the fourth week of october & the october garden

blackberry syrup with biscuits

(so thankful for freezer storage) 

not too old to read a.a. milne

this has been our evening reading as a family the past couple of weeks

the kids still LOVE reading about Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and the gang from the Hundred Acre Wood

the original stories are so fun, highly recommended

homity pie, this time with bacon

final crepe myrtle bloom

the cleared garden 

a couple of those beds need new boards!

getting back in the groove of book work

We are back in the groove of our regular routine after a mini-break for Fall. This time of year will be full of breaks for hunting, Thanksgiving, Christmas. I encourage the kids to be diligent as we have the time and another break will be here before we know it (next week is hunting already!). 

The final total for the garden is in at 563 pounds! The total for 2016 was 502, so we're up 61 pounds. This, of course, is wonderful; I'm so thankful for the gift of gardening. Mostly for me I put a comparison, below, of what we harvested this year to last year. This year we were more diverse in the vegetables we grew and more balanced in our harvest amounts. Last year we had almost 300 pounds of tomatoes and Jesse was just reminding me that I complained about how many tomatoes we harvested! The amount this year at closer to 150 pounds was more reasonable for harvesting and processing. I still have a few tomatoes on the counter turning (slowly) from green to red and I just prepared the last of the fresh potatoes. It's bittersweet to no longer be gathering fresh produce from our own yard, yet lovely to simply grab what I need from the freezers and then complement from the grocery store. 

2017 Total ~  563 lbs.

Herbs ~ 4 lbs.
Lemon Balm, Chamomile, Mint, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, Oregano, Basil, Cilantro and Chives

Fruit ~ 95 lbs.
Strawberries (86), Raspberries (4) and Blackberries (5)

Vegetables ~  464 lbs.
Kale, Lettuce, Endive, Spinach (11 lbs.), Cosmic Purple, Chantenay and Parisienne Carrots (57 lbs.), Sweet Peppers (23 lbs.), Japanese Long and Dutch Yellow Cucumbers (45 lbs.), Bush Beans (26 lbs.), Forum Onions (23 lbs.), Caribou Russet Potatoes (100 lbs.), Garlic (4 lbs.),  Beefsteak Tomatoes (3 lbs.), Roma Tomatoes (132 lbs.), Cherry Tomatoes (9 lbs.), Kohlrabi (6 lbs.), Golden Beets (4 lbs.) and Squash (23 lbs.)

~

2016 Total ~  502 lbs.

Fruit ~ 60 lbs.
Watermelon (12) and Blackberries (48)

Vegetables ~  442 lbs.
Carrots  (28 lbs.), Sweet Peppers (1 lb.), Cucumbers (1 lb.), Bush Beans (3 lbs.), Forum Onions (9 lbs.),  Potatoes (95 lbs.), Garlic (10 lbs.),  Beefsteak Tomatoes (60 lbs.), Roma Tomatoes (211 lbs.), Cherry Tomatoes (3 lbs.), Golden Beets (3 lbs.), Squash (15 lbs.), Tomatillo Tomatoes (1 lb.) and Lima Beans (2 lbs.)