2014 Autumn Harvest

A few years ago I decided I wanted to try to grow as much food as I possibly could in my little postage stamp yard. The lawn had been removed years ago and had been xeriscaped with years of adding  thick layers of mulch slowly becoming rich worm castings.  This year I thinned out much of the desert plants and planted squash, corn, carrots, more squash, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, basil. All the good stuff.  It really took off . 

I have been harvesting and preserving since August. My main method of preserving is slicing and drying. I have 5 dehydrators going at any one time, 4 electrics and 1 big solar dryer (seen above).

At last count I have 350 pounds of winter squashes  ready for the root cellar. (That big banana squash in the back row if over 25 pounds!)



I also put away about 3 gallons of kale-krout, 20  qts pickles, 20 qt grape juice, 30 qts of dried apricots, 20 pints apricot jam, 30 qts dried apples, 2 quarts dried cantaloup, 20 qts dried tomatoes, 10 qts dried shredded zucchini, 2 gallons dried corn, 4 qts dried kale, 2 qt dried basil, 3 gallons grape wine,  3 gallons apricot wine, 3 gallons apple cider vinegar. I still have many pounds of tomatoes and peppers yet to harvest.   I have yet to harvest my carrots but it looks like a good crop.  I failed miserably on growing potatoes, onions, and garlic, the most important crops! I am afraid it is going to be a long sad unsavory winter for me.  I will do better next year.