I have heeded the advice of various folks and have chopped down my potato plants. I will let the potatoes themselves rest in the soil for a few weeks, hopefully developing a tough outer skin. Then we will dig them up and put them in our root cellar. And hope they won't rot.
The boys were outside with me for a bit and started the potato harvest a bit prematurely. It really is like digging for buried treasure. So I helped them out with the pitchfork. Litte boys are very competitive, so I had to draw a line through the middle of the patch and say, 'Ok, you can dig for potatoes on this side, and you can dig for potatoes on this side.' The thirty pounds of potatoes shown above represent about 1/10 of our potato harvest.
The five-gallon bucket of beans represents about 1/3 of our bean harvest. I actually think the non-litter side of the bean patch is producing more beans. The litter-side plants are bigger, but the non-litter side has more beans. I pickled about a gallon of the beans last night (which made five pints), and will do the rest as regular canned beans tonight. I also canned a bunch of dill pickle relish and pickle slices last night. I must remember to get more canning jars at the store today.
A storm two nights ago toppled my sweet corn plants, they are standing askew at a 45 degree angle, leaning against the fence. I looked at them this morning and it seems like they are beginning to straighten themselves out. I hope so.
Sorry these posts recently have been so garden-centric, but that is what I am thinking about most of the time. The family is all well, hard to believe that school starts in less than three weeks. I will miss having the boys at home during the day.
I am committed to making packed lunches for my schoolboys at least three times a week this year -- the food they serve at the school is horrendous. Breakfast consists of either donuts, frosted cereal or Trix yogurt (fortified with plenty of artificial colors and flavors). Lunch is a narrow variety of fried or sugar/starch entrees such as mini corn dogs, pizza, cheese sticks, chicken nuggets, beef sticks or hot dogs. The vege/fruit side dish is optional and rarely taken. And spaghetti/pizza sauce counts as a vegetable for the school's nutritional guidelines. Yes, the kids will eat this stuff. But do we really want them to?
7 comments:
Wow I can relate! My boys each got one potato cage to dig, and they still fought since one had many more than the other, lol! Our school has a cart that comes around before school with "breakfast"....um, yeah...pop tarts and waffle sticks...needless to say my child eats before school and has strict instructions not to eat "breakfast" twice, lol! I can't believe school is almost here...haven't even started supply shopping!
Wow the food they serve sounds scary.
Anyway, I enjoyed reading about your farm thingy. I wish I could plant my own food too! At least, reading about you doing it makes me feel better.
Beautiful harvest!
Agreed, school lunches are pathetic. Here, blue jello counts as a fruit because it is a color of the rainbow (5 fruits & veggies/5 colors). Like blue jello has any antioxidants in it, ick!
Erin -- Yes, school is coming too fast! I may do the breakfast thing too this year, we'll see how it goes. The bus picks them up at 7 am, and I am not a morning person. But I may have to become one.
Hazwani -- Thanks for your comments! The school food is pretty scary. But I suppose it is better than nothing (or is it?)
Do many people have their own gardens where you live in Malaysia?
Hi Liz!
Blue jello?? A vegetable?? Goodness, now I think I've heard it all!
Well, in Malaysia, those who live in the village (like my grandma) or the countryside where they've actually got some land around the house, still do plant some things to eat, like herbs and spices and simple vegetables like yam (the leaves and the stems), chillies, tomatoes, etc.
However, I've lived in a city all my life. Apart from some, say, curry leaves or lemongrass or plants that are used in cooking for their flavors, we don't plant much. Even then, those are planted in pots. It's too bad, don't you think?
I hope that one day, when I ever get my own place, I would like one with a piece of land so that I can plant many, many things :)
By the way,
I raised a chick that I found half-dead in a drain a few years back.
We were quite close as it's the closest thing I have as a pet.
It grew to be a beautiful rooster so we sent him back to my grandma's house so he could befriend other chickens. He has a few chicks and finally we ate him.
It was a good memory. ;)
Hazwani -- even a few pots on a porch is a good thing, and you can grow a surprising amount in a small area. But for all the land we have out here to grow food, you probably eat better there than most folks do here. Too many junk food, fast food options. Take care.
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