Saturday, November 19, 2011

Garden Love

Now that there's snow on the ground I am really missing our garden. Not the weeding or the work, but the fresh tomatoes. Store bought ones just do not taste good. And we're a good 7-8 months away from that luxury again. My husband is the visionary in our house. He killed half our back lawn in order to put in a big garden. And while I was the skeptic, I love it just as much as he does. Our kids really enjoy it as well. Not so much the weeding, but all the great produce. And they like running up and down the rows playing games.


We had quite a few lover carrots this year. And even a three some. It was fun pulling them all out before it got real cold and seeing all the different sizes and shapes. We need to do better about thinning them next year.


I peeled them all, diced them, blanched them, and then froze them for the winter use.

We got 32 quart sized bags full. They're great to throw in soups or just to eat. And they taste so much better than store bought.


This picture does not really do justice to the size of this bowl. These were what were left over after making spaghetti sauce and salsa. I chopped them up as well and threw them in the freezer. They're great added to eggs or soups as well.


My awesome neighbor gave us some grapes last week for juicing.

He let me borrow one of his juicers so it went twice as fast!

There is nothing like fresh grape juice. My favorite after workout snack is grape juice mixed with 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder. So good!

We also grew an abnormal amount of basil so I could make pesto sauce. It really doesn't take as much as I thought it would. And toasting and peeling pine nuts sucks.

But the efforts were so good on homemade pizza!

It was my husband's idea to get chickens as well a couple of years ago. It was so nice to be able to go out back and get breakfast.


Spaghetti sauce. I think we're stocked up for the winter.


My favorite way to eat tomatoes is bacon and tomato sandwiches. We grew a lot of different kinds of heirloom tomatoes as well. The yellow ones were so sweet!

And that sweet corn on the cob was delicious! Unfortunately we ate all of it and didn't get to freeze any this year!

Peaches from our tree


More spaghetti sauce. So good with lots of garlic and basil.


These little cherry tomatoes were better than candy. So sweet and everyone's favorite snack!


And beans. Truthfully, I let these go to waste more than I should have. If you keep picking them, they will keep growing. I let some go too long and the plants died at the end of the summer. Next year I will keep on top of them and try to freeze them once a week. We did eat a lot of them during the summer. I just didn't put much away for the winter.

And it's nice that the kids will help too.

Do you garden?
What is your favorite vegetable?

18 comments:

Rose (Hacker Half Marathon) said...

Wow!! That's A LOT of home grown delicousness! I'm amazed at the amount of fresh food you have. I'm sure it was a lot of work prepping for winter, but I'm already jealous of your stash. Great pics - thanks for sharing :)

Lindsey said...

Oh my gosh I'm so impressed with how much you were able to freeze/can from your garden! It's my goal to start freezing/canning as much as possible from our garden. I'm taking baby steps since it's all so new to me. This year I canned tomatoes! We still have carrots in the ground that we need to try to freeze. And I'm definitely freezing green beans next year.

Pam @ herbieontherun.com said...

My efforts at growing stuff this year were largely unsuccessful. I only tried sweet peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers, and I killed all of them. I'm totally jealous of your stash.

Cotter Crunch said...

thats so serious good juicing!! I'm quite jealous. Favorite veggie? thats tough. But I do love anything green!

Ewa said...

Only one word: WOW!!!
I loved those hugging carrots.
I might finally have some time next year to grow some veggies in our back yard. It's been a long time but homeschooling kept me way too busy.

KT80 said...

So gorgeous! I have 10 beds in my front yard for growing food. We just moved in this April so we are still getting our plan worked out, but we have lots growing. Most of my work is actually getting community and school gardens up and running, and I still love to come home to my own garden. Thanks for sharing all these great pictures!

Jerilee E. said...

What a beautiful garden! You are amazing for getting all of that canning/freezing done. It all looked so wonderful and now I feel hungry!

Katie said...

Love, Love, Love your garden!! We have a small one, but dream of moving to a house where we can have a bigger one and chickens too!

misszippy said...

Holy guacamole that's a serious amount of loot you raised this year! Wow I am jealous of that. I hope it lasts you through the winter and keeps you thinking of warmer months!

Anonymous said...

Wow that garden is amazing and what a fruitful (lol) year!

Wendy said...

I am so jealous of your beautiful garden and now your wonderful canned goods. Lucky! Maybe we will get a garden in next year. We have too many deer come down from the canyon we live by and they destroy gardens. Since we haven't been able to get a fence up yet (too expensive), we can't really put in a garden. Someday ...

Tina @GottaRunNow said...

Great garden harvest! We used to have a small garden, but we don't now that we live in the city. Carrots are one of my favorites.

Sara said...

Completely awesome! I hope to have a garden like this someday. This is great!

I enjoyed this post and seeing your pictures and fruits of your garden.

Thanks for sharing!

jillconyers said...

Hi from a new follower!

I'm fascinated by your blog topics, barefooting, why you run, Ragnar...I guess I should just say I'm fascinated by your entire blog :)

And you garden! I want to plant my first garden next year. It will be small due to space but I'm excited to give it a try. Any first timer tips?

Have a great day.

[Fitness, Health and Happiness]

jillconyers said...

I forgot to mention I host a weekly blog hop, Fitness Friday. I would love to have you join!

This is last week's Fitness Friday if you'd like to take a peek

http://jillconyers.typepad.com/life_as_i_see_it/2011/11/fitness-friday-running-a-challenge-inspiring-words.html

Sam W. said...

wow!! do you have to go to the store at all?! i'm super impressed. you definitely put my one little basil plant to shame :)

Connie said...

That's an amazing haul! This condo living girl is jealous both of your garden treasures and your productivity.

Your blog hasn't been in my google reader feed and I've missed it!!!

Julia said...

WOW!!!! you all were blessed with so many fresh foods this year! thank you for sharing with us when you were in town :) and that pizza looks soooo yummy!