Sunday, September 4, 2011

Farming in August

This is what happens when you ignore your green onions.
 August came and went in a blur of frenzied activity. In the garden the tomatoes started producing in abundance which meant evenings spent preserving that harvest. I fear the coming of winter like the apocalypse and with that same determined self-preservation I will not waste a single tomato. Today I ended up giving some away because, let's face it, 48 pints of diced tomatoes, two quarts dried, and 10 quarter pints of paste is enough. Well, maybe not enough paste. Speaking of paste...
Oh! Squeezo! How I love thee! Best Thrift Store Find EVER!
 Praise the Squeezo food mill! This puppy made making paste uber easy. I used it tonight to get the skins off of steamed sugar pumpkins. In a few weeks it will make canning 48 quarts of apple sauce a relative cinch. Yes, it is a God-send, but a pain to clean the screens.
An August Day's haul: Chard, Kale, Tomatoes, Green Beans, Strawberries, & Zinnia.
I have also been busy blanching greens, freezing berries, making jam and fruit leather and just plain tearing-up the kitchen, homesteading style. Now for the talleys:

Meat: 2; Let this be a lesson to you all: Sometimes a female is actually a male. A poor, picked on, male. We did him a favor. Another female was the favorite and in quail circles that really isn't a good thing.
Eggs: 147 or the equivalent of 2.5 dozen large chicken eggs. I have actually been baking with these as an added deterrent to not eat sweets.
Produce: Once again, I am getting my prices from an organic food co-op in New York state.
  • Strawberries: 1 lb. 4 oz@ 4.86/lb= $6.08
  • Brussels sprouts: 6 oz
  • Paste-type tomatoes: 23 lbs. 3 oz @ 1.02/lb=  $23.65
  • Principe Borghese Tomato: 6 lb. 7 oz.@1.51/lb= $9.72
  • Mortgage lifter tomato: 1 lb. 9oz. @ 2.50/lb= $3.91
  • Cucumber: 4 lbs. 11oz. @1.50/lb= $7.03
  • Sweet Pepper: 1 lb. 12 oz. @ 2.02/lb= $3.53
  • Bunching onion: 1 lb. @ 1.93/bunch(1/4lb)= $7.72
  • Kohlrabi: 3 oz. @2.86/lb= .54
  • Green Beans: 2 lb @ 1.80/lb= $3.60
  • Chard: 3 lbs @ 1.67/bunch(1/2 lb)= $10.02
  • Kale: 2 lb. 10 oz@ 1.77/bunch (1/2lb)= $9.29
  • Celery: 7 oz@ 1.27/head= $1.27
Estimated value of August produce harvest: $90.27!!!

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1 comment:

  1. Lisa CSeptember 6, 2011 at 6:42 PM

    Awesome about the food mill. I don't know how to can tomatoes, though it's been my wish the last two years to do it. I'm not sure we have quite enough this year to make it worth the effort--I may be throwing some in our new chest freezer, though! Whoo! Our tomatoes have really only just started ripening, though, so we'll see.

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