Harvest Monday

eggplant & jalapeno

Well here I am late again. Just so many things to do and think about around here! This week for once there were no cucuzzi to pick! I think because gourds are night bloomers and pollinated by moths and we've had some cold nights so no insects were around. Which means I'll be pulling things down and revamping that space as soon as I can get to it.

This little pile of pumpkins weighed a lot more than I thought it was going to!

I picked some of the pomegranites.

We're starting to get down to 30-32F early in the morning so next week I'll probably pick the rest of the pomegranites

The new pullets are laying 5-7 eggs a day.

While the garden is not producing a lot there are a few things, along with milk and eggs. I need to get more things planted but having a hard time getting to them because there is so much other work to be done. Many things I couldn't get to when it was so hot and now the days are getting short. I always feel like I'll never get caught up and get things the way they need to be. 

Milk production is down slightly with the shorter days and the girls coming into heat. Bambi has been bred to kid in March so I will dry her off at the end of the year or sooner if need be and milk Esmarelda through, breeding her next fall. I don't need tons of kids or huge amounts of milk

Totals for last week

Pomegranite 2# 8.5 oz

Pumpkins 82# 8.5oz

Milk

Bambi 4 gal, 6.75 pints

Esmarelda  9 gal 5.5 pints

Eggs 46

I didn't weigh the pathetic showing of peppers and eggplants

Thanks for stopping!

What Happened to Harvest Monday

Bentley

What happened to my usual Harvest Monday post? Well some crazy stuff happened last week!

It all started on Wednesday when Bambi came into heat and went on a date

This fence is trashed

And it ended with a demolished fence and two bloody bucks. So then I had to spend all my time on Friday securing a different spot for Bentley

 

So I wasn't able to pick any vegetables for Saturday's Farmers Market.

Things are a little bit calmer now, with more distance between the boys and so far no girls have come into heat this week. Kind of holding my breath on that.

Anyhoo Harvest Monday is a great blog hop hosted by Dave over at Happy Acres so hop on over there and see what everyone else was able to harvest!

eggs

goat milk

I did get a total of 50 eggs last week and a combined total of 13 gallons, 5.5 pints of goat milk. Whew, hopefully this week will be better!

Harvest Monday

Japanese Eggplant

Welcome to Harvest Monday, a blog hop hosted by Dave over at Happy Acres The summer garden is winding down and the fall garden is not yet started to any degree. It has been too blasted hot. We are back up to 100+ this past week, so I seriously doubt there will be any fall tomatoes other than a few cherry types. The heat is also slowing down bed prep and seeding of fall crops.

Eggplant & Jalapeno

Cucuzzi

There were a few eggplants and jalapenos and a lot of cucuzzi. A lot of my market customers have tried the cucuzzi and have come back for more so I'm happy for that.

The milk explosion continues

Egg production is still low

Esmarelda is still giving me 11-12 pints of milk a day and Bambi is still on her steady 6. The last new pullet has started laying so that makes 7 new steady layers. But most of the old girls quit when it got hot in the summer, then they started molting. Most of them are going to freezer camp as soon as it cools off enough to do that because I'm in the red every month for feed. 

 There are a couple of Legbars laying nice size light blue-green eggs and I'm seriously contemplating hatching chicks from them. Chicks that hatch in the fall tend to start laying in spring and lay well over the summer when the older hens quit and I have the biggest market for eggs. I'm still at war with myself over it though, will I have enough time and energy to raise them well. I don't know, I'm going to think about it some more before I actually do it. And I'm going to check with some 4H families if they'd like to hatch and raise chicks until they are big enough to sex, in exchange for some of them. I would pay for their feed in exchange for their doing the work.

Harvest Monday

Giant Cucuzzi 

Harvests this week were pretty thin. However the cucuzzi, an edible gourd from Italy is trying to make up for other things. This is the first year I have grown and eaten cucuzzi and it is a bit different from squashes. No one wanted to buy this giant at the farmers market so I cut into it when I got home. Most of the seeds in the top half were still pretty small and soft, getting bigger and harder towards the bottom. The flavor was stronger than the small one I tasted before (although I still can't describe the taste!). Since I was tired and not really in cooking mode I cut it up and took some to the goats. Only one wanted some, but it was my silly girl that eats anything. So I gave the rest to some chickens and they ate it up.

