State of the Garden: November

Soccer Boy hopes to turn these into bird houses and instruments 
He was inspired by the Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra. 

The garden is pretty much closed until February.  Spring Garlic and onions are planted, and there are some spring greens growing under row cover - I won't even peak at them until after ski season.  A bit of Swiss Chard and a handful of beets and parsnips are lingering out there- we havn't had a really hard frost.  We'll be eating them soon. 

I do have two small canning projects - pumpkin butter and apple pie jelly.  I'll probably do those two this coming weekend, so I can be really, truly done by the beginning of December.

The gourds were the last official big harvest.  It was a good year - but even thinking about next year tires me out.  Isn't winter amazing - by the time the spring rolls around I will have forgotten how much time I spent out in the garden, and I'll be just itching to get out there and get my hands in the dirt. 

Harvest Tally 2012

Canned

14 1/2 pints Grandma's Strawberry Rhubarb Jam:
14 quarts peaches
21 quarts nectarines
40 pints salsa
80 quarts applesauce
4 pints and 16 quarts tomatoes
12 pints dilly beans
6 pints pickled green tomatoes
6 pints horseradish beets
6 quarts apricots
9 pints pickled hot peppers
9 1/2 pints beet relish
6 pints pickled beets
9 quarts spaghetti sauce
20 pints apple butter
2 quarts pickled rosy turnips

Frozen

16 loaves zucchini bread
3 gallons swiss chard
5 gallons corn
3 gallons green beans
6 gallons peaches
6 quarts blackberries
6 quarts blueberries
6 quarts tomato juice
3 quarts peach pie filling
6 pints whipped winter squash
2 gallons cauliflower
1 gallon broccoli

10 gallon bags of premeasured and chopped soup vegies ready for the crockpot
4 pans Chard Enchilladas
4 pans Garden Enchilladas
4 pans mac and cheese
1 pan zucchini Italian casserole
1 peach pie
2 pans Mommy's Recipe (chili cornbread casserole)
8 quarts chili
2 quarts broccoli cheddar soup
2 quarts kale potato soup
2 quarts autumn harvest vegetable soup

25 apple dumplings

Root Cellar

2 bushels sweet potatoes
1 bushel potatoes
4 bushels winter squash (gift from the laundry fairy and bought at pumpkin patch)
4 long braids garlic
3 braids onions (red, yellow and white)
1 5 gallon bucket of beets (layered in sand)
1 5 gallon bucket of turnips (layered in sand)
1/2 bushel parsnips
1/2 bushel white sweet potatoes
1 bushel pink lady apples (bought from local orchard)

Fermented

2 small crocks sauerkraut
1 small crock kimchee