The squash are going to be a lot of fun this year. Each one is a new selection for us this year. We have Red Kuri, Long Island Cheese, New England Sugar Pie, Amish Pie (the last two being pumpkins), Waltham Butternut, and a cool White acorn.The zucchini's are really pushing out blossoms and fruit. We planted Zucchini Rampicante, Longo Bianco, Straita d'Italia, and Horn of Plenty summer squash.
We've already harvested 16 lbs. of pickling cukes which we promptly canned as 13 quarts of bread and butter pickles. One bed of cabbage is done and being enjoyed. We intend on making and freezing a bunch of stuffed cabbage rolls this weekend. The broccoli is done as well. Broccoli is always a disappointment to me. Don't get me wrong, we got a nice yield, however, not a very large yield from the space needed. The garden salsa peppers have been wonderful.
The pickles were done using our new outdoor 2 burner propane stove. Lest year we killed our indoor stove with the heavy water canners, so this year we trekked down to Lehman's Hardware and picked up this stove. It was a wonderful addition. The house doesn't get so hot, the mess is easily managed, and man! does it go fast!
I mentioned our kitchen, lettuce, garden in the past. That has been the superstar this year. We ate huge salads for dinner last night, the total cost $3.00 for 3 people! The budget is definitely helped by that.
The kitchen garden has been such a success, that we're expanding on the idea next year, adding another bed of similar size for different greens and radishes.Spinach was the big loser this year. The area we had them in turned out to be an oven, even on mild days. It suffered badly and didn't produce.
Our Amish paste tomato experiment is paying big dividends. We planted nearly 100 plants in a very small area. Tomatoes don't mind company and work to keep the weeds down. This method will provide us huge yields, but we need to organically feed them as tomatoes are heavy feeders and will quickly use up this patch.
Organic methods are preferred by us, and we're learning as we go. One of our best discoveries is Liquid fence http://www.liquidfence.com/. We were having problems with deer and rabbits stopping in for free lunches. This product works to repel them very effectively. I will warn everyone, this stuff smells like the gates of Hell when you're using it, but works like a charm. The smell is only noticeable the first few hours. The best thing is this is a totally natural product!
Shelley and I are really praying about our future. We have gone over the budget and Shell could stay home to raise our kids and help as the farm expands. We were over-joyed at the prospect, however, God sometimes works in odd ways. Just today, Shell got a call from a local denstist and it looks like she may have a great opportunity to work for him. Either way, we are blessed. Our desire is to follow God's will.
We are very excited about how things are going and how the future is looking in regards to our little microfarm. Hopefully we'll continue experiencing God's blessings on our simple life.
