Monday, October 26, 2009

The Law of the Harvest

35 pints
Garlic, Dill and Hot Dill.
Hot dill are our favorite.
Will definitely do more next year!

39 pounds shelled.
39 one pound freezer bags.
I want to plant five rows again next year.
Are you up to it Kendon?
He and Connor shelled EVERY single pea. Thanks hon.

First year doing carrots.
We'll see how they last.
Stored in barely moist sand in the cellar.

50 pints salsa verde
50 pints traditional salsa
Everything for our salsa came out of the garden except for the bell peppers and cilantro.
Cilantro goes to seed too fast.
The kids were great help with the salsa making.
Connor and Sirri cut up MANY tomatoes. It was fun to do as a family.
YUM! I think I need to go buy a bag of chips!

48 pints, a few quarts.
Kendon pruned the old, dead apple trees in our orchard this spring and what do you know, they produced apples! Very exciting.
The kids LOVE apple sauce.
I also have 6 gallon bags in the freezer that I'm slowly leathering. Yum.

Bad picture. Delicious corn.
30 quart sized bags.
We struggle growing corn. Most of this is from a neighbor.
We'll try again next year.

A BUNCH of frozen bags. I'm not sure what we think of those. Boo.
30 quarts canned. The kids loved bottled beans.
I think I'll stick to bottled next year. Bummer cause freezing is so easy.

27 quarts of pears
36 quarts of peaches.
Messy messy, but worth it.
Peaches: $17/box
Pears: $14/ box
Could have gotten a better price.

A real labor of love.
I think beets are disgusting, but Kendon loves them.
The kids do as well.
I do however think they are pretty.
One row a year is plenty.
18 quarts

6 little jelly jars.
Very easy to make.
This stuff just tastes like Christmas to me. Mmmmm.
While I'm out buying chips, I might have to buy some crackers and cream cheese, too.

14 quarts
This stuff is quite a lot of work.
It looks disgusting in the jars.
Stew is easy enough to make from scratch.
I don't think I'll do this again next year.

I LOVE having a real, underground cellar.
I feel like Laura Ingalls Wilder.
I always wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Manly was so...manly!
Uh, anyway, I love my cellar.
Isn't it colorful?

So, Kendon is just as manly as Manly.
He left our house at 5:30 a.m. and shot this elk at 6:30.
He rocks.
Now, we have a nice and full freezer.



It was so fun to enjoy the harvest from our garden this summer. We ate many meals where everything on the table was from our garden and/or something Kendon had hunted. (All except the purple Crystal Light.)

It was so much fun to have the kids' help this year. They are getting big enough to help plant, weed, harvest, and can. It is always lots of hard work, but well worth it.



25 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am very impressed! That is so awesome! We sold our garden when we sold our other house :( But there's always next year right?! I've been meaning to tell you that the primary program went really well and you did a really good job leading the kids! I think it's always nice to hear that being the chorister because it was always hard for me to ever lead in front of anyone...well the teachers and adults :) If it would have been just me and the primary kids, I'd been just fine ;) so way to go!

Grandma W. said...

Absolutely Awesome!!! Honey, you are one in a million, for sure!!!!
We are so proud of you with all of that beautiful produce in the jars!
Your family will eat well for sure this winter!! And, you too, Kendon! How many guys go out for an hour and bring back an elk???!!!
You are a good man!!! And, I think it is so neat that all the kids helped you so much! They will certainly have an appreciation for everythin they helped with!
Nice goin' Jensen's!!!!
We love you!

queenieweenie said...

wow...just WOW.

heidiram said...

Unbelievable. And I thought I was doing awesome with my 5-6 cherry tomatoes I got off my wilting tomato plant every week. I give up. Why am I such a pathetic gardener????? You rock!

Pam said...

Lisa Marie Jensen, I am so proud of you!! I wish I could take credit for teaching you how to do all that, but I think you are self taught! Like queenie said. . . WOW, JUST WOW! You should all be proud for your contributions. I think it is wonderful that hyou are teaching the kids to "work". Mom

Rochelleht said...

I'm so beyond impressed. WOW!!! You are like a real Mormon now. Talk about provident living. I am DYING over your coolness. Seriously, DYING!!!

Kirsten said...

I am so jealous. so jealous! Someday I, too, will not be renting and have a yard be a gardening/putting up goddess. That day can't come too soon!

I love LIW, too!

Kim said...

WOWSERS!!

All I want for Christmas is pickles and beats...YUMMO!!

Richard came home today and said, "Your sister has a Trader Joes in her house."

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Trader Joes and your cellar beats it hands down.

I'm jealous. I wish I lived closer to you so I could partake in your bounty. As much as I'd love to say I would have my own garden, I think I'd just pay you to make yours bigger so my family could just eat off your land.

LOVE YOU ALL!!

robin said...

i feel lazy.

the wrath of khandrea said...

i honestly don't even know what to say. i am truthfully in awe. i almost want to swear.

Lauren in GA said...

You and your family are completely and totally AMAZING. You truly are living off of the land and I know it makes Heavenly Father very happy.

You have accomplished so much this year. My hat is totally off to you!

diane said...

Amazing.

That elk scares me. Better than any Halloween decoration.

You mean you don't have a Crystal Light tree. Get on that.

Emily said...

Are you kidding me?

Really - I don't know what to say. Amazing.

I'm coming to Rexburg next year to learn the ways.

Tristan said...

You are making the rest of us look bad!!! HA!! We love you though!

Look at you go!! WOW!!!

Jenibelle said...

Yowza.

Seriously.

Yowza.

I'm exhausted just thinking of all the chopping, peeling, shucking, grinding, measuring, cooking, cleaning you did.

Yowza.

Laurel said...

Can I sit in complete awe for a moment? Seriously amazing work. I canned apples and peaches last year. That is a lot of work. I'm impressed, woman! Totally impressed.

Annie said...

You have been busy!! WoW you are the woman!!

Ilene said...

You put my two planter boxes to shame.

I killed the zuchinni plant because I didn't know what to do with all the zuchinni. I don't know how you do all of this harvesting stuff. Now I know where to go to when famine strikes.

I tried to grow cilantro but of course it turned into coriander within a week. I'm a sucker.

catharooni said...

show off.

but seriously - congrats on an series of amazing accomplishments!

Lauren said...

WOW! i knew that you had a garden this year and canned but all that!! I am totally impressed!!

*~McGarys~* said...

You did a wonderful job. I did a lot of canning this year also and loved it. I feel so good about myself when i can see what I have done. I bet you feel the same way.

cindy. said...

uh, HELLO! if i'm ever half as amazing or accomplished as you are, i'll feel good about myself.

are you sure we are related?

Jessica said...

Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the ground.

I see people make cutesy scrapbooks, and I don't care. I see people sew pillow covers and I feel nothing. I see people do family history like they're 80 years old...zip.

But this...this I want to do.

Aunt Penny said...

Wow! You are totally living off the land! You just need a cow for some milk. :)

Sheen said...

i'm so glad you commented! thanks for your kind words too!

i've been reading your blog for some time now. sadly... i felt too dumb to comment before.

it started when cindy told me about seri. what a tough little girl! she is beautiful.

and cindy. i just LOVE her to death! i miss her cute self too!

totally try the wreath out! and post pics of how it goes!

and... that garden! and the canning! and the organizing! i love it! i'd kill to have a garden like that someday. i love fresh veggies. and there's something so satisfying to know when you pull out canned goods from your pantry, it all came from your hard and diligent work.

i'll be taking lessons from you this coming summer. where do i sign up? :)