Thursday, September 24, 2009

And you didn't think I'd really do it.

I was going to wait until I pulled the garden completely to give you a "Hey, guess how much I've harvested?" update, but the numbers I was waiting for came in and I can't wait for all that.

Especially given that the tomatoes are still producing and I don't want to wait to share the exciting news (it is for me, OK) until I after I pull the garden, but also I don't have the heart to tell them it's time to go to bed for the winter because they'll be all "Come on, mom! Five more minutes?!" and I'll have to get all I'm the boss of you on them and, well, this makes no sense.

ANYWAY.

The numbers I was waiting to say were:

1. I've harvested more than Bubba's body weight in vegetables

AND

2. I've harvested more than my body weight in tomatoes

I'm happy to say that we've got both, and with enough overage so that I'm not actually sharing my body weight with you on the Real Live Internet for everyone to see because I'm totally not doing that. I feel like it's enough that you've seen my melons.

But I will say that, so far this season, I've harvested more than 217 pounds of vegetables - which is far and away more than Bubba's body weight - and 152 pounds of tomatoes - far enough away from my body weight.

And, more importantly, this extreme vegetable harvest weight means I've reaped far FAR and away more than I sowed in this garden in the first place.

Which was the point. Remember?

Specifically, I sowed $91.34 into the garden at the beginning of the season by buying things like a new soil test kit, some seedling plants, seeds, irrigation replacement parts, water and so on. And I've reaped (and remember, this is only "so far" because the tomatoes are still producing. Freaks.) $940.50 in harvests - with the garden's net value at $849.16.

If you want to get down to cost per pound (and don't we all love analyzing data to the point of mental numbness? I know I do.), I can say that this garden has cost me $.42/lb to grow.

DUDES.

That's a lot of vegetables.

A lot of vegetables that I didn't have to buy from Whole Foods or a farmer's market or *GASP* Safeway.

A lot of vegetables that were grown without chemicals or pesticides or other forms of evil other than the grody EVIL chard that was a big component of the compost. And that is also pretty cheap. Especially when you consider that going to Whole Foods or a farmer's market would have set me back a whole lot more than $.42/lb for any of the vegetables I grew except maybe corn.

Corn is really fucking cheap, I noticed. Like, "Get 10 ears for $10!" cheap. That's ridiculous. I'm not growing corn anymore.

In season cherries, though? PRICEY as all get out. Like, $6.99/lb for local, organic Bing cherries. So worth it. That tree is going to be our new retirement plan.

Not really.

Anyway, I'll do a real final recap of the garden's harvest value when the garden is actually done putting forth tomatoes (don't hold your breath), but I thought you'd like to know that if I had wanted to build a life-sized Finny statue from tomatoes, I could have done it and then some.

I'll just let that image simmer in your mind for a while. Enjoy.

15 comments:

  1. Well...so there!...Kristin@Going Country! Top that! How bout them maters?!

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  2. Wow!





    Wow!

    I wanna do that! We'll see.

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  3. Um....my cat found $20.

    Yeah, sorry, can't compete. Go Finny and your veggie express.

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  4. I have been waiting for this post. I scrolled down as quickly as I could to find the stats. Thanks for bolding them. And then returned to read the post. I am off to simmer in the image of a finny tomato statue. Should give me sweet dreams.

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  5. Umm. DAMN dawg. That's a lot of freaking tomatoes! Save some for me! I am a hopeless romantic when it comes to tomato sauce. Wait..I can't eat carbs right now..shit shit shit...Well, save some for me anyway, you and Bubs can come over and have some Italian cookin'.

    -S

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  6. Awesome. And I want to see that tomato statue.

    P.S. Is someone REALLY challenging me in your comments? That's unwise. You should really speak to that person.

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  7. No more Corn??? Man, I'm just so out of synch with your garden...first it was my beet love and now the corn. You're an amazing farmer Ms. Finny -- all less-than-152-lbs of you!

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  8. Truly awesome! Alas, my garden did not harvest so much because of the grody tomato bight. BUT I just picked 6 bell peppers off of one plant (from which I've picked probably 10 already--ONE PLANT!!!) and my eggplants keep coming. And then there's the ONE chard plant that just KEEPS GOING. We all permanently have green stuck in our teeth.

    and just for shits and giggbles: word verification: GUMGDOVE

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  9. I'll say it. You harvested just under my weight in tomatoes.

    And I've been studying an older picture of your raised beds that gives me a pretty good idea of how they're constructed. Jeff doesn't know it yet, but he's got about 2 weeks to get a few of those babies built for me.

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  10. DAAAAMN - you did REAL good! And you were probably better at USING all your harvested veggies than most folks who burn out.

