More Haul, and A Birthday Party

Look, turns out the "Melon in the Tree" is, indeed, a pumpkin. It's starting to turn orange. I'll have to get a chair out in the yard to retrieve it, though! We've pulled 3 sugar pumpkins out already, and including the tree pumpkin, there are 4 more in the yard. Hopefully they'll all make it. They would have been worth ?2.00 each?? for a current total of $6.00

This is todays haul. In total, I've hauled NEARLY 20 pounds of tomatoes from the yard. (You should see me playing Tomato Jenga trying to weight them on the small scale I have.

There are still a pile out there! The nights have been COLD, and I've been pulling these green and ripening them on the top of the fridge. Not ideal, but I'd rather that than see so much freeze outside.

I tried to find a price online in the local flyers, but do you think anyone has tomatoes in their flyer this week? It's been so long since I BOUGHT one, I'm not really sure what they are price wise out there. For arguements sake, if they were at $1.29 a pound, So far this year, It's been $25.80 in tomatoes.


yes, that's ONE tiny wee carrot in the bin. If I've pulled $1.00 worth of baby carrots out of the garden, I'd be surprized.

Maybe 10 cucumbers have come out ($5.00 worth?) and at least 6 big zucchini (which all turned into bread. $4.00 worth?

Also, I'm going to guess I've pulled only $2.50 worth of strawberries from the yard.

Giving us a current grand total of $40 ish worth of food. Next year, I'll have a better idea of how to maximize the space, what sort of food to plant, and a better idea of how to maintain the raised boxes and plants. I spent only about $80 ( $30 in wood, $20 in dirt, $30ish in seeds) I'm counting on breaking even next year. I'm saving seeds from this years harvest, won't need to worry about wood box costs. And although we compost, we'll still need to top up the boxes next year - they weren't as full as I would have liked, but I was cutting it close this year.

Oh, although next year an expense might be a boiling pot for canning. I borrowed my sweethearts parents stuff to use today, to can some red tomatoes and attempt a sauce. (I'm keeping my eye on the thrift store for a canning pot and all the things that go with.)



In other news, It was my beloveds Mothers birthday yesterday. He came home with a book and an idea. This was her gift:



I always thought it rude to call anyone in need of help a "dummy" anyway. We all had a good chuckle at his little modification.

Happy Friday! I'm at market this weekend, with baking (biscotti, zucchini breads, and what ever else I have time to do) plus a pile of new jewellery pieces. Super fun! If it doesn't rain, that is!