Green Knight eggplant

The eggplants are still coming in pretty good. I mostly ended up with Green Knight, but also have some other colors, having planted several different mixtures of Japanese eggplant. 

eggplant harvest

harvest 8/30

Ready for the farmers market

the giant cucuzzi

It has been cooler and dryer this past week and I have had a hard time keeping up on watering, especially things in smaller pots.

One garden with a lot of tomato plants has some dead and dying plants in it. It's possibly from root knot nematodes or perhaps just not enough water. I really need to get out and do some maintenence but it's been really hard when it's hot and the UV is really high. I just can't work in the direct sun, even if it's under 100F. 

This weeks harvest totals

cucuzzi 6# 11 oz

Eggplant 2# 4.5 oz

Tomatoes 2# 4 oz

Milk

Bambi 7.5 gallons

Esmarelda 4 gallons, 7 pints

AND she's still feeding triplets

eggs 5 dozen

Thanks for stopping by! I hope all your harvests are wonderful. Thanks to Dave at Happy Acres for hosting the blog hop. So much fun to see what other folks are doing and to 'visit' other gardens and gardeners, even if it isn't in person.

Harvest Monday

Prickly Pear

Welcome to Harvest Monday! This is a blog hop that I used to participate in regularly and I'm trying to get back in the swing of things here. You can see more participating blogs here; Harvest Monday

This past week I harvested about 24 pounds of prickly pear cactus fruit.

Cucuzzi gourd

Thanks to the Hollar Homestead over on YouTube for showing this new vegetable. So I knew what it was when I saw the seeds. It does however look like it might take over the world!

Eggs and bird pecked peaches

I don't think I counted the peaches, just tasted the better parts of them. They are firm ripe but not yet super sweet and juicy. However I am battling the squirrels and birds for them! The peaches are from a seedling tree I call Nida's Peach after the lady I bought it from. See more of that tree here.

Not sure what the round egg plant is, the others are Japanese in different colors

Ready to go to the Farmers Market

Not a huge haul this week, the tomatoes are petering out because it was so hot in June and July they couldn't set fruit. There are some more cherry tomatoes out there because they always come through.

So this weeks totals are;

Prickly Pear 22 pounds

Eggplant 2 pounds 8.5 ounces

Tomatoes 2 pounds 8 ounces

Zucchini 3 pounds

Cucuzzi 8 ounces

Eggs 51

Milk almost 9.5 gallons

Hopefully I'll manage to keep up this week. Enjoy the blog hop and I'll see you next time.

Harvest Monday

egg production is picking up

Harvest Monday, a day to show off your harvests. Brought to you by Our Happy Acres This post is for two weeks because last week I was having issues connecting with my wifi.

After a long spell of very few eggs production is picking up. Some of the old girls are laying a few extra large eggs a week while the young hatchery girls I bought last fall are just getting started with small pullet eggs.

baby pak choi

There's still lots of baby pak choi and red mustard greens. It's getting so warm some of the pak choi is trying to bolt, but still tastes delicious.

There's not much else to pick right now, since it was so hot and dry in the fall a lot of things didn't make it. I still have a pile of small and medium spaghetti squash, but the Red Kuri and the Delicata are gone. I just put in the first batch of lettuces so hopefully they will be ready soon.

