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“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” Thomas Jefferson

Friday, June 19, 2009

Harvest is Coming In

Well, we are beginning to harvest a few things out of the garden. Cucumbers and peppers to be specific. We did harvest turnips greens and I just did not plant enough of those. We ate quite a few and so I only froze 3 quarts. We will be planting more for the fall harvest. In another week or so I will be in the full swing of canning season and will be canning each and every day. Thank goodness we canned a lot of pear preserves last year to have some left this year because our pear trees came down with fire blight and had to be treated, so the pears cannot be used this year. What a waste as they are loaded down. On the other hand our apple trees which have not produced in a couple of years are also loaded down with apples. This is awesome! I have decided to let you folks know exactly what we do get off our little farm and how much we put up in groceries so that we don't have to go to the grocery store. I sure will be glad when we can start milking our goats. Yum, fresh milk, butter, cheese and yogurt. Wow, what a savings, not to mention the meat we will get from the offspring. So about the harvest...over in the right hand column you will see 2009 Harvest, which I will keep updated. That way folks who are thinking about homesteading and wondering if all the work is really worth it can get a sense of what we get from our little farm. Well, time to go and feed the 4 legged critters and then feed the two legged ones. Have a good evening ya'll.

2 comments:

Apple Trees said...

Hi, sorry to hear about your pear trees - this factsheet is excellent and gives you all you need to know about living with fireblight - your orchard will always have it but it will only cause you problems if it gets out of control.

Remember to thin your apples - I know that a tree groaning with fruit looks lovely, but you will get much better fruit if you thin them a little (also, over laden branches are at risk of snapping in strong wind). Pick out the smallest fruit, aiming to leave a 4 inch gap between each and every fruit - doing this will also keep up the tree's stamina for fruiting well every year.

God Bless. I Hope the fireblight gives you peace!

Kat said...

Thanks for the tips on the apples. I have never had experience with apple trees before. Grandaddy tried for years to plant an apple orchard and darned if every year he would plant and then something would happen. I think after about 10 years of this he gave up on having apples. He had the best pecan orchard around though, which he hand planted when he was 12 yrs. old. Still produces bumper crops every year. The pear trees are looking great since we sprayed them, too bad we won't be able to eat the pears this year. The spray really worked, I just hated having to resort to that. Hopefully, we can keep it under control. Thanks and God bless!