Harvest totals

As promised, I'm listing some of my harvest totals. I don't think I remembered to write everything down, as I was busy working, harvesting, canning, freezing, etc etc etc. I was probably the most exhausted I have ever been in my whole life, but we managed and I'm really glad we put forth the extra effort to have a bigger garden....even though we temporarily became The Zombie Family. (Insert groovy Addam's Family theme music here, but with requisite zombie groans.)


In past years, I didn't keep track of what I put up. I do know it was never quite enough. Last year I ran out of green beans before January! The horror of a greenbeanless winter!! augh!

This year is, in fact, the most we've ever put by. Our goal is to one day supply all of our own food, or at least the majority of it.

I think my garden would've done even better this year if I hadn't been working, but the economy...well...you know....it sucked.

So..here goes...

• Green Beans: Froze 31 gallons and 16 quarts (HAHA!! I'll have green beans this winter for sure!!)
• Salsa: Tomatillo: 44 8 oz jars and 20 pints (Hubby LOVES this stuff and it'll be a miracle if it lasts till next harvest. Not all of the batches were made with the same variety of pepper, and the habanero variety is going fast, despite Hubby breaking out in a sweat while he eats and entire jar. Men.)
• Salsa: Tomato: 26 8 oz jars
• Pickles: Dill: 2 quarts and 7 pints. Pickled hot wax peppers: 5 pints. Pickled mild peppers: 7 pints and 7 quarts
• Zucchini: Froze 3 gallons and 65 quarts (That's what I wrote down, but I swear there's more since I have just about an entire freezer full of the stuff.)
• Corn: 25 quarts (The corn harvest just wasn't as good as it could've been if I'd been here to get it all put up on time.)
• Peppers: Froze 10 gallons of various hot peppers (habanero, hot lemon, chili, cayenne, ancho, hot wax, anaheim, hot cherry) and froze at least 3 gallons of mild peppers (somehow I forgot to write those down)
• Blackberry jam: 14 8oz jars
• Blackberries: froze an unknown amount (I didn't keep track as I picked them; I was too busy bleeding and picking brambles out of my skin.)
• Habanero jelly: 5 4oz jars (still not sure how we are going to like this, so it's a sample batch)
• Tomatoes: 7 pints italian, 33 pints tomato soup concentrate, 14 pints 'chili sauce' (tastes just like sloppy joe sauce, so we use it on ground venison for Sloppy Elliots), 14 pints hot sauce, and 64 quarts of plain crushed tomatoes.
• Apple Butter: 7 8oz jars and 2 pints (so far; I'm still working on apple butter)

We also have a lot of chickens (we hatched, raised, and butchered) in the freezer. I'm not sure how many. Then we have potatoes, onions, rutabaga and pink banana squash, all stored in crates in a cool area.
This of course doesn't include what we ate fresh, gave away, or fed to the chickens.
It really doesn't sound like a lot of food, but we managed to fill three chest freezers and two shelving units of canned goods. Oh, the items listed were canned unless it says frozen.
I guess we did ok, at least a lot better than previous years, but I feel we still have a long way to go.
Despite the fact that I'd have harvested a lot more if I hadn't been working, I'm glad I did have the seasonal job. That job allowed us to purchase two more chest freezers, more black plastic for the garden, and a LOT of canning jars, among other things. Not to mention it was a fun job and I learned a lot...I also got to play in the dirt. Best job ever. :)
And now...on to the firewood harvest!! **revs chainsaw**