Costs in the garden outputs this week- 0
Total Garden Outputs (including seeds/plants) for 2013- 468.15 dollars
Total Garden imputes in terms of harvest for 2013-983.84
Currently = In the good by 515.69
Total Garden impute in terms of free, gifted or foraged plants for 2013-797.88
Planted this week-,Friday to Thursday
- Ground Cherries
- Greens-Salad
- jerusalem artichoke
- Rose bush
- Wheat
- Barley
* The weather has been holding us back, heavy, heavy rains and nasty high winds, there is no point in planting only to lose things.. so its once again been a far to slow week.
Plus Greenhouse seeding plantings.. but I am not going to go over those, they will be talked about when they make it out to the main gardens.
Currently prepping and working on different garden beds and everything that is coming back from next year..
Harvest this week..
- Nettles-40 cups (will make these equal to basil herb) -40 **
- horseradish Greens- 6 bunches- 3.99 at the Chinese market-24
- Garlic greens/bulbs- 2 bunch (count them as green onions) 1 .98
- Fresh Mints- 20 cups – I weighted this out and its 2.29 per cup -45
- Mirco greens- equal to one box-5.99
- Rhubarb 44 pds- at 2.50 per pd ***-110
- Beet Greens-1 bunch-3.99
- Raddish- 1 bunch-1.99
- Fresh Dill- 1 bunch-1.99
- Rasberry leaves- 100 grams -1.99
Total this week –236.93
** 46 cups fresh used, and the rest are dried, I finally got to the health store and got a current price on the dried stinging nettle pills, and will using it to help me figure out what my dried nettles are worth.. (did a big list of things I am growing an drying and wow, so glad that I am doing it on the farm, and not buying them!)
*** yes I am aware that is a insane price on rhubarb but that is what the average price is at all three local markets that I checked this week on it..
Went to my mountain herb and other online herb sites for prices on these..
Extra’s..
Pig plow update: Cleared 128 square feet this week
total Plow this spring so far 1344 square feet..
compost used from the farm – Six wheelbarrels- equal to 24 large bags at the store.. 2.99 per bag- Savings on compost this week-71.76
Savings on compost for 2013 -183.64 (including tax)
Gifted to us this week- Two bags of Jersuim Artachokes roots- 30
Gifted Seeds this year-
- Beans
- Ockra
- Luffa
- Blue Dent Corn
Gifted from us Total to date : 279
- 300 pds of well composted farm compost–45
- six rhubarb root in a pot- 60
- 8 apple mints-48
- 2 -Beebalm Red 20
- 1 Beebalm Pink- 10
- Peppermint (little)- 4
- 4 Wild Violets ( big pots worth) -40
- 4 Nettles- