As I was having my early morning coffee, I realized it was Friday, and I still needed an idea to enter in the slug fest called #foodfightfriday, hosted by none other then @dandays, @idig, and @jlsplats.
As I approached the kitchen counter for my second cup of dark roasted, hold the milk and sugar please, cup of bean, there it was, bang, problem solved, the Unicorn ledger.
For the past several years we have kept a journal of our garden.
By now, most of you who have indulged in reading my fff posts, know that around here @farm-mom is the real cook.
Sure, I could have dove head first into her stockpile of pics displaying the wonderful meals she prepares for us.
I may have chopped some veggies in some of those pics.
My face may show up in some of those pics doing the dishes.
Dishes are my forte, both emptying them and washing them.
But this time around I wanted a #fff post which would truthfully display my involvement in the activities being shared in Round #72.
I'm tired of being an impostor.
My idea is to share with you our accounting system, for what we produced in this year's garden.
We have already logged this info, why not bring it to life with some pictures.
When we look back at this post a year from now, it will tell a more detailed story of our garden of 2019, than just a journal.
TOMATOES ***
Plenty for daily consumption, to share with family and friends, but not enough to make any serious tomato sauce.
CARROTS **
17 pounds, enough to blanch some and freeze, but 13 pounds less than last year.
GREEN BELL PEPPERS ****
Great year, plenty to eat fresh for almost 5 weeks through the summer, and plenty to store.
GARLIC ***
We do love our garlic, only 3 stars because we need more.
ONIONS *
Second year that we have had a disappointing yield, but I think I have it figured out. Next year we'll adjust PH, and the soil needs more organic matter.
BEETS ****
My favorite vegetable with a 4 star rating. 😍
4 stars last year as well, just keep doing what we're doing! Plenty of beets for every one, with 20 pounds in storage.
BROCCOLI ****
Having planted 20 broccoli plants, we were able to add this wonderful vegetable to so many dishes. After the main heads were cut, we harvested the florets until the middle of November. Some in storage, but will be growing more next season.
GREEN CABBAGE **
You will not see any stars next to the cabbage in our log. We were able to let the cabbage go until the last week in November. All the other produce had been picked by then, and we forgot to log in the cabbage when we finally harvested.
!st year with cabbage, we will be planting more next year.
STRING BEANS ****
these three poles of beans, about 10 feet high, produced enough beans for everyone,
and gave us almost 10 pounds to put in storage.
SWEET POTATOES *
First attempt at sweet potatoes. The plant looked beautiful, but the tubers were small and there were very few.
I know that this is one of @puravidaville's favorite veggies, my bad.
I know exactly the mistake I made when planting the slip. The slip is the sweet potato plant with the roots already developed. We will give this one another try.
CORN ****
Not home grown, purchased from an Amish farmer 3 miles away. The last 4 years we have bought 12 dozen each year.
If you love sweet corn, there's no better. The farmer grows it organically, which is the only way we love our veggies!
Half of our bounty will be turned into nibblets, and put into storage.
The remainder will be stored on the cob.
Califlower **
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This is the first year we tried this vegetable. Moderate success, but worthy of another try.
This is what I would like to get next year. I bought this beauty at the farmer's market.
Zucchini **
A Powdery Mildew played havoc with our squash for half of the season. Big problem until we found an answer, baking soda, vinegar and water.
There are so many great dishes for squash. Next year should be better.
CUCUMBERS ***
Cold weather cut their season a little short, or they would have gotten 4 stars.
POTATOES ****
The winner of the 2019 garden season.
We had better get busy eating potatoes, 103 pounds goes a long way. It's a good thing they can be prepared in a million different ways.
BUTTERNUT SQUASH *
Total yield 2, not sure about next year, they take up so much room?
EGGPLANT *
This was the only eggplant to set. I have learned that the nights are to cool for the flower to set. Night time temps need to remain above 60 degrees, and that just ain't the case in this neck of the woods.
WILD BLUEBERRIES ****
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What a bounty, and free for the picking, as many as you can handle.
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With 44 pounds in the deep freezer, we should again make it from one season to the next without running short.
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WILD BLACKBERRIES AND RASPBERRIES ****
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Once again, you can pick until you drop. A few months ago, I believe it was @plantstoplanks that posted about picking pears at her mom's house. She mentioned in the post that she was very sore afterward. She stated that it was due too her holding her arms out for so long while picking the fruit. At that exact moment I knew why @farm-mom and I had a knot between our shoulders for a few days after harvesting the berries. It does take some effort to collect as many as you can when the opportunity arises.