A little catching up, January totals. totals do not count buckets of greens pulled for the chickens

crop	TOTAL
pak choi	13.0000
herb, cilantro	0.6875
herb, parsley curly	0.1875
herb, rosemary	0.0625
herb. Sage	0.1250
mustard, red giant	6.3125
Month total	7.3750

Eggs: January 2018  526

Feb
Crop
Pak choi           4.625
Red Mustard     3.3125
Spinach             1.25

Feb total            9.1875

Harvet Monday

baby pak choi

Well I have finished my totals for 2017. I am going to try and be more organized on all fronts this year. Doing it all at once is a pain but now that the forms are set up in the computer it should be easier to keep up. I was actually surprised to discover how much I grew. The following does not include spoiled produce, with bug bites, bird pecks, ect. It also does not include a lot of herbs that I cut and fed to the chicken.

crop	2017
pak choi	7.3125
apples	19.2500
beets	35.8125
broccoli	6.1250
carrots	25.1875
cauliflower	3.8750
chard	57.9375
collards	50.5625
cucumber, Armenian	67.3750
cucumber, Market More	47.3125
elephant garlic	26.8750
green beans, bush	24.1250
green garlic
herb, basil, Italian	3.6875
herb, Basil, lemon	0.1250
herb, basil, thai	0.7500
herb, chives, Chinese	1.0000
herb, cilantro	5.5000
herb, dill	0.5625
herb, lavender	0.1250
herb, lovage	0.6875
herb, parsley curly	4.1250
herb, parsley,  flat	3.8125
herb, rosemary	0.3125
herb. Oregano	0.3750
herb. Sage	0.6875
kale	20.6875
kale, lancinato	37.5625
kale, red russian	29.6250
kale, scarlet	66.5625
leek	14.5625
lettuce bibb	13.2500
lettuce leaf mix	24.0000
melon, hales	46.8750
melon, Northern NM	34.8125
mustard, red giant	19.0625
mustard, red mizuna	7.0000
onion bulb	27.7500
onion, green	4.6250
potato white creamer	23.0625
potato, all blue	20.2375
potato, all red	17.3750
potato, Belinda	62.3750
potato, chieftan	5.5625
potato, yukon nugget	4.7500
potatoes	5.8000
pumpkin, Jack Be Little	3.3750
pumpkin, volunteer	43.1875
radish	6.1250
snap peas	49.6025
snap peas sweet magnolia	6.1875
spinach	7.5625
squash, Honey Boat Delicata	12.2500
squash, red kuri	30.1250
squash, spaghetti	99.2500
tomato, cherry mix	51.6250
tomato, large mix	13.6875
turnip greens	17.3750
turnips	23.1875
watermelon, Black Tail Mt.	69.8125
watermelon, Hopi Yellow	36.7500
zucchini & summer squash mix	747.1875
total for year	1724.5775

So I'm hooking up with Harvest Monday, a fun blog hop where you can show off your harvests. Of course I forgot to write down what I harvested this week. But it wasn't very much. A lot of things are looking a bit sad with the dry cold. 2018 goal; double the poundage ;-)

Harvest Monday

8 pound Northern New Mexico Melon

Hales cantaloupe and Marketmoore cukes

Once again I missed Harvest Monday last week and I'm late this week. Go visit other gardeners around the world and see what they are picking, planting and eating.

N. NM Melon, Armenian and Marketmoore cukes

assorted squash

There have been cucumbers, squashes and melons to pick. the Northern New Mexico melon is an heirloom from the Pueblos. It was sweet and tasty.

Hales, Armenian and Marketmoore

Black Copper Marans cockerel

Olive egger cockerel

Black Copper Marans pullet

tree seedlings

The formatting is all whacky today and I can't seem to fix this page how I want it to display. Oh well, not wasting any more time.  My phone app already lost this whole post and then the PC needed a malware scan and had over 1,000 things. No wonder it's been funky.

I did plant red mustard and turnips in the bed recently vacated by the beans. While prepping the bed for replanting I discovered some tree seedlings. At least a couple are honey locust and so far no thorns. The others have similar but slightly different leaves so I'm no sure what they are. They are now in 1 gallon pots while I wait and see.

