I did some gardening

Whoa, as big and exhausted as I am (pregnancy was a lot easier the first time, 10 years ago), I managed to get a few jobs done so far this month.  I also supervised the performance of a few others.  Here's what I did/oversaw:

• Harvested runner bean seed (finally)
• Tidied away all bean and pea supports in the garden
• Dug out a few legacy shrubs (planted by a previous owner and still on the margins of the veg patch)--supervised
• Potted up 4 rooted blackcurrant cuttings for gifts (fingers crossed these are still alive)--supervised
• Pruned fruit bushes and took 18 new redcurrant cuttings and lightly pruned the Kumoi pear
• Pruned one (of two) grape vines
• Spread contents of chicken house on one garden bed--supervised
• Cut back some overspreading bramble vines (unwanted) in the perennials section and did a general tidy up there
• Cut back all 2019's willow wands and tied them up to dry for basketry 

There are a few more jobs to do, such as pruning the two apples trees, fig tree and second grape vine.  It's almost time to start sprouting peas and broad beans, and for starting some onion seed indoors.  Better get on it.

Grand total for garden food, 2019

Here goes:

Vegetables:  177 lb, 4.5 oz

Eggs:  1400

Fruit: 7 lb, 10 oz (incomplete;  most fruit was counted by number, e.g. 156 plums)

We beat totals from 2018 on all scores, but not 2017;  and this with allotment totals added in for 2019--ah well.  There were a few things unweighed as of 31 Dec, including a medium sized squash and a large pumpkin, but heavy as they both were I doubt they could have brought the veg total up by another 25 lb.  At least the fruit total has been increasing every year;  2019 was the best year yet for garden fruit.

However, considering that I haven't been working under full steam since about July, I feel very pleased about the final results.  I anticipate 2020 to be similar, considering our upcoming family situation, but if I can at least match 2019, I'll be thrilled.

See previous grand totals:  2018, 2017, 2016

Food totals December 2019

Vegetables:

38 oz potatoes
9 oz Brussels sprouts
11.5 oz chard
16 oz celery
16.5 oz kohl rabi

Total: 91 oz, or 5 lb 11 oz

Note:  I weigh all my vegetables after preparation:  peeling, trimming, etc.  Does not include some fresh herbs which were too small a quantity to weigh, i.e. less than 0.5 oz.

Fruit:

No fruit harvested this month

Eggs:

Total: 18 eggs from 10 hens and 2 ducks (another rescue hen died this month)
Total feed bought: 2 bags layers pellets (40 kg), 1 bag mixed corn (20 kg)

Preserves:

6 medium jars dried carrots (shop bought)

Homebrew:

4 L cider vinegar still fermenting (from wild harvested apples)

Christmas break 2019

It's that time of year already?  I'm ready for it.  I'm going to sleep in every day for the next two weeks, until I have to get back up for school and my part time job.  Well, I might get up a little early tomorrow if the son does (he's now nine).

I'll be back here on 7 January, with food totals for December, and then following on with food totals for 2019.  Maybe I'll even have a few photos (but don't hold your breath).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

General update before Christmas break

Well, I'm not doing much out there, as my middle is growing ever bigger (I now have three months before my due date).  But here's what's happening garden-wise:

The husband has been diligently sheet mulching the allotment, section by section:  cardboard topped with a thick layer of partly composted stable bedding (horse manure and straw).  The garlic he and the son planted earlier in autumn is growing strongly there, as are the red cabbages and sprouting broccoli, though none are ready for harvest.  He says the Brussels sprouts are looking big enough to eat though--just in time for Christmas.

The chickens and ducks are all penned together in a fairly large yard next to the coop, and we have been adding a new straw bale to the yard every 2-3 weeks;  it gets muddy/pooey quickly with 15 chickens and 4 ducks.  The ducks are still the lowest in the pecking order, despite being the biggest;  they have a small bath which the chickens deny them the use of by using the edges as a perch.  Oh well.  Not a single egg laid yet between all 17 female birds out there in the month of December.  Hopefully the young hens hatched at the end of July will start laying their first eggs soon, but it might not be until the new year.

The vegetable patch is mostly bare now, with just a few celery rows and some very sparse chard left.  Though the runner bean pods left for seed are still not fully dry, I think it's time I pulled them up and let them mature under cover.  Might be a job for the husband though.  He's been talking about clearing out the chicken coop to spread on the veg patch:  now's the time to do that I think.

We've had some regular light frosts over the past few weeks, and one or two hard ones.  No snow (yet) thankfully, and though there's been some heavy rain we've also had some good sun.  I'm looking forward to the solstice this week and hopefully a bit more light during the day after a few more weeks.

Garden food for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners

We hosted some friends and their children for Thanksgiving this year, serving four adults and three children in total.  What came from the garden?

Last year I was still in the midst of the Vegetable Challenge during Thanksgiving so we petitioned our friends that we would provide the turkey and they would supply the vegetables.  We had the same bargain this year, despite not being within the Challenge.  However, we still served:

Mashed potatoes
Pumpkin pie
Braised chard and celery with garlic and shopbought leek
Homemade gravy using cockerel stock
Homebrewed cider

I was able to use our own eggs in the homegrown pumpkin pie for 2018, but our hens all stopped laying after the second week of November this year, so it was shopbought eggs.  The gravy was very tasty though, with the stock I'd made from November's fried cockerel bones, along with extra celery and garlic for flavor.

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As for Christmas dinner, we're only feeding ourselves and fresh garden veg is looking pretty slim now.  No matter how small they are, we'll eat the Brussels sprouts at the allotment, and there is some more cockerel stock in the freezer for gravy.

My other homegrown offerings are fruitcake and stollen bread, both using my own grown dried fruits and almonds, but sadly not our own eggs.

And last Christmas I bravely put away 2018's Christmas pudding, the one (of two) which I made with our own currants, cider and eggs last year--it's been ageing in the cupboard with the help of some rum and an airtight container and I'm happy to report it's still good!  I opened it up, had a sniff and a tiny taste, and rewrapped with a bit more rum to carry it over the last few weeks to Christmas. 

I might be making another two of these:  one for 2020, and the other for 2021, though I don't have any homegrown currants left:  instead I'll use dried figs and plums. 

Food Totals, November 2019

Vegetables:

111.5 oz potatoes
144.5 oz pumpkins
5.5 oz celery
17.5 oz chard

Total: 278.5 oz, or 17 lb 6.5 oz

Note:  I weigh all my vegetables after preparation:  peeling, trimming, etc.  Does not include some fresh herbs which were too small a quantity to weigh, i.e. less than 0.5 oz.

Fruit:

No fruit harvested this month

Eggs:

Total: 7 eggs from 11 hens and 2 ducks (one rescue hen died this month)
Total feed bought: 2 bags layers pellets (40 kg), 1 bag mixed corn (20 kg)

Preserves:

4 medium jars mixed berry jam from own frozen berries (blackcurrant, redcurrant, raspberry)
10 medium jars dried apple chips (from wild harvested apples)

Homebrew:

6 L cider vinegar bottled up (from wild harvested apples)
4 L cider vinegar still fermenting