How to Grow Your Own Food – Weigh In Wednesday

This year my goal is to grow 2,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables. I think I can do it. With 16 raised garden beds, a greenhouse, a raspberry patch and a few more planting beds sprinkled throughout our property, I believe growing 2,000 pounds of food is an attainable goal. Even if I do live right in the middle of high maintenance suburbia, and my neighbors think I’m nuts. ~Mavis

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When I first started this challenge, I thought I would be selling our excess produce at the end of my driveway each week.  But as time wore on, the idea has sort of faded a bit.  Giving away food to the food bank, the local homeless shelter, and to random people on the street {free carrots and free zucchini} as well as bartering my my neighbors has been a blast.

If I wanted to earn some money, right now I think my big cash crop would be our heirloom pumpkins.  But at this point, I think we might just keep a few for ourselves, barter some with my neighbor Girly Girl {actually Chino, because I always get a better deal} and then donate the rest to our local woman’s shelter so some kids can have a really cool pumpkins to carve this year.

So even if I don’t break even, it was still worth it. It’s been one heck of an adventure, and to me, that’s worth more than money.

Life is good.  It’s even better when we share.

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Here is what I have harvested so far this year:

Basil 1 lb 9 oz {how to make pesto}

Beans 21 lbs 3 {green bean salad, how to can green beans, dilly beans}

Beets 58 lb 20z {how to can beets}

Blueberries 4 lb 5 oz {mixed berry pie recipe}

Broccoli 4lb 14 oz {pasta salad with broccoli, carrots, and sun dried tomatoes}

Broccoli Rabb 1lb 6 oz {chickpeas with broccoli raab and bacon}

Cabbage 57 lb 0 oz {how to make sauerkraut}

Carrots 116lbs 14 oz {carrot cake recipe}

Cauliflower 4lbs 11 oz {cauliflower hummus rocks!}

Chives 1lb 3 oz {chalkboard painted herb pots}

Cucumbers 51lbs 14 oz {cucumber salad}

Anna Swartz Hubbard Squash 184 lbs 1 ounces {Hubbard Squash Pie}

Golden Hubbard Squash 22 lbs 5 oz

Sweet Meat Squash 9 lbs 13 oz

Kale 2 lb 11 oz {how to make kale chips}

Lettuce 14 lb 6 oz {bbq chicken salad}

Mint 4 lbs 12 oz {Fresh Pea Salad with Spinach, Feta and Mint}

Onions 32 lbs 5 oz {Kentucky Fried Chicken Cole Slaw}

Oregano 4 lbs 15 oz

Mushrooms 9.25 oz {read more about how I grew mushrooms}

Peas 38 lb13 oz {fresh peas and bacon recipe}

Pears 8 lbs 5 oz {how to make pear jam}

Peppers 5 lb 8 oz {Homemade Salsa}

Potatoes 40lb 8oz {potato soup recipe}

Howden Pumpkins 59 lbs 11 oz

Jarrahdale Pumpkin 18 pounds 3 oz

Radish 15lb 12 oz {how I bartered radishes for avocados}

Raspberries 2 lb 7 oz {how to make a raspberry buckle}

Spinach 2lb 5 oz {garlic spinach dip recipe}

Sprouts 10 oz {how to grow sprouts}

Strawberries 16 lbs 3 oz {dehydrated strawberries are awesome}

Swiss Chard 24 lb 7 oz {rainbow Swiss chard recipe}

Tomatoes 71 lb  15 oz{roasted corn salad with tomatoes and feta}

Zucchini 257 lb 11 oz {how to make zucchini relish, zucchini salad, zucchini brownies}

Miscellaneous 8lb 2 oz {This means we let someone come and pick vegetables, or did not get a chance to weigh them individually, and this was the total weight of all the vegetables combined}

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So that’s what I’ve grown so far this year… How about YOU?

How is YOUR garden doing?

Total Food Harvested in 2012: 1168 pounds 12.25 ounces

I have spent a total of $516.21 on seeds, soil, plants and supplies for this year.

Little House in the Suburbs: Backyard farming and home skills for self-sufficient living, is an easy-to-follow advice book that will show you everything you need to know to enjoy an abundant, independent life on food and products grown in your own back yard.  This is a great book and Amazon currently has it in stock and ready to ship.