Harvest Time

Egads, 3 weeks since my last post. That's just wrong.

But, me thinks life is settling down enough to write far more regularly. I certainly have enough in my head to write!

So far, the weather has been on my side for veggie harvesting. I'm wanting to collapse from fatigue, but that means we'll have good eating this winter. Urban homesteading - at least sort of.

I have a chart - yes, I'm obsessive compulsive - of what I hope to get out of the garden and what I actually get. Once I reach the quota I hope for, I then start freezing for my sister - an apartment dweller. I also give to my aunt and uncle - disabled without a garden this year. And after all of them, comes the food pantry.

My string beans are just coming on - such is the short, late growing season of upstate NY. I just put 3 quarts and 1 pint in the freezer. Did you know you don't have to blanch string beans before you freeze them? Everyone I know was overjoyed! Anytime you don't have to blanche is a good thing!

I've put 14 pints of Swiss Chard in as well. This was my goal, so am happy I got there so quickly, but will probably need more since my beets aren't as good as I hoped. Such is life!

I've only gotten 3 pints of beets (to store) so far. Very disappointing. But, I still have my second planting to put in, and can hope for better with that.

Summer squash - 11 quarts. My goal is 12, but again, with the beets not performing as hoped, I'll store some more of them. I've also started my sister's stash. Oh - I have a hybrid! It's a volunteer from last year, and apparently comingled with a zucchini. Here's a picture of one of the little bastards. They taste wonderful!

Blueberries - Just over 4 gallons, which was the goal. Have started on my sister's and then will give whatever is left to my aunt and uncle. They have thrice the bushes we do and get half the yield. I'm not sure why, but they remain thankful that ours continue to perform so well. I'm actually considering moving some of their bushes to my property and let this be blueberry central.

Composting continues to do well. I'm sure I'll have more to write about on this subject at a later date, but not much for hte moment. I've had 8 hot piles, with 7 turned into 1 large cold pile. I have 1 that will be ready to for the cold pile in about 2 weeks, and 2 newly started hot piles that will be a month before their ready for the cold pile.

Hot composting is good, but research is showing it still doesn't kill the weed seeds, while cold composting does. So I'm doing a combination. I start them as hot piles - 1 cubic yard each, then restart them as hot when they become half volume, then move them to a cold bin, where they just sit and let worms and such do the work. There they'll stay until spring, at which point the top layer will be turned into a hot pile and the rest will be sieved and used throughout the yard. This should kill the seeds with little effort. Should. We'll see.

My tomato line is highly stressed. Next year, I'll be replacing the 2x4's with 4x4's in hopes of them handling the weight better. I'll take a picture and put in a separate post to show the strain. It's fascinating actually!

More musing later. This is merely an update.

L

The Hoarding Begins

My sister and I have always maintained our brother would be the next unibomber, if he hadn't married. Well, we are partially right. He's very much turning into a survivalist, having found a website called Nitro-pak. They sell pre-packed tins of seed for a half acre garden to help you survive a world-wide disaster.

The funny thing is - she and I are right there with him.

He sent me the list of seeds in this "kit". 16 different veggies. OK. I can deal with that. But I wasn't too impressed with the list or the volume. You'd survive a few months, but not until next growing season.

So, I started looking around for other sites of heirloom/organic/open-pollinated seed to augment this "kit". And that's when I stumbled upon the Victory Garden. Now THAT'S a garden. A survivalists garden at that! Almost 3X the seed, fully 3X the variety and included everything except a grinding corn and a grain. That's easily purchased.

Anyone who knows me, knows I can obsess with the best of them. I'm estimating weights per pack, converting from grams to ounces, averaging price per pack, total price per ounce, price vs purchasing it by choosing our own varieties rather than taking the premade "kits".

Anyone who knows gardening knows that regardless of how expensive the seed is, it's still only about 10% the cost of what your total harvest is worth. But, because I love to obsess and play with numbers, I was doing just that.

Here is the list from www.Nitro-pak.com

Packets sealed in the can will store for 4-5 years or more at 75oF. Studies done at Cornell University suggests that for each drop in storage of 75oF, the normal shelf-lifeof most seed varities nearly doubles. Seeds can be refrigerated or placed in a freezer in the can to greatly extend their shelf-life.

Seed Varieties Included in Each Can:
1 Sweet Garden Corn -- Golden Bantam 5 oz.
1 Pole Beans -- Blue Lake 5 oz.
1 Sweet Garden Peas -- Little Marvel 10 oz.
1 Carrot -- Scarlet Nantes 6 g.
1 Onions -- Utah Sweet Spanish 10 g.
1 Cabbage -- Golden Acre 10 g.
1 Swiss Chard -- Lucullus 8 g.
1 Beet -- Detroit Dark Red 8 g.
1 Winter Squash -- Waltham Butternut 6 g.
1 Tomato -- Ace 55 VF 3 g.
1 Zucchini Squash -- Black Beauty 6 g.
1 Lettuce -- Barcarolle Romaine 4 g.
1 Pepper -- Yolo Wonder 5 g.
1 Radish -- Champion 10 g.
1 Spinach -- Bloomsdale Long Standing 10 g.
1 Cucumber -- Marketmore 76- 8 g.

