The Wicked Witch of the West could not have been more evil than the forces that are out to get our gardens this year. I went to get some potatoes yesterday and a good many did not hold up to storage. Then Bruce went to check the Delcata Squash and found that some #%^@#*(%rodent, rabbit or woodchuck probably, had taken one bite of each. One bite! We think they will heal but today I have to go out and get some thigh high panty hose to protect the rest. Here’s the question. Does it make sense to spend more money on the hose than the squash is worth? Of course not. Am I still going to do it anyway? Naturally. I can keep the panty hose about indefinitely and I will learn whether or not an injured squash will recover. Next year we will protect them as soon as they emerge. I had saved some tomatoes that looked okay and set them to ripen on the window sill. Every one developed blight and hit the garbage pail yesterday.
I stopped in the market yesterday to refill my canned pumpkin supplies. We eat a lot of canned pumpkin and, as we are not going to have any pumpkins this year (the kids are going to have to paint faces on old soccer balls for Halloween I guess) I thought I should have lots of Libbys on hand. Wrong. Seems like I am not the only one with a failed crop. There were six cans on the shelves and the grocery manager said he had heard they might not get any more for a while because of the crop failure. Yikes! I guess I will have to work on a recipe for carrot bread.
I did have some good news about my canner. I called Lehman’s and they are sending out a new one right away, along with a shipping label so I can return the damaged one. Their service is so good. There prices are a bit higher but you can count on the quality.
Have any of you found your state’s prepper network. You can google it. I am anxious to hook up with mine. I would really like to find a group that meets a couple of times a year for a day of skill building and connection. I am supposed to meet up with some folks from the Massachusetts Preppers Network soon. I am looking forward to it as long as I have the time to pull from garden work.
Now that I have a good idea about what to expect to put up from my garden (great, heaving sigh) I am working on my updated inventory and shopping list. I also put together a list for my un-prepped sister about how to begin a food storage program. I am getting the distinct impression that she did not read a certain book that one would have assumed she has sitting on her bookshelf.
August 18, 2009 at 8:00 am
I had to laugh about your last comment. Family! You have to love them, but sometimes they make it difficult ;>)
August 18, 2009 at 8:02 am
So previously healthy looking tomatoes (the fruits), set out to ripen, developed blight symptoms? Wild and so sorry!
I wonder if this Thanksgiving (which for my family = pumpkin pie more than anything else!) will be one where even mainstream non-prepping americans realize how they are connected to the food chain and how fragile it is.
August 18, 2009 at 9:00 am
I think a %^&* woodchuck lives in our woodpile. Something gave me a scare when I walked near there yesterday. Not the neighbor’s cat this time…
I realized I’m not going to do much canning this year, so I put all kinds of canned goods on my shopping list for this week.
Carrot cake is one of our favorites. Not too unhealthy if you keep the cream cheese icing away. I bet you could put it in a loaf pan and call it carrot bread, maybe adding a little more flour to make it stiffer?
August 18, 2009 at 9:46 am
I am growing ‘Triple Treat’ pumpkins and they are doing great. I could not find any news on the problems with the pumpkin harvest. Do you have any other details, was it disease related?
And the tomatoes at the CSA are super abundant here in Philadelphia area. I only planted a few of my own and they are scattered through the garden but they are fine.
August 18, 2009 at 9:56 am
We are certainly looking forward to having you at our prepper meet up this weekend!
Your squash should heal, mine always did from one simple bite, but the little buggers who take that bite think that it’s a handy snack to come back to!
Last year, I had a family of mice decide that my green beans were fair game! One bite out of each one within their reach…I wouldn’t have minded if they ate the whole bean, but one bite? No fair! lol
Try BJ’s for pumpkin, they had plenty last time I was there.
August 18, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Our tomatoes are !finally! showing themselves, I was beginning to wonder if we’d only get 1 this year. We have had a pretty easy summer, but last week it got hot so that must have done the trick. Hmm, sounds like it’s time to buy some canned pumpkin.
August 18, 2009 at 2:26 pm
I should say that the word about the pumpkin came from one grocery manager whick does not make it gospel. I am sure we had a bad year because of the cold and the rain. Someone a mile from us could have had far different results, micro climates being what they are. I am not prepared to panic over the canned pumpkin but I will keep my eyes open.
August 18, 2009 at 2:42 pm
That’s it! I’m boxing up care packages for all my JIC friends. I’ve harvested 150+ pounds of tomatoes this month and have volunteer pumpkins taking over the north half of my garden…dried tomatoes and pumpkin puree care packages for everyone!
August 18, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Andrea! That is wonderful! Enjoy!!!
August 18, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Slightly disconcerting that there is so much vegetative discord in the world… here in southern Tasmania we have had one of the wettest years to date (following a very drab and cold summer). Not much is growing at the moment, everything is dormant. Most people’s tomato crops failed over the summer as it was too cold.
It is interesting to see what works and what doesn’t work in a ‘bad’ year, and I suppose we’re all lucky that the supermarkets are still operating as per normal otherwise we’d have been a bit light on the vegetables.
Incidentally I read the other day the monsoons are not happening in India at the moment so they are expecting huge crop failures. Perhaps another bad year for grain and rice in the shops coming up as well?
August 19, 2009 at 5:45 am
Welcome Anna all the way from Tasmania! It is disconcerting. We actually had a local person put in a successful crop of rice IN MASSACHUSETTS. It’s crazy. This few days of heat did get my squash going and I even found 3 tiny pumpkins as well as one cantelope. Perhaps it will be a warm, late fall and there is hope yet.