So totals for 2 weeks
Harvest for Aug 21-27
8-22
cantaloupe    5# 6 oz
8-23
squash          9#  6 oz
8-24
Big tomatoes   11oz
squash          2#  11oz
Armenian cuke 2# 8oz
beans         1# 8oz
8-25
flat parsley      4oz
rosemary         negligible
sage                1oz
Armenian     5# 9oz
Marketmoore  5# 0oz
Honey Boat delicata  2# 8oz
8-27
squash 30#
8-31
Scarlet kale    2# 9oz
Lancinato      1#  8oz
chard              1# 6 oz
Marketmoore 10# 8oz
9-1 (I can't believe it's Sept!)
squash 30#  0oz
cantaloupe 1# 13oz
N. NM melon  8# 2oz
cherry tomatoes  2# 4oz
Armenian   17# 9oz
Marketmoore   2# 4oz

TOTALS for 2 weeks
melons       15# 5oz
squash        72# 1oz
big tomatoes 11oz
cucumbers   43# 5 oz
beans        1# 8oz
herbs              5oz
delicata      2# 8oz
kale            3# 1oz
chard             1# 6oz
cherry tomatoes 2# 4 oz

TOTAL     141# 14oz

Harvest Monday

lots of yellow pear and a few others kinds

Hooking up with Dave for Harvest Monday. I missed last week so again this is a two week post.Last week there were some cherry tomatoes. 

half of the beans

Almost 10 pounds of green beans. 

Armenian and Marketmoore cucumbers

Some Marketmoore and Armenian cucumbers. 

yellow patty pans were good again

Of course there were a lot of squash.   There was a good amount of kale, chard and collards but I didn't take new pics. I picked flowers and herbs on Saturday morning but flat didn't have time to take pictures.  I wish I had. I had some nice sunflowers and dahlias and the bouquets sold fast

Thatched cottage bird house

small red poppy birdhouse

Arizona sunset birdhouse

Sunflower birdhouse

Pink roses birdhouse

I painted some of the gourds I grew last year and made birdhouses. They really drew a lot of attention to my booth. The red poppy one has sold already.

This past week was not such a good one around the farm. After our cool rainy weeks it turned really hot and dry. Something, either a rat or squirrel chewed through a sprinkler hose. I lost a couple of squash plants and the rest looked really bad so there were only a few squash.

Then somehow the valve on the drip line to the beans was turned part way off and they didn't get enough water so there were only a couple of pounds of beans. Lost a few plants there too.

I did get a couple of watermelon and a lovely cantaloupe. There were the usual kale, collards and chard to pick, along with herbs.

In another lack of water even the Honey Boat Delicata squash in the front yard bed croaked and I picked all the squash. I tried one, cooked in the microwave and was not impressed so I didn't take it to market. I don't know if it was too green and needs to sit and sweeten up or if it was the microwave cooking. I'll wait awhile and try it again, cooked in the oven next time.

RIP Bacon boy

And in sad news I lost my best (and oldest) Buff Orpington cockbird probably a heart issue with the sudden heat wave after the cooler weather. RIP

Harvests week of July 31-Aug 6
July 31
Marketmoore cucumber 1# 8oz
Aug 3
Chard  1# 10 oz
Scarlet kale  3# 9 oz
lancinata kale 1# 10 oz
collards   2# 9 oz
Aug 4
cherry tomatoes  3# 4oz
green beans 9# 11 oz
squash 81# 8oz
Armenian cucumber 13# 1oz
Marketmoore cuke 6# 10 oz

Harvest week of Aug 6-13
Aug 9
Scarlet kale 1# 3oz
Aug 10
Armenian cuke 2#
Black Tail Mt. Watermelon 6#
Marketmoore cukes 4# 14oz
green beans 1# 0oz
Honey Boat Delicata 9# 12 oz
squash 3# 14oz
chard 1# 11oz
scarlet kale 2# 10oz
Aug 11
Beans 3# 6oz
cherry tomatoes 2# 14oz
Marketmoore cukes 2# 11 oz
Armenian cukes 8# 2oz
squash 26# 8oz
sage 1 oz
rosemary 3oz
flat parsley 9 oz
curly parsley 6 oz
cantaloupe 2# 12 oz
squash 3# 8oz
Aug 13
beets without tops 1# 3oz
volunteer potato 7oz

