2014 Garden Harvest

We had a wonderfully productive garden this year!  It's always exciting to see what kind of harvest we get after all the work we put into it.

The asparagus is always ready first and we definitely look forward to having it.  We had countless meals with it, but our favorite way to cook it was on the grill...delicious!  It came on the strongest it's ever been this year, so there was definitely more than enough to keep us happy. ;-)

We had a lot of summer meals that looked similar to this.  I can't tell you how many times I made 'Zucchini Scramble' (top left)!  It was a wonderful way to use up all the zucchini, onion and eggs that we had.  We actually had zucchini growing into October, so I just made the last zucchini scramble a few weeks ago!  The 'Zucchini Fritters' and 'Fried Cabbage' are also favorites and we ate those numerous times as well.

 I'm pretty sure I made all my favorite zucchini recipes at least once and this bean dish was also requested by Rich.  It's something I look forward to as well.  It doesn't use a whole pound of bacon, so I decided to use up a tomato and have BLTs to make up a meal. :-)

 I don't think I canned as much as I have in the past, but I still have a lot of beans and tomatoes (the main things I can) from previous years and didn't need much.  I canned 36 pints of beans (4 batches), 56 pints of zucchini salsa (7 batches) and 18 quarts of spaghetti sauce (2 batches).

 When the sweet corn is ready, things really get exciting!  The kids LOVE corn-on-the-cob and couldn't wait to help husk.  The cattle were more than happy to help as well!  We ended up with 20 pints of corn that I froze along with a few meals worth of corn-on-the-cob.  I think I counted about 120 ears of corn that we picked this year. :-)

 The sweet corn is in it's own garden with the pumpkins.  We ended up with 5 pumpkins this year, but one had rotted before we got to them.

 Blake was a 'pro' at picking pumpkins.  Morgan and I struggled to get one off the vine...trying not to get picked by the vines while still trying to grab them.  (Gloves would have been smart.)  Blake just held onto the stem with one hand, stomped the vine with his foot and the other 3 pumpkins were off the vine in no time!  He amazes me with his ingenuity sometimes. ;-)

 Posing with their pumpkins.  

 We've cooked and eaten three of the pumpkins.  I've tried several recipes, including mini muffins, pumpkin snicker doodles, pumpkin pie, a pumpkin roll cake, pumpkin french toast bake and pumpkin pancakes.  The only thing the kids liked were the snicker doodles though. :-/

I tried a new kind of popcorn this year called "Glass Gem", instead of the 'Indian', aka 'Rainbow', popcorn that I usually grow.  The instructions said to wait until the stalks were no longer green to get the most vibrant colors, so we were picking them a good month later than usual, but it was well worth the wait!  Of course the kids were wonderful helpers!  They love opening the beautiful little surprises. :-)

We absolutely LOVED these colors!

 I quickly got them all bunched and hung to dry before they molded.  I'm excited to see how they pop up and what they taste like!  Of course I'll be holding onto some to replant next year as well. :-)

We ended up with 13 butternut squash.  (I found another hiding in the garden after these were picked.)  I'm hoping to eat them all before they go bad...but that would be A LOT of squash!  LOL! 

The kids helped Rich dig ALL THESE potatoes too.  The top view doesn't do the amount that is there justice.  Rich said it's about 7 milk crates worth.  I think we could eat them every day for the next 5 months (they don't last much longer than that) and still have plenty left to plant in the Spring!

The gardens have all been cleaned out now.  We had a new addition, some ever-bearing strawberries, that I have covered with straw and ready for winter.  I have to admit it's such a huge relief to be done with the garden until the Spring.  I don't know why I let it stress me, trying to use up everything so it doesn't go to waste, but I do.  It's a good feeling to have made the most of our garden and have plenty to eat through the winter, though. :-)

Garden Harvest 2013

Our little garden did quite well this year.

The one thing that I wish did a little better was the zucchini, but I still got all sorts of zucchini salsa and ate way too much zucchini bread and zucchini brownies...SO YUMMY!

 

The apple tree made up for last year and was bursting with apples.  Last year we had a warm week in March causing it to blossom early, then frost came and killed the blossoms.  We think there were maybe 10 apples on the tree. :-/

 The kids loved climbing the ladder and finding the best apples to make applesauce out of.  We canned about 8 pints.  I think the tree could have given us hundreds of pints-LOL!

These are the tomatoes we had when we cleaned out our garden.  It felt so good to have the garden cleaned out, but the amount of tomatoes from just 9 plants was beyond overwhelming!  My sister ended up with most of them because I had canned all the salsa, tomatoes and spaghetti sauce that I had wanted.  We gave more away to my dad and my mother-in-law, but ended up throwing out the rest.

 We planted about the same number of potatoes this year, but they flourished in our cooler, wet summer!  I bet we had double to triple the potatoes and they were HUGE!  They'll last us most of the winter and we'll replant what's left.

These pumpkins started off so cute!  The kids really wanted to carve them and I thought I'd probably cook up one or two.  Unfortunately, when we set them out as decorations, the chickens decided they looked tasty and pecked away at them. At least the fed and made the chickens happy. ;-)

The end of the day we cleaned out (most of) the garden.  Our picnic table is quite big and it was FULL!

Morgan and Blake are awesome helpers when it comes to picking and husking the Indian popcorn!  This is a small portion of what we got.

