Missed it by THAT much!

[prairiemom]

{Said in my best Maxwell Smart voice}

My goal this year was to produce 85% of all our family's veggie/fruit needs. Well, I just finished the last of my freezing, drying and canning (OK, not really, I still have tomato sauce to do, but won't get to that till week after next) and I tallied everything up.

I figure between now and when we start getting food from next year's garden will be 8 months. I have enough veggies for 54 servings/month. I wanted 60, that's 2 veggies a day. So I got about 90% of my veggies. I got enough fruit and fruit juice for 15 servings/month. That's 50% of what I wanted. Unless I add in the pie filling, I could have 3 apple pies/month and that would make 18 fruit servings/month or 60% of my goal. If I average the total of both fruits and veggies I got 75% if what we need (80% if I count the pie filling.)

OK, not perfect, but not bad.

Really, all I'll need to buy at the store this year are potatoes, carrots, onions and perhaps celery once in a while. And fresh veggies if I want a salad.

I've got:
Swiss Chard#
beet greens#
cabbage@
broccoli#
Brussel sprouts#
turnips@
rutabagas@
potatoes@
carrots@
spaghetti squash@
pumpkin@
yellow wax beans
lima beans#
tomatoes--sauce, salsa, stewed, and spaghetti sauce
sauerkraut
patty pan squash*
peppers*
Swiss chard stems*
snow peas#
green peas#

(#-frozen
*-dehydrated
@-cold storage, to be canned or frozen in Jan or before they start going bad.
All others are canned.)

For fruit I have:
dried apples
applesauce
apple juice
grape juice
peaches
apple pie filling

Then there's also:
pickled green tomatoes
herbs
pesto (frozen)
crab apple jelly
which I really didn't count in the totals.

and we still have enough fresh Swiss chard, patty pan, yellow zucchini and tomatoes (some green, some ripening) and broccoli for another week or more of veggies.

OK. Deep breath! Now I'm going to start cleaning my house, which hasn't seen clean for about 2 months!

[DMGNUT]

Overachiever...

Actually I'm jealous.

[signseeker]

Wow. Now that's something to shoot for. Most excellent achievements, prairiemom! *applause*

I was wondering what "zone" you live in... that's quite a line-up of produce!

[prairiemom]

Zone 4, barely out of the edge of Zone 3. We had a very late frost this year Well, we've had 2 frosts, but light enough that I was able to cover the plants and get another 2 wks of growing. About the only fruit we can grow here is apples, plums and berries.

[mirkwood]

That is quite an accomplishment!

[geanienut]

Congrats on your achievements.. ..(/em hangs her head in shame )... I couldn't grow rocks if I wanted too..LOL

[signseeker]

prairiemom- You say you put carrots and potatoes in cold storage and then freeze or can them later... what do you specifically do with the carrots and potatoes? Quite often our family eats a slowly-cooked oven dish with a type of meat and potatoes and carrots in it. I especially get into the carrots and would like to know how to freeze them or do whatever you do with them...

[prairiemom]

I've never produced enough carrots to have them go bad before we used them. LOL! Last year was a "bumper crop" by the Prairie standards and we only got about 15-20 lbs. Carrots are my biggest failing. Well, that and corn.

But one year we had someone give us a ton of carrots. They kept well in the basement until about Jan and I ended up canning a batch (7 jars) and then canned a soup or stew with the rest. Ditto potatoes. I also dehydrate carrots, but I don't like the texture of dehydrated carrots, so I put them into a blender and make a powder that I use in soups, soup mixes, etc. Oh, and carrot juice--love carrot juice. That I freeze.

[Rogmo]

First - Congrats PrairieMom!

Second - Just curious how big your garden area is.

Also - I've wondered at times if it is more cost effective to grow your own, or buy it canned at the store. (Especially factoring in the time to can it etc.)

Yes, I know that in an emergency the knowledge, ability and experience is irreplaceable. Not to mention the incredible difference in the quality of the produce.

[prairiemom]

The garden itself is 40'X40'. Then we have apple trees, berry bushes and asparagus outside of the garden.

Yes, I've heard many say that it's not cost effective to can. I don't know what it was this year, but 2 yrs ago I kept record of everything I canned and everything it cost me--sugar, salt, other ingredients, lids, etc. Then I added up what those same items would be in the store. I used bargain prices--NOT what the premium brand or quality would cost, (even though my home-canned stuff really is premium quality) but the no-name brand on sale price I'd be willing to pay. The value of all that I canned was about $560 and it cost me $110 to produce it. Now I didn't count the cost of electricity, (because buying the stuff at the store would cost me gas--$3.50 each trip if I use the Geo, $12 if I take the van) but even if it were an another $60 (it wasn't) it was still a good bargain.

We figure this year's garden will cut our food bill by 1/3--worth about $1800-2000. This summer our grocery bill was less than $150/mo for a family of 5 (including 2 teenage boys! )

Yes, there's also time involved. But a batch of 9 pts of beets (for example) takes me about an hr to prepare. (I'm not counting processing time because I'm off doing other things while the food is processing and besides, if I had to buy this at the store, there'd be time on the road and navigating traffic.) Subtracting out the cost of the lids, that's $6.40 worth of food. Pickles take about 1/2 hr prep time. Klausen dill pickles (my favorite) cost $3.50/qt, the store brand $2.50, so we'll average it to $3/qt. That means 7 qts of pickles are worth $21. Supplies for those 7 jars cost $1.50, so that means about $19 worth of food for 1/2 hr prep time. Average it all out and my canning pays me about $10 worth of food/hr. And during that time I'm making phone calls for political or church work, handling kids' crisis, doing the laundry and teaching my children work and cooperation skills. I can't do all that at a regular desk job.

But it does take work. I won't lie. There's a learning curve before you get efficient with your time. You have to be able to put up lots of food in late summer and fall, so you can't take a 2 wk vacation when the tomatoes and beans are all ripe. For some it just might be more efficient to work overtime or get a second job and make the shopping trips rather than reduce your food budget with home production. For me, gardening and putting food up is far more satisfying than getting dressed up and going to an office job.

[Max140]

Amazing!!! You have inspired me. I will try our garden again next year. This year was a bit of a disappointment. You have given me hope. I will try again!!!!!!

[Rogmo]

Very cool information! Did you figure in the time you spent, and how much per hour your time is worth? (I saw what it paid you per hour).

Thanks!

I'd say you're probably much better at it than most - but it's just a guess! ;-)
Good job either way!