowly now, and the plants are so ugly and covered with powdery mildew I'm tempted to pull them all out.  Every time I get ready to pull them, I find another nice cuke and give it a reprieve.  The hill that was planted for fall is growing beautifully, so as soon as I begin to see blossoms, the old planting is gone!

I'm finally getting some nice, edible sized carrots!  The roots aren't as long as this variety usually is, but they are fat and sweet, with no hint of the bitterness sometimes found in summer carrots.  The fall planting came up fairly well.  There were a few bare spots that I reseeded yesterday.

I picked the first butternut squash Sunday night.  It will be baked and served with pork chops for dinner this evening.  It was a nice one, weighing over four pounds.

All of the tomatoes are being eaten fresh, given to the youngest son, or turned into tomato juice. On Sunday, I canned 5 1/2 quarts of juice.  I had enough for 6 quarts, but only 5 fit in my canner, along with a pint right in the middle, so the other pint is chilling and will be consumed at breakfast.  Sunday was also the day I baked bread, and just as I was taking it out of the oven my daughter and granddaughters walked in.  Four-year-old Alicyn said "I smell rolls!"  She loves rolls, and has finally been convinced that bread and rolls are the same thing, just different shapes.  Of course, everyone had to have a slice of warm bread and butter, so we went through half the loaf in a matter of minutes.  No problem, I can bake another one whenever we need it.  I enjoy growing and cooking food for my family!

This Week's Harvest

Beans (bush): 18.7 ounces 

Beans (pole): 28.1 ounces

Broccoli: 29.2 ounces 

Cabbage: 14.7 ounces

Carrots: 13.4 ounces

Corn: 46.4 ounces

Cucumbers: 54.5 ounces

Peppers (sweet): 150.2 ounces

Rhubarb: 13.1 ounces

Squash (summer): 143.4 ounces

Squash (winter): 65.9 ounces

Strawberries: 13.7 ounces

Tomatoes: 643.5 ounces

Total for week:   1234.8 ounces (77 pounds)

Total to date: 495 pounds

Daphne's Dandelions is the host for Harvest Monday.