The Rumble Strip Annual Harvest Post

It’s becoming a tradition for me to post pictures of some of my almost free produce that I get from my super small garden. My readers seem to appreciate it and I plan to continue to do so every year that I can. It’s incredibly important that every single one of us becomes proficient at growing at least a little bit of our own food.

Many times when I mention growing food, people in my area will say, “I’ll just go shoot a deer” or “I’ll just go fishing”. Sorry folks. That’s not going to cut it. Many animals like the Buffalo were hunted almost to extinction and that was with a population a fraction of what there is now in America. One year without food and most of the deer, elk, moose and other edible big game animals will be almost gone. Lakes and rivers will be depleted of fish. I’m the kind of person that likes to have a bit of everything. I freeze, can, and dry food items for use during the winter. Typically, I still end up with way too much food even if I give it away.

Keep in mind, I garden on a lot that is incredibly small and I have two garden beds. One is a raised bed 3 feet wide by 18 feet long (though I have it in a couple of sections) and the other is an in ground plot that has expanded to 30 feet long by 10 feet wide. I typically rotate corn, potatoes, tomatoes and peppers in that bed. The raised bed is used primarily for tomatoes, cabbage, celery, carrots and other crops that like a fluffier more well draining soil. The pictures posted below are just a few of “the best” from my crop. Keep in mind that I got many more times what you are seeing in the pictures. I have more food than I know what to do with right now. Haha. It will get used though!

In Ground Bed. Some of the corn with Jalapenos in front.

Speaking of Jalapenos…

Beautiful Potatoes!

My Monster! Chinese (Napa) Cabbage.

What to do with all that Napa Cabbage? Make Kimchi of course!

Speaking of cabbage!

This is just a fraction of the corn crop this year!

Corn ready for the freezer. Thanks Mom for teaching me how to preserve corn so I can enjoy this treat when it’s 20 below outside in the Winter!

All of my onions were grown from seed this season! Started indoors and transplanted in spring. Best onions I’ve ever had!

I don’t grow a lot of carrots because I don’t eat them that often, but they keep for MONTHS in the refrigerator.

Patty Pan squash. Prolific producer. Easy to grow. More managable than zucchini.

Beautiful Radishes. Radishes are incredibly easy to grow.

Sugar Snap Peas. Go for a vining variety that you can put on the north end of your Garden. You can eat pod and all, so they are super easy from garden to table.

There are several things that taste completely different out of the garden. Celery is one of them. Super easy to care for, but don’t pick it too late or it will be stringy.

A new variety of tomato I planted this year called “Carbon”. It is an heirloom variety with almost purple flesh. The plant is a bit finicky, but the fruit is absolutely amazing. And, you can save seeds and plant next year!

Speaking of tomatoes… I had thousands of cherry tomatoes this year. This variety is as sweet as sugar.

A few of my bell peppers.

And finally… green beans.

I grew many other things this year as well. Dill, Cilantro, Spinach, Lettuces, Cucumbers, Spaghetti Squash, along with a bunch of things I can’t remember right now. I have two watermellon that I’m hoping will ripen before the weather turns.

You *can* grow your own food. It took me all of 15 to 30 minutes a day to weed and water my plots. I compost, so fertilizer was pretty much unnecessary (except for the corn, I like to use fish emulsion for it).

I don’t like to sound the alarm bell all of the time and, to be honest, in a lot of ways I hope I’m wrong about the future I see coming. The food that is being provided for us is mostly pure poison. The garbage we get from the grocery store and restaurants (especially *any* kind of fast food) is literally killing us. I won’t go on a rant about that right now, because I have in the past. I will be posting another food related post soon though.

As always, if any of my readers need tips or suggestions, I’m happy to help. Just comment or send an email. We *must* work together to start becoming self-sufficient like most of our grandparents did.

“If it comes from a plant, eat it. If it’s made in a plant, don’t.” Michael Pollan