With very little effort we were able to freeze enough of this beautiful sauce to last for a while.
This stuff tastes great on ice-cream, fish, and goes great with a salad.
Walnuts **
(
)
That wasn't the way it was supposed to work out, the dam squirrels got more than us. 😢 After finally coming up with a solution we were able to salvage some.
144 in total.
Not bad looking and tasty too!
Before I push the button down on this post, I have heard that #fff and @appreciator have teamed up. Welcome aboard my friend, you are going to meet some great people here, just get into the arena.
What a great way to keep a journal!
Hope you enjoyed!
So awesome! I wish I had a garden like that 😍
Time and space and you're on your way.
Your Food Fight Friday Contender has been entered into Round 72
May your contender make it out alive and not be placed in a permanent
Food Coma
source
Good Luck
and
Have a
!BEER
Thanks gentlemen!
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View or trade
BEER.Hey @thebigsweed, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @foodfightfriday for you. Enjoy it!Never too early for a cold one when you're retired. thank you!
Amazing garden you have there! What a great variety of foods and herbs. I had the same problem with the zucchini plants years ago and would love to hear more about the baking soda and vinegar solution as @idig and i have some zucchini plants sprouting up right now. Also what is your secret for the root vegetables, i tried carrots before with not much to harvest and the few ones i got were really bitter. Anyways again awesome garden, and super cool post! Happy Farming! :)
Thanks for the wonderful compliment.
Fungi such as powdery mildew, can be halted with a simple solution of 2 tablespoons of Baking Soda and 2 tablespoons of Hydrogen Peroxide/gallon of water. Use this solution in a gallon spray bottle and the powdery mildew can no longer thrive on the leaf of the plants, due to this slightly acidic environment.
This is a great solution for this problem.
Here is a link to a blog that @dandays did 4 months ago. If you feel like it, in one of my replies to him is a list of some other solutions and ideas on organic gardening.
https://steemit.com/fff/@dandays/cross-your-forks-and-hope-to-pizza-fff-57#@thebigsweed/px3rv4
We've had a lot of luck with carrots by making sure the soil is as loamy as can be, and by keeping a heavy layer of mulch between the rows of the green carrot tops.
Good luck with your veggies, and however we can be of help, just give us a shout, @cleopatra54
Wowsers!!! Am i supposed to get this excited over a post lol.
Everything looks Amazing and freaking walnuts, i am jealous. I am looking at building some raised beds and this just tips me over.
What a great post idea. Thank You for sharing Sensei 🙏.
Thanks for the wonderful compliment @idig. Hell, you've got me all pumped up.
I'm ready to go out and start shoveling the snow off of the garden.😁
The raised beds are wonderful. After growing veggies exactly as you are doing now, for the first 30 years, we figured raised beds would be much easier to tend.
Good luck with everything you have growing on!
😁😊😂😂
You got me laughing again. Is that snow or vanilla ice-cream?
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Talk about the best last minute decision, ever—got dang! I’m surprised this contender isn’t getting more attention. Great article, sir.
Yes, Pura’s has to be the sweet potato. She and I have our many differences, unfortunately, for me, those are one of them. I can only handle so many, I’m an Idaho spud kinda connoisseur myself and, seeing how she’s the chef, I typically settle for the sweet.
Also, did I read that correctly? Your favorite vegetable is a beat? Certainly that’s a typo.... Nobody ever says that.
And what’s the trick to growing Stellas? I’ve never seen them so ripe before, we’re those straight out of the ground?
Great contender, @thebigsweed. Man, I found the mother load of spray paint. I won’t consider posting anything until we get to Rome but here’s your hype.. “been around the world and I, aye-aye... I found the best spray paint.” (already have a title for it)
Good morning my friend. Best spray paint ever, these murals you're talking about must absolutely be off the charts. You've posted so many great pics of street art, it's hard to believe there could be anything better. Next post involving spray painted murals should be a good one, will keep an eye out .
I hope your stay in Israel is turning out to be everything you expected, and more.
The trick with growing Stellas are the
😊
Thanks for taking time out of your very busy schedule to get back to me.
I'd have to go with @puravidaville with the sweet potato ranking.
For the life of me I can't find beet spelled beat, but who the flock cares. 🤷♀️
I guess that having fingers the size of a banana, there maybe a sprelling eror or 2 now and again.
Stay Safe, Stay in touch, and enjoy @dandays
@thebigsweed.