Two week total
Marketmoore cukes 15# 12oz
Armenian                 23# 3oz
greens                       14# 10oz
cherry tomatoes          6# 2oz
green beans               14# 1oz
squash                      111# 12oz
watermelon                6#
cantaloupe                  2# 12oz
herbs                           1# 3oz
beets                            1# 3oz
potato                               7oz
Delicata                       9# 12oz

Total
206# 14oz

Harvest Monday

Pandorino cherry tomatoes

Harvest Monday is a great blog hop to show case what you are harvesting and doing in your garden each week. Host by Dave over at Our Happy Acres it's a lot of fun to visit the other gardens, even if I can't go there in person.

I picked 11 pounds of cherry tomatoes last Friday. I am really enjoying the Pandorino, a grape tomato from Italy. They make large clusters which almost all ripen at once, making for very easy picking. They also taste good. Will be planting more of them for sure next year.

Lancinato Kale

Scarlet Kale

I picked  a good amount of  kale, which is  a staple seller at market.Some customers look for the Lancinato, aka Dinosaur kale and others like the Scarlet. I will probably try some new ones this fall. I also picked a small amount of chard, but didn't take a picture. I used to wait and let the chard grow large and put it up in bunches but most people like the smaller baby size leaves.

Albino, Golden and Ruby Queen Beets

green onions

I picked some beets, the Albino and Golden beets grow very slowly compared to Ruby Queen and Chioggio.  I also picked some green onions.

Straight neck, Gold Rush zucchini

I picked a lot of squash this week, this was just one crate full. I have 10 different kinds and pick the patches clean on Friday, so generally even the largest ones are only a week old. Even a lot of the large ones still have very thin and tender skins.

something eating the melons!

Still some good ones!

Until recently nothing had bothered the watermelons, but now something is eating them. There were still some good ones to pick though. I am really disgusted with things though. It looks like I won't get any cantaloupes. Now the birds and squirrels are eating them before they are hardly half grown. Seriously considering pulling all the melon vines out as soon as the last watermelons are ready to pick and planting something else.

Black Beauty and Black from Tula tomatoes

I picked some ripe and almost ripe large tomatoes. Bird pecks, squirrel bites, blossom end rot, growth cracks, they were sure ugly and only about half were edible. But they sure tasted wonderful. I'll be brainstorming over the winter how to protect them better next year from all the wild life.

herbs and flowers

Of course I picked herbs and flowers. I don't sell that many fresh herbs so bring them home and use them myself or dry them. I am still trying to figure out how to keep the flowers longer, especially the dahlias. By mid morning at market the stems are turning black and the flowers are wilting. I am wondering if it's because I tie the bunches together and maybe the stems are getting crushed. I think next week I'll try just making the bunches in individual containers and not tieing them up and see if that helps. I also think the heat in my house is not helping. I sure need a walk in cooler!

On Sunday I picked all the apples off a small tree because the birds were attacking them like crazy. Out of the 19 pounds about 2 pounds were half eaten. I saved them to make vinegar out of.

This weeks harvests:
7-5 Cherry tomatoes  1# 13 oz
      Large tomatoes     3#  6oz
7-6 carrots                  1#  2oz
      lancinata kale       2# 8oz
      green onion          4# 10oz
      scarlet kale           4# 7oz
      beets                     6# 0oz
7-7 curley parsley             8oz
      Italian basil                 4 oz
      Thai basil                    2oz
      Cherry tomatoes   11# 0oz
      Watermelon           20# 10oz
      squash                    67# 0oz
      chard                            12oz
7-9 apples                     19# 4oz

TOTALS
cherry tomatoes         12#  13oz
large tomatoes             3#    6oz
carrots                          1#     2oz
kale                               6#   15oz
green onion                    4#  10oz
beets                              6#     0oz
herbs                                       14oz
watermelon                   20#  10oz
squash                           67#   0oz
chard                                      12oz
apples                            19#  4oz

GRAND TOTAL    143 # 5oz