It seems as though every year I find myself looking forward with great expectations to the harvest from the garden. Somehow, my brain always manages to forget the hard work that is needed to make it happen and be a success.
The plan I originally started the spring with of working an hour a day in the garden has sadly fallen short. With a four year old and a one year old I just have not been able to keep up. Add to that everything else on the homestead and all of the fairs we attend for the show pigs and things can get pretty busy. No excuses though right?!?!
Even with all of the activities that we do I have still been able to get some food on the shelves in the pantry. So far I have successfully canned two cases of peaches yielding 40 pints of peaches for us for later. I have also canned 16 pints of green beans and 16 quarts of homemade oh so yummy spaghetti sauce. We LOVE our homemade spaghetti sauce. We were able to add 20 half pints of strawberry rhubarb jam first thing this spring too. I am feeling pleased with what we have so far but excited for what we have ahead of us.
I have bartered taking family pictures for a friend in exchange I was able to get a half a trunk load of sweet corn. We were able to enjoy some right away fresh off the cob but also completed freezing about 30 pints for this winter.
The boys are rejoicing as we pull zucchinni and butternut squash off the vine. We planted a round variety of zucchinni this year, just to try something different. The yields for these two crops are not as high as I had hoped they would be. We still managed to shred and freeze four cups of zucchinni for zucchinni bread later.
The new experience of growing sweet potatoes is still up in the air. Having never grown them before I have stumbled my way through. My latest piece of education is that you need to let sweet potatoes sit after being dug up. Interesting find. Now I know I cannot have them for dinner the same day as I had originally intended.
All in all we are making leaps in the right direction. Although things are not going quite as I had intended I am still satisfied to know that we are putting up a lot of food for the winter months. Please stay tuned as my husband has finally agreed to getting honey bees! I will be looking at equipment this weekend. Happy homesteading!
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