Dude that’s so funny! Beet and beat. I meant “beet,” nobody ever said their favorite veggie is a beet! <- that’s what I meant. But that sure did work out in my favor, didn’t it?? I thought everyone passed on those things regardless of the spelling—Nope! I know a dude in NYC who says they’re his favorite.
Pura is registering our plane ride for tomorrow as I type, we’ll be en route to Rome tomorrow evening. I’m checking this out while she’s doing that. Oh my goodness, Bob!
Today was amazing. It rained all day or, as I like to call it, we were actively baptized all day today as we walked inside Mary’s tomb, viewed the old city from atop the Mount of Olives, I got a picture inside Jesus’s tomb. And... and... and... Dude.. we stuck our hand inside the rock that the crucifix was planted in. SO much today.. it was a long day. I’ll be sharing it with you soon. And would you believe today is also our 3 year anniversary?! Amazing, right? It’s these types of things that reminds me just how human we are.
Thanks for staying tuned in—that really means a lot. Ima beet the streat now. 😉 Can you Palm a basketball? I can.. my fingers are all over the keyboard, too. 👍🏿
Correct me if I’m wrong, but you guys have an anniversary right now, too, right? I thought I remember you guys being just like one day apart of ours or something. Is that the case?
Blessings to the whole farm! Eh, and thanks for being my listening ear (reading eye—whatever), in case you ain’t noticed, I’ve been running to your phone when I have a free moment cuz I’m so excited to share this experience. I’ve taken over 2,000 pictures dude just of Israel. 2,048 to be exact. Sure, there’s some burts in there but 2k is 2k.... that’s SO much editing and deleting I’ll be doing to make sure ya’all only see the finest.
Ok, she found a restaurant, I’m really gonna leave now!
PS. Man, back when we were radio silent for a minute.. was it as
shiturdy for you as it was for me?! lol! “Guilty.”edit this is like my third edit.... I shoulda known you grow your own F’ing hops!
I'm reading this @dandays top notch reply, after reading what has been going on with pura. By the time this gets to you, I hope you guys have found some sort of solution.
She's way to dedicated to living a healthy lifestyle to have to be dealing with so much.
Send her our love!
So much to share from the Israel leg of your journey. 2,048 pics, heck you've got material for months.
Happy anniversary, three years, I'm sure those three years went by in a blink, that's what happens when your Happy!
The day we said I do was August 30th, do you have anything going on in September. For some reason September rings a bell.
Radio silence, it felt like I had lost a cherished friend.
" we stuck our hand inside the rock that the crucifix was planted in. "
Chilling, something you'll never forget.
Stay Safe!
Here comes another long one, sir.
Our anniversaries and birthdays are so close to each other’s. Thank you for three year wishes. Yeah, my birthday is the day after your anniversary and Pura’s is the middle of September. You’re right, sir, I’m new at this so I wouldn’t have been able to predict just how quickly these three years moved. Your whole life must move at light speed having found @farm-mom so young—way to lead by example you guys.
The only thing I wish I would’ve done about that article is do it sooner. Sir, I think we made some excellent progress. I believe we have it narrowed down to one of two things, diabetes or biome infection. I, honestly, don’t believe it’s diabetes and believe she’s been misdiagnosed for too long. Do you know who @jaguar.force is? If not, I highly recommend following his account, he’s from Argentina and, as much as I knew was, he’s a force for busting people out for plagiarism and stealing other authors content. Well, there’s more to it than that. I’ll be giving him a much more formal thank you in due time once we have a few procedures behind us.
What he does is “image match.” The imagery software he uses is beyond by explanatory realm so I won’t even try but between the pictures and her explanation, I’m like 90% certain he nailed it! We’ll be going back to the UK at the beginning of the year and putting our travels on hold for a minute so she can get into the doctor and get her biome tested. Are you familiar with any of this stuff?
Check out what jaguar taught me. Firstly, our bodies have a “second brain.” It’s not just a weird myth, it’s actual proven science conducted from universities such as UCLA—it’s in the stomach.
Check this out:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gut-second-brain/
And, the further he investigated, he found this article and reading it is like reading Pura’s autobiography—what a trip!
https://robbwolf.com/2017/01/13/what-happened-when-i-got-a-fecal-transplant/
As time progresses, weird things like her inability to throw away trash or feeling uncomfortable when people don’t smile kind of drives me crazy like “what’s up with that?!” Well, according to that article, there’s an explanation for it.
What it means is, the healthy lifestyle of hers is actually “counter-productive.” Fascinating, right?! It essentially means that if your gut biomes are our of whack, everything you do works the opposite—“counter-productive.” When you eat well, your stomach tells the brain you’re eating junk and vice versa, eat junk and the stomach tells the brain you’re eating well. How crazy is that?!
