New Water Barrel

If you are following this blog you might remember that I have had no luck with the rain barrel. I bought it for $20 at a garage sale and then I was never able to get it to hold water properly.  This might be helpful now with the severe lack of rain over the last few weeks. We have been watering and this has added about $15 to our usual total.

The Alabama Environmental Council  put on a rain barrel workshop last night at the Vestavia Hills Library.  The Farmer's Wife took pity on my rain barrel angst. She had noticed the ad and signed us up. After we listened to the presentation we all went outside and constructed this nice barrel. I still have to paint the barrel and install it.
I hope to repair my other barrel and then I will have two, for a total of nearly 100 gallons of water when we do finally get some rain. To learn more about AEC and rain barrels check out www.aeconline.org.

Harvest tonight yielded zucchini, egg plants, acorn squash, cherry tomatoes and of course figs for the supper tonight.
All in all an additional 3.731 KG of food was added to the total.

Figs and Onions

The Suburban Farmer has been traveling so there has been a lapse in recording all the activity on the Suburban Farm. However we have crossed a significant weight goal of over 300 lbs. We are now in the hot Dog Days of summer with temperatures in the high 90's. There has not been much rain. The New Farmer has been watering every other day

The cherry tomatoes have been producing pretty well. I am starting to get some more of the heirloom tomatoes.  Some plants that do really well in the heat such as okra, eggplant and peppers.
Here is a picture of Walla Walla Onions. They were sent to us in the mail. Apparently these large sweet onions are a Vidalia Onion equivalents of the west.
Figs are the fruit of moment.  The New Farmer picked 4.5 KG of figs yesterday. These figs are large, sweet and delicious. Of course when you have this many figs you have to share them with neighbors, colleagues at work and strangers. I will plan to make some fig preserves this weekend.

There are 7.533 KG to add to the total with more than 5 KG of this is figs.

This brings the produce weight to total of 303.25 LBS.

Fruit:: Melons and Figs

This is the time when the summer heat can really begin to set in. We have several days this week of triple digit temperatures. Also on the Suburban farm it is very dry. Often there are thunderstorms that if they come over you, can drop an inch of rain in just in a single storm. However, these storms can be spotty and we seem to be in a dry spot this year. Often we will see a storm on the horizon, hear thunder, have a change of smell with rain in the air and then a few drops while down the street a mile or two they may have a downpour.
This hot weather is good for plants that like heat and to some  degree dry conditions. Melons are actually a more desert type plant that can grow quickly and store lots of water in the fruit. This will bring in wild animals that are looking for water and then they spread their seeds.

This French variety I have are delicious small personal melons and the one we had tonight was delightfully sweet and mild tasting. I have put some of the rind out in the rabbit trap in hopes of catching the critter that is eating my soybeans.

The other plant that can do well in these conditions is the fig. My tree has grown very large. I am not really sure how I am supposed to prune it and I would say that the mangled shape leaves something to be desired, but the thing is full of fruit. The first few figs are ripening today, and over the next month we will have plenty.

With today's harvest

7.11 KG or 15.6 Lbs over the last 6 days

For grand total of 129.61KG or 286.65lbs

Off Line. Still Productive

Over the last week there has been some technical issues with internet and then travel that have delayed my posting.

Melons are one of the larger producers this week. I had started these melon plants in the house and planted them in the spring before the earth was very warm. They were sort of sluggish in the beginning but then took off. Actually now some of them look spent and are dying so I pulled up those vines and harvested 5 beautiful French melons that are sweet and delicate to the taste. I have a number of melon plants that sill looked pretty healthy so they have stayed in the ground.

Also there have been some squash plants that have died so I have pulled them up. Replanted and others are full of buds. It is amazing how some of them can die quickly. In the story of Jonah he is waiting outside Nineveh to see the destruction he has predicted and a melon vine grows very quickly and brings him shade. Then a worm bores into the plant and in single day he is parched in the sun surrounded by dead leaves. This is how a few of my squash plants are doing.
The tomatoes are setting a second harvest for the larger heirlooms and still plenty of cherries so that there is at least a pint of these every few  days to munch on.
More on the carrots and other things in the garden soon
With today's harvest there is another 21.7 KG to add to the harvest which pushes the totals to

122 KG which is about 270lbs

Independance Day: 100KG of Food from the Garden 2010

The Fourth of July is also called Independence Day. The Farmer's Report today is that the suburban garden has now produced over 100KG of food. That is 220 lbs for people still using the English system. Part of my plan was to try to grow enough calories to support one person for a year. A kilogram of carbohydrates and/or proteins is 4 calories per gram so a Kilogram has 4000 calories and on average you would need 2000 calories or less a day. That means that the produce so far might provide enough calories for one person for 200 days.

Even though there has been quite a burst of harvesting in the last few days we may have had some of the biggest harvest days before entering into the hot summer days.

Lots of tomatoes and cucumbers which leads to the second part of the post. While we are not dependent on the garden to provide all of our food it is nice to put up some of the produce for the rainy and cold days. Right now the colleagues at work and at the neighbors of both the new farmer and the Suburban farmer are benefiting from the bounty.

Pickles is one of the ways you can put up the cucumbers so that they will last through to the next harvest. I took one of the bottles of pickles in for a work pot luck and they were a big hit.
The other thing that we have been doing is cooking up the tomatoes with onions, peppers and herbs and freezing them for use in stews or pasta when you might use a canned tomato.
We stored sweet potatoes all winter from our harvest last fall and have put some of the winter squash and pumpkins in the basement to store for the winter.
June 30  6.78 Kilograms
July 2     4.50 Kilograms

for a total so far this year of 100.8 Kilograms or 221.75 LBS