    I have a feeling with corn you have to hit a certain quantity before you feel it's worth it. Too little space dedicated to them and too little harvested (like my 8 ears) and you wonder if it was worth it. I'm debating on dedicating MORE space to corn next year to see how I feel about it...

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  11. When will we see the collected garden wisdom of Ms. Finny? I'm talking step by step manual so I can grow half as much as you do!

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  12. Anon - I see why you listed yourself as anonymous. I wouldn't want Kris coming down on me either. You do realize that she keeps angry rams, right? Living on the edge, there.

    Claudia - You can do this - try San Francisco Fog tomatoes out in your neck. I bet they'll produce just as well for you.

    Decca - CIPHER FOUND $20??

    Why can't Rocket do that?

    Hmpf.

    Dig - Isn't that crazy?? SO MANY VEGETABLES.

    And, honestly, it's not *that* much more (if at all) than I usually get in a season, so I can pretty safely say that we've been harvesting a couple hundred pounds of vegetables every summer for quite a few years. And this year it even cost more than usual because I replaced things that have 3-4 seasons in them (like the soil test kit that gets 4 years of use before needing to be replaced).

    I think in regular years, I probably have an even more valuable harvest, given that.

    I will have to come up with a funny way to make a statue from tomatoes. Just for fun.

    Steph - No diet should ever rule out tomatoes. That is criminal.

    Kris - Dude. Challenging Kris? HAVE YOU SEEN HER GARDEN?

    Really now, not always so bright around here.

    Anyway though, if I were able to get all 152+ lbs of tomatoes in one place at one time (thankfully they didn't ripen all at once, can you imagine? Wait - yes you can.) I would gladly build you a Finny Statue With Sidekick Dog, but I'm happy to report I only have to pick about 4-15 lbs at a time. Therefore, I can make you a statue of, say, my left leg. That ought to satisfy you.

    Anna - *Sigh* yeah - I'm not sure corn makes sense for my little garden. I mean, I loved growing the corn, but the variety wasn't all we dreamed of and more (went starchy too fast) and the value just isn't there. We can get really delicious corn for cheap around here, so I think I'll do something else with that bed next year.

    I'm thinking melons. Do you like melons? I will try not to continue crushing your dreams. ;)

    Jen - Your chard will keep going forever unless you stop it by force. Good luck with that.

    Congrats on your peppers though - that is one mighty plant!

    Wendy - HA! So, if Jeff is curious, these are 3'w X 8'l X 2'd. Made from 2x12s (sides and ends) and 4x4 posts at the corners. They're held together by big galvanized bolts at the corners and sunk into 2' holes. No concrete though.

    Let me know if you have any other questions though :)

    Jeph - As long as I don't have to water anything by hand (which I don't because I insist on having my irrigation do it automatically) I don't burn out from using the harvest. I love nothing more than to harvest for breakfast, lunch and dinner, never going to a store :)

    I agree with you on the corn thing - unless you're growing a field of it and can't buy it cheaply and organically nearby - I see little point in growing it yourself.

    How much more space are you looking at, crazy?

    Knittah - You let me know what kinds of things I can step-by-step for you and I'll do it. That's what kind of giver I am :)

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  13. that is so awesome! how wonderful, really. our garden did all right. lots of zucchini, but we got blight-i think that is how you spell it. and a deer ate our green beans.
    oh well, maybe a fence next year will have to go up. we are getting our first frost tonight so i think our growing season has stopped.

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  14. Don't be hatin on chemicals, yo. I consider myself a "city chick" through and through- which means my food comes from a store, likely processed and sprayed with loads of chemicals and/or injected with stuff. Which is why I can't eat organic- everything tastes bizarre and yucky. (me=gagging at the thought right now) But really? It's all a moot point because I think it's fairly established I don't eat fruits & veggies!

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  15. Oh my sweet mary moses, that is so awesome. I am so glad you took the time to calculate this! Talk about getting your money's worth!

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[2013 update: You can't comment as an anonymous person anymore. Too many douchebags were leaving bullshit SPAM comments and my inbox was getting flooded, but if you're here to comment in a real way like a real person, go to it.]

Look at you commenting, that's fun.

So, here's the thing with commenting, unless you have an email address associated with your own profile, your comment will still post, but I won't have an email address with which to reply to you personally.

Sucks, right?

Anyway, to remedy this, I usually come back to my posts and post replies in the comment field with you.

But, if you ever want to email me directly to talk about pumpkins or shoes or what it's like to spend a good part of your day Swiffering - shoot me an email to finnyknitsATgmailDOTcom.

Cheers.