A Plentiful Harvest

This was picked out of our vegetable garden yesterday. The zucchini plants seem to be slowing down, though we are still getting a few each day. Now the cucumber plants seem to be kicking it into high gear. We are starting to get spaghetti squash and watermelon now. I found a small watermelon that had been completely hollowed out with two large holes in each side. I am assuming mice must have done it. How strange, mice must love watermelon but they did leave us this one.

I did not know if we were going to get very many tomatoes this year because when they first began to ripen the bugs got to most of them before we could. I was temped to spray but I really wanted a pesticide free garden this year. So I put it off, told my husband "see we should have gotten guinea hens this year", and took a wait and see approach. Once the tomatoes started ripening all at once I have found the bugs are not getting to nearly as many of them and we are starting to get quite a few tomatoes. They are not the prettiest tomatoes but they sure do taste better than the ones at the grocery store.

One of the plants I am most happy with is the bird house gourds. I started them from seeds indoors and only a couple came up. How disappointing because I really did want some for birdhouses and crafts. So I planted those two and they just kind of sat out there the same size forever. Late in the spring I planted some more seeds straight into the ground, not really expecting much from them. They have taken off! They completely covered the trellis we made for them and part of the feeding pen fence. Luckily the goats don't have access to that except at feed time so them eating it hasn't been an issue. They don't seem to like the birdhouse gourd vines anyway, unlike my corn!

I thought I planted it far enough away from the fence but I underestimated my goats determination. The hornless goats in the herd have reached through the fence, stretching and pushing until they have eaten the first three or four stalks of corn in each row. I am amazed just how far they can reach through the fence if there is something they want bad enough. They haven't pushed the fence down yet, but it wasn't for lack of trying! The goats are still eyeing the corn they can't reach, if they ever get out my corn is a goner for sure!

I am very happy to see the garden do so well this year. We have gotten more out of it than we alone can use. A lot has been given away to friends and family but we are also going to take produce to the farmers market this week. I don't know if we will come out ahead in the end but it sure is nice to raise some of our own food and be that much closer to self sufficiency.