The craziest thing of all is, I learned all of this by reaching out to a group of virtual strangers in less than two days when trained medical professionals couldn’t help us over a 1n1/2 year span.
Our bodies are a trippy as ish and God is great.
What a great community her on Steemit. The outpouring of concern for @puravidaville is amazing, and rightfully so.
Both articles are full of information that is all new to me. I have heard of leaky gut syndrome and the havoc it can cause. The gut, having its own brain sort of speak, seems to play a major role in a person's overall health. "The second brain contains some 100 million neurons, more than in either the spinal cord or the peripheral nervous system, Gershon says." This one fact tells us just how big of a role your gut plays in your health.
That FMT procedure seems like it may be an option.
It just amazes me how standard medicine could be so far off with their diagnosis, it makes you wonder what the heck they're doing.
I hope the information you have garnered over the past several days is helpful.
When the ones we love are hurting we hurt right along with them.
Some answers to Pura's medical issues sure would be welcome, and would give both of you some relief.
We will be keeping in touch, and wish both of you the very best.
You did pretty ell overall but I guess I've not got anything ti compare it to. Some disappointments and some good successes there though I'd say. Must be rewarding knowing you grew most of it yourself.
What are you going to do differently to improve the produce that didn't perform very well? If it's too complicated to explain just say so, I'll understand.
Good morning @galenkp, nice to hear from you again. Overall we are extremely satisfied with the produce we harvested this year, but like most things I do, it won't get by unless it's GI. There is always room for improvement in most things we do. I'm always willing to learn, even at 67. When learning becomes boring, I hope they're throwing dirt on my face.
Always a pleasure to answer any question that may arise from some fellow steemian READING my material.
The issues that we need to address in order to have every vegetable get a 4 star rating will include improving the composition of the soil. Changing the composition of the soil requires some time. With that said, in early November we added a substantial amount of organic matter to both the onion and garlic beds.
The sweet potatoes were planted wrong. When buying sweet potato plants, what you are purchasing are called a slip. When planting the slips, the well developed roots of the slips should be trimmed to a length of 6 inches, that was our first mistake. The roots of the slips must also be planted in a pin wheel fashion, this is something we didn't do last year.
The mistake we made with the carrots was my own fault. Crops should be rotated every year, and I was well aware of this, but with the carrots doing so well in the same boxes for two years, I tried to get a third year from the same raised planters. Next year we will switch the boxes we are planting them in.
The last thing we will do with all of the raised beds we plant in, is to pay extra attention the PH of each box, and the Totally Dissolved Solids, (TDS) of the dirt in each box.
Next year we will adjust these two factors to match the exact veggie to be grown in each box.
These are the instruments we use to do these tests.
Checking the PH is rather simple, while testing The TDS requires some time.
Thanks for showing a real interest in this post, I's greatly appreciated. I hope this reply answered your question.
If you decide to put that rocket between your legs anytime soon, be safe!
Firstly yes, I hear you...Many don't read your posts, or mine, or anyones! My wife, who is not on here, often comments about it and i just say, *"I do it for me, not them," and move on. Anyway, some read your posts and mine too so that'll have to be enough.
You know, I can't help but wonder about those whose lives depended on a decent harvest. Along comes the blight, aphids, frost, hail...And hey die through lack of food or income to buy food. These days not so much of course.
Seems like you have a handle on the mistakes of the past, and I love how you just take the blame for it..."Didn't cut the roots, planted carrots one year too many in that box." Shows character to admit blame.
I reckon dinner at your place would be tasty and the conversation intelligent, fun and engaging.
Thanks for your reply...Almost a post in itself. Might be a good idea to explain crop rotation, Ph and TDS in individual posts...A short series on gardening 101 maybe?
I first got involved with Steemit when my son @ryan 313 explained how it worked. He said it would be a great way for us to leave a journal of life here on the farm, @galenkp
I agreed and thought it would be cool for future generations to be able to check out some old geezers and the way they lived. A partial recording of Gram and Pop's Golden Years.
This is what really motivates me to keep on posting.
I like the idea of gardening 101.
Farmers have always been at the mercy of Mother Nature, what fortitude these unique individuals have. There are a lot of small dairy farmers in this region. Im' not sure how these guys can make a living. Over the summer, milk was selling in the local grocery stores for $1.54 a gallon. Over the past month the price has risen to $2.45, and I'm happy to pay the increase, hoping they're getting part of the increase.
Dinner at the farm with family and friends, are special times for sure.