The list from www.HeirloomSeeds.com/Victory.html (Plus, they have 2 other choices, should this be a bit too extensive for you).

BEANS (6 varieties): Black Turtle, Bush Blue Lake, Commodore, Fordhook Lima, Old Homestead Pole and Pencil Pod Black Wax
BEETS (2 varieties): Chiogga and Early Wonder
BROCCOLI (1 variety): De Cicco
BRUSSELS SPROUT (1 variety): Long Island Improved
CABBAGE (2 varieties): Early Jersey Wakefield and Red Danish
CARROTS (2 varieties): Amsterdam Minicor and Autumn King
CAULIFLOWER (1 variety): Early Snowball
CELERY (1 variety): Golden Self Blanching
COLLARD (1 variety): Georgia
CORN (1 variety): Golden Bantam
CUCUMBER (2 varieties): National Pickling and Tendergreen Burpless
EGGPLANT (1 variety): Black Beauty
GOURD (1 variety): Ornamental Small Mix
KALE (1 variety): Dwarf Blue Curled
KOHLRABI (1 variety): Early White Vienna
LEEK (1 variety): American Flag
LETTUCE (5 varieties): Black Seeded Simpson, Buttercrunch, Freckles Romaine, Gourmet Salad Blend, and Mesculin Mix
MELONS (2 varieties): Jenny Lind and Sweet Passion
MUSTARD GREENS (1 variety): Southern Giant Curled
OKRA (1 variety): Clemson Spineless
ONION, BUNCHING (1 variety): Evergreen White Bunching
PARSNIP (1 variety): Hollow Crown
PEPPERS (4 varieties): California Wonder, California Wonder Gold, Jalapeno and Long Red Cayenne
PEAS (3 varieties): Early Frosty, Mammoth Melting Sugar and Sugar Daddy
PUMPKINS (1 variety): New England Pie
RUTABAGA (1 variety): American Purple Top
RADISH (2 varieties): Easter Egg and Crimson Giant
SPINACH (2 varieties): Bloomsdale Long Standing and New Zealand
SQUASH, SUMMER (4 varieties): Dark Green Zucchini, Golden Zucchini, White Patty Pan and Yellow Crookneck
SQUASH, WINTER (2 varieties): Butternut and Spaghetti
SWISS CHARD (2 varieties): Lucullus and Ruby Red
SOUTHERN PEA (1 variety): California Black-Eyed
TOMATO (6 varieties): Besser, Big Red, Giant Beefsteak, Homestead 24, Pink Brandywine and Roma
TURNIPS (1 variety): Purple Top White Globe
WATERMELON (1 varieties): Sugar Baby
HERBS (10 varieties): Basil, Chives, Coriander, Cumin, Dill, Marjoram, Oregano, Parsley, Summer Savory and Thyme

Now - anyone who knows anything about gardening knows just about any seed will last a decade under normal conditions - stuck in a drawer with envelope at least partially intact. So, if you put the seeds in your own tin - anything air tight - and shove it in your freezer (assuming you have one), it'll last far longer than a decade.

I've digressed a bit since the title is about Hoarding. LOL - I'm good at digression.

Because the economy and the EU's outlook on the US economy are far more grim than any of the US talking heads are willing to state, I'm getting more nervous about things all the time.

Fuel costs are on course for outer space. Ditto on utilities. Food costs aren't going to go down, between the previously mentioned factors as well as drought, flooding, fires and Monsanto - my favorite conspiracy theory industry giant.

I have started, but not in earnest, to hoard grains. This month, I am going to start collecting more - up to $50 worth each month until I feel we have a comfortable cushion.

Wheat flour - 50#
Rye flour - 30#
Corn meal - 20#
White rice - 10#
Brown rice - 10#
Barley - 10#
Oats - 10#
Dry beans - whatever our store has - 3# of each

I'm also hoping to preserve the following, both from our garden/property and through local farmer's market...

Peaches - 26 pts and 1 batch of jam
Applesauce - 26 pts - from property
Blackberry jelly - 1 batch - from property
Blueberries - 20 qts - from property
Tomatoes - 26 qts - from property
Corn - 26 pts
Green Beans - 26 pts - from property
Yellow/Green Squash - 26 pts - from property
Chard stems for soup - 26 C - from property
Chard Greens - 26 pts - from property
Quince jam - 1 batch - from aunt's
Dill pickles - 1 batch - from property
Bread and Butter Pickles 1 batch - from property

Yeah. If you're going to do something, do it right. Go allll the way. Jump in with both feet.
I'm not going into survivalist mode, I'm "homesteading". LOL Yeah. Right. I know better.