Poe-tay-toe, Puh-tah-toe

Last night we dug potatoes. This year, we planted a half row of Yukon Gold, a half row of Superior, one row of Kennebec and two rows of Cobbler. The best producers? Kennebec. We got almost as much from one row of Kennebec as two rows of Cobblers!

 Dad said next year we should just plant 6-8 rows of Kennebec. We are a meat and potatoes family, you know, since we live on a beef cattle farm...

 After we dug potatoes, Dad even staged the potatoes for a photo. How thoughtful of him?!

 We almost always use the Ford tractor to dig potatoes, but usually dad hooks up a different blade behind it. This year, we used a different tractor and a different plow-blade. I believe Dad said this one was off of a tiller and he wired it to the sub-soiler he made.

Of course, I drove the tractor and then hopped off at the end of each row to help put potatoes in crates.

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Sunday harvest

Yesterday I harvested:

kale

lettuce

tomatillos

2 Cherokee purple tomatoes

a TON of jalapenos (well maybe a pound or so)

green beans

basil

And I came to the realization that if I want to eat fresh veggies and preserve some for winter, I need a bigger garden. And rain. 

This year I planted 17 tomato plants. I probably need twice that many.

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Harvest Tracking 2011

I know I wasn't very good at telling the blogging world about my harvest, but I kept pretty meticulous records. I have an Excel spreadsheet and every time I brought something in from the garden I weighed it or measured it, and then recorded it.

These are actually pretty bad harvest totals. I wish I would have kept a spreadsheet for the last two years to show you just how bad!

The Seed Investments in parenthesis are seeds I bought last year.

There are several herbs that don't have Total Costs listed, because I haven't figured out the price/unit from the local grocery store.

	Seed Investment(2011)	Total Cost of Harvest	Weight/Volume of Harvest
Vegetables
Artichoke,ea	$3.00	$6.00	2
Beets, Chioggia, oz	($2.25)	4.58	32
Beets, Golden, oz	($2.50)	1.00	7
Carrots, Chantenay, oz	$2.00	1.45	13
Carrots, Tonda di Parigi, oz	$2.25	1.06	9.5
Garlic, oz			4
Garlic, Elephant, oz			4
Leeks, ea	$10.95	1.00	1
Mixed Greens, oz	($3.00)	7.32	40.5
Onion, oz	$10.75	8.11	139.5
Peas, oz	$2.25	.63	7.5
Peppers, Banana Bill at MiL, oz	$1.99	10.84	58
Peppers, Banana, oz	$1.25	1.21	6.5
Peppers, Golden California at MiL, oz	$1.99	1.87	10
Peppers, Golden Marconi, oz	($2.50)	.19	1
Spinach, oz	$1.75	3.99	19
Tomatoes, Amish Paste, oz	$2.50	.17	1
Tomatoes, Black Cherry, oz	$2.50	3.19	19
Tomatoes, Thessaloniki, oz	($1.50)		29.5
Herbs
Chives, Onion, Tbsp	($1.39)		2
Dill, Tbsp	($1.49)		1
Lemongrass, Tbsp	$3.98		2
Oregano, Greek, cups			.375
Parsley, Curly Leaf, cups	($1.39)	2.15	3.24
Parsley, Flat Leaf, cups	($1.39)	.33	.5
Peppermint, Tbsp			22
Rosemary, tsp	$3.98		2
Thyme, Tbsp	$3.98		6
Fruit
Strawberries, oz.		20.47	65.5

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Lamb stuffed mushrooms

Lamb tartare? No, silly, it's the fixins for lamb stuffed mushrooms, from one of my favorite blogs Farmgirl Fare. This blog is about a woman, Susan, who moved from California to rural Missouri, from owning a bakery to owning a sheep farm. Here's today's version of the recipe, which changes every time I make it:

1 lb of ground lamb from Raised Right Meats (one of the booths at the Springfield Farmer's Market)
1/4 of a large yellow onion, chopped
2 oz feta cheese, crumbled
8 oz large mushrooms, rinsed, the stems pulled out and diced
1/4 c parsley, chopped
couple Tbsp greek oregano, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

Last time I made them, I didn't have lamb so I used ground pork and omitted the feta. Afterward, I though cheddar would have been tasty with pork. The first time I made them, I left out the herbs because I didn't have any fresh.

Mix all the ingredients together, form into loose meatballs and press onto the top of each mushroom. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

I use an 9x9 glass baking dish, sprayed with olive oil.

The largest mushrooms I could find at the store were still pretty small, so there ended up being 5 meatballs, too.

Eating them with leftover grilled potatoes and onions, and a spinach/mixed greens salad from the garden.

I had a short bike ride today. My legs were really tired for some unknown reason, so I rode 1.75 miles in 11.5 minutes. About 9.05 mph.

I also have some harvest update numbers. Sunday we got
3 oz of strawberries

Today:
2 oz mixed greens
2 oz spinach
1/4 c curly parsley
1/8 c greek oregano

Totals to date:
Strawberries: 27 oz
Spinach: 15 oz
Mixed greens: 6.5 oz
Curly parsley: .75 cups
Greek oregano: .125 cups

When I go grocery shopping this week, I'm going to try to remember to write down how much these items cost at the store, and then update my "savings" whenever I update harvest numbers. I want to see which items are most cost effective.

The hardest part is bringing the produce inside and weighing it prior to eating it. I'm known for standing in the garden and munching on tomatoes...

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Garden Report 05.13.11

Yesterday, blogger was down, so you get two days worth of harvest today!

Yesterday:
4 oz. strawberries

Today:
5 oz strawberries
2.5 oz mixed greens
1 oz spinach

Total to date:
24 oz strawberries
4.5 mixed greens
13 oz spinach

I should note that the mixed greens are "baby greens" now. They are small and there aren't very many of them, but I know soon there will be soooo many that I will have to share with coworkers!

Yesterday, I also went on a bike ride. 3.04 miles in 20 minutes, average speed of 9.16 mph. Next week is bike to work week but I'm not sure if that will be happening. It's supposed to be colder and I have to drive to West Plains on Monday for a client meeting... We'll see as it gets closer. I was hoping for another "training" ride today, but it has been drizzling all afternoon.

Last night the seedlings stayed in the greenhouse. I've been leaving them on the back stoop during the day to get acclimated but last night I decided to leave them out. It probably stayed pretty warm in there. It's usually 20-30 degrees warmer inside the greenhouse than the outside temperature. I watered them with 1/2 strength fish emulsion fertilizer. That's probably the third time I've done so this season.

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Tracking veggies

I said awhile back that I wanted to track my vegetable harvest this year. I'm already behind... I don't remember what days I harvested, but I've had four spinach salads this size and I've snipped off several bunches of parsley. I weighed the spinach today and it was 2.5 oz. So the count so far for harvested vegetables is:

Spinach: 10 oz
Flat leaf parsley: 1/4 c.
Curly leaf parsley: 1/2 c.

What is that in the picture you ask? Spinach salad with flat leaf parsley, a big falafel patty (I buy a powdered mix from Mama Jeans) and sauteed cheese curds, with a sprinkle of parmesan, some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I think this is how I've eaten all of the spinach so far from the garden, except in two instances I also had kalamata olives. But I ate them all, so I am without until my next Mama Jeans trip.

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