(
I agree on that it's a great way to document and order your thoughts and daily life and for someone as active in the garden as you I think it's awesome to do so.
Do you save links on a spreadsheet of all your posts? I do. I save them by main tag so I can then scan through and dig them up easily later if I need. Works for me.
Nice family gathering...Must be good to have them around.
A spread sheet outlining posts by their tags sounds like a great idea. Many times I will reference something I have included in another post, and it takes way to long to find the info.
thanks for the idea @galenlkp
It is...Has helped me a lot. This link will make the process easier.
https://helpienaut.github.io/steem/allposts.html
Hey, @thebigsweed.
Awesome. That's an amazing haul of a variety of fruits and vegetables. I know you had some disappointments. but relatively speaking, the yield far exceeds anything we've done. Our best crop in times past have been the tomatoes. This year, not so much. We don't have as much space dedicated to a garden, or nearly the capacity to store it all if we were to ramp up production.
It still intrigues me, though. I don't think I'm a farmer or a homesteader per se, but the idea of providing as much for myself as I can does.
I know you were just sharing, but I think a hardy congratulations for all the produce is in order. Well done. :)
Hello @glenalbrethsen how are you.
Thanks for stopping by and for the such a nice reply. Yea, it was a very good year for the garden.
Having the room and the time are a necessity if one is looking to grow this much produce.
We have been gardening for over 40 years now, and it was not until we retired were we able to get into this hobby like we are now. Storage can also be an issue. A few years ago we went out and bought this deep freezer just for storing our veggies.
With all of the nonsense that goes on with our food supply these days, growing as much as you can for yourself seems to be a wise thing to do.
Gosh but that's a whole load of fruits and veggies @thebigsweed! Those beets are real beauts not so;);)
My hubby also never ever cooks, will make toast, a boiled egg and tea or coffee but no more than that! I suppose it was the done thing back then whereas nowadays the menfolk all cook!
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When @lizelle and @farm-mom do the cooking we tend to get spoiled.
I do a little cooking, around here I have been dubbed the Breakfast King, when the kids are up I'm usually in charge of the first meal of the day. I guess that is because I can make an over easy egg without breaking the yolk. The rule around here is that if you cook you're off the dish detail. needless to say I'm doing dishes, but not when it comes to breakfast. 😂
Thanks for stopping by, for the reply, and up-vote, greatly appreciated!
Nothing better in the world than fresh out da garden. Can’t wait for my season next year. Everything looks mouth watering deliciousso
Thanks @toddfoster. We notice a real difference in both the texture, and more so in the taste of home grown veggies.
Next year seems far away, but before you know it we will be getting our hands dirty.
Great post @thebigsweed, seems like 2 minutes ago we were harvesting all those luscious veggies and berries. Love having our freezer full of our own stuff. No fungicides, herbicides or pesticides.🤗💕
No fungicides, herbicides or pesticides, you got that right. @farm-m, we'll grow them, we'll chop, slice, dice, and grate together, but when it comes to cooking, why go for second best. That falls mostly on your shoulders my beautiful wife.
Beautiful wife, that compliment should score me a couple non-having to cook points.
What's for dinner? 😍😍
Today it's grilled salmon a la robin, bring the vino😊💕
Holy Moses that's an abundant harvest!!! Not knockin' my Mrs., but maybe I shoulda married a farm-mom, lol. I only dream of having a garden like that, but I know it takes time, practice, patience, blah blah blah...
And I'm in agreement w/ @dandays on this one...beets, really? BEETS!?! I remember as a kid my mom covering half my plate with that vile and putrid vegetable. "No getting up from the table until you've eaten all your beets!" Ugh, fair to say, a few of them ended up in the chops of our Maltese, the others were begrudgingly swallowed while I held my nose and hastily reached for my milk to wash the taste out of my mouth. I'd be fine if I never saw another beet in my lifetime.
Hysterical, from the opening line to the last.
It does take some time, and a lot of experimenting with a lot of factors.
I thought you would like this pic,
or maybe I'm just trying to get you to reconsider @intothewild.
If nothing else they make a good dye. 😁
What a bountiful harvest! I know how much work you put into all that produce. Enjoy every meal that comes out of your freezer this winter!
With the freezer packed to the max, we should be able to dip into our stash for quit some time.
Thanks @melinda010100 for the reply, always a pleasure to hear from you.
Just... wow :) Great Gardening, Batman!
Thanks @carlgnash, it was a spectacular for the garden. With some of the things we learned this year, next year may even be a better year.
Great post love the veggies.