It's currently hanging up in the mudroom to dry.  It's all across the sliding glass doors and the window.  We'll shell it soon and then have some tasty popcorn to eat through the winter.

We also planted 2 sweet potato plants that produced more than we could have imagined.

They turned out quite big.  From our experience last year, the big ones didn't have as much flavor, but I hope that's not true this year...

 ...we have A LOT of them! :-)

 I'd say I can't wait for next year's garden but, to be honest, I'm glad...ecstatic actually...to be done for the year.  The work from the garden in the Spring, Summer and Fall sure makes me look forward to winter!  ;-)

Wordful Wednesday: Summer Break So Far

The kids last day of school was last Thursday and this is what we've been up to since:

 

Kindergarten picnic on the last day of school.

 Last day of school gift of their favorite Avenger Velvet Posters to color. (50 cents each and they couldn't be happier!)

 Working up the garden.

 More chicks!

 More dancing...in the park during a craft fair.

Having friends over.

Cheerleading camp.

 Pickin' strawberries...

 ...and, of course, eatin' strawberries!

We've also had a couple cookouts with our Dads for Father's Day and went to see a little 6 year old friend play softball.  Morgan finally got to spend some of her winnings at Toys 'R Us too...still $75 left to spend, but I think her new Hello Kitty Radio Alarm Clock and Blake's Battleship game will keep them satisfied for a while :-)

(As you can see I switched to 'Wordful Wednesday' since I can never seem to keep it 'Wordless'!)

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Our Memorial Day 2013

I hope everyone has enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend!  We were busy, but made sure to make it to our town's parade and Memorial Day ceremony first thing in the morning.  Both are always a really nice way to remember those who served, and gave their lives, for our freedom.

 

The kids were all ready for the parade, but we had a few minutes before it started so we ran down to the swinging bridge to check it out.  (They've been on it countless times, but it never gets old!)

Our way of enjoying the parades in town...by riding in the fire truck!  Since the fire trucks are always last, we still get a chance to watch the parade before we have to take off and be in it.

This is some of what we saw.

After the parade and ceremony, we went to the greenhouse to get our plants and seeds to plant our garden!  We always try to get it in Memorial Day weekend, but were unable to until Monday due to the threat of frost each night.

 

After Rich rotortilled a couple times, we worked to put up the chicken wire.  (Boy did that bum out the chickens!  LOL!)  And then I spent the next few hour putting in 9 tomato plants, 6 peppers, a row of onions, about 14 cabbages, a handful of peas (for Blake), 54 potatoes, 2 sweet potatoes, 3 zucchini, several butternut squash, 2 rows of popcorn...

 ... and 3 rows of sweet corn in our other little garden.  We're also expecting some voluntary pumpkins to pop up in this garden since there were all sorts of seeds in it already.  I still need to plant the green beans as well, but we didn't have the cattle panel for them to grow on until tonight to know how much to plant.  I should be able to get them in within the next couple days.

 

Now for the watering, weeding and waiting until the veggies start coming!

I'm very thankful for a beautiful day and for the men and women who have served to give me the freedom to enjoy this Memorial Day (and every day!)  :-)

Wordless Wednesday: Spring Gardens

We planted asparagus 2 years ago, but had to give it this long to establish itself.  After a 2 year wait we'll finally get to enjoy our Spring harvest!!

 I shared a picture of the daffodils already, but my hyacinths came up now too!  I love the purple and yellow together! :-)

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Making Gardening Fun for Kids: Plant Pumpkins!

Pumpkins are such an easy seed to plant and they make for one of the most fun fruits come fall!  Over the years, my kids have enjoyed pumpkins in several ways which I want to share with you:

1. Numerous Varieties:  Pumpkins come in all sorts of varieties.  Some are tiny, like the Jack-Be-Little, which any child would enjoy picking.  There are more medium sized ones, which are better for pie pumpkins, or for just general culinary enjoyment.  And then there are the huge pumpkins, the Jack O' Lanterns, that are great for carving!  They also come in different colors and shapes.  Let the kids help decide what to plant or plant a different kind each year!

2.  Watch them grow:  Kids will love watching for the first sign of a pumpkin growing on the vines.  Then they'll love counting how many they can find.  At one point they'll ask why the pumpkins are green and anxiously watch each day to see if they're turning orange.  During that time you'll hear "Look how BIG this one is!"  Such simple joys! ;-)

3. Harvest as a family:  Harvesting the pumpkins makes for some great family time that the kids will love and never forget!  Use a wagon to help gather them all.  The kids will love pulling the wagon around!  Gathering pumpkins makes for some great photo ops too!  Be sure to take A LOT of pictures!  Arrange the pumpkins how you like and get some nice fall photos of the kids.

 

4. Decorate:  Either carve the pumpkins, decorate them with push-pins or paint them.  Any one of those ways will be a fun time with the kids.  Also, let them help use the pumpkins to decorate the house or a fall garden!  They'll love taking part in making the house and yard beautiful for fall.



 

5: Make pumpkin treats: I could go on and on about yummy pumpkin treats to make, but I'll keep it short.  Some favorites in our home are pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin coconut bread and pumpkin upside-down cake.  There are all sorts of pumpkin recipes to try, so have fun baking and let the kids help! The seeds also make for a wonderful healthy snack that I'm sure many kids would enjoy...just not mine :-/

 

This is the second installment of my "Making Gardening Fun for Kids" series.  Click here to visit my first post.