Last year I had a hard time harvesting the garden on a daily basis. As a result, I wound up with HUGE pickling cucumbers and zucchini.
This year I am more successful at getting out there each day. Hopefully first thing after barn chores so I can get it done before the heat of the day.
A dear friend named Tessa suggested keeping track of how much produce our garden grows each year. I liked that idea so I made a spreadsheet with everything listed (including eggs and goat milk) and rows for each month.
Some days I don’t get out of the kitchen at all and I tend to have a fuller basket.
Some days I find a plant that I’ve never picked from and end up with 15 pounds of cucumbers
I’ve given a lot of the produce away which is what I prayed we would be able to do. Bless people who don’t have gardens with our home-grown produce.
So, here are the numbers to date in the season:
Eggs: 1,102
Goat Milk: 14 gallons
Pickling Cucumbers: 28.5 lbs
Coosa Summer Squash: 29 lbs 11 oz
Caserta Summer Squash: 16 lbs 15 oz
Spacemaster Cucumbers: 26 lbs 8 oz
Brown Russian Cucumbers: 5 lbs
Suyo Long Cucumbers: 5 lbs
Green Onions: 2.6 oz
Poona Keera Cucumbers: 10 lbs 5 oz
Baby potatoes: 3 lbs
Boysenberries: 10 lbs 3 oz
Plums: 29 lbs (unable to get an accurate weight since we are giving them away without weighing them every time)
I’m pretty good at weighing what comes from the garden because I’m the one that harvests the garden. I have on a couple of occasions handed stuff over the fence before I weighed it. The orchard is completely different. Michael and the boys harvest that area and they give it away pretty quickly and don’t have in their minds yet to weigh first. I figure one section at a time. This year I’ll get good at keeping track of the garden. Next year we will do a better job in the orchard. After all, there is only so much “new routine” my brain can handle.
I hope your garden is producing nicely for you as well,
Karen
What a great crop Karen! And a spreadsheet. I love it! Genius. And I also love that you are blessing others. I wonder if that’s partly why your garden is producing so much…because the Master Gardener knows you will share….
Thanx Allie. One of the reasons I wanted to be able to raise our own food was to be able to share.
I only wish I knew more people here. Our church has a place to leave things for anyone in need and I use that as well.
Enjoy the day.
Karen
That is awesome~! You are getting so much wonderful fresh produce… and weighing. HA You will definately out do us.