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.