Independence Day Challenge Year 2, The 16th and 17thth week

Well, phew, it is a busy time of the year. We are still trying to figure out our housing for the winter. There are numbers flying everywhere. Some of them not so cheerful. Some downright depressing. It is a sordid story of a bubble that has burst, taking all those folks that did the right thing down with those that tried to get something for nothing. Alas, this too shall pass and we will figure out something.

We have been bitten by blight here. We harvested our potatoes just before we left for vacation; saving the harvest as least. We harvested about 80 pounds of potatoes. But gee, the whole time we were digging them up I was thinking," Just a few more weeks and they would have been so much more." But we will have enough for the winter. The real loss is in the seed. I had been saving my potato seed for the last few years. This past spring we bought 5lbs of seed. We planted about 20 lbs of seed. So about 15 lbs of potatoes from saved seed. Next year we will have to start from scratch and buy much more seed.

The tomatoes have been blighted too. I have trimmed all the leaves off the plants. The fruit looks okay, so I hope to, at least, harvest the toms we have; which is not much. I planted 40 plants, I have harvested 1 red tomato and it is almost September. I asked a farmer at the farmer's market if he could sell me a bushel of "canner" tomatoes. He said that it might be slim pickings and could not be sure he would have any by the next market.

This heat has brought humidity ;which is okay, at least it is heat. But it is going to get autumn-like by the end of the week. Short season. Hope the frost can hold off for another month.

Plant: more spinach

Harvest: Basil, kale, tomato ( just 1), potatoes, paprika peppers, early jalapeno pepper, onions, zuccichini, pole beans, blackberries

Preserve: frozen beans, frozen blueberries, salsa, peach jam, peach wine, dehydrated peaches, blueberry jam, dehydrated dill, dehydrated kale.

Manage reserves/ prep: We hit the duty free shop on our way home from Canada and bought 1 bottle of vodka for herbal tinctures. Strained herbal oils and tinctures. Working on a list for another bulk food order in October. trimmed and re-staked tomatoes.

Eat the food: can one eat too much zucchini?

Local foods: Farmer's market and we bought Ontario peaches when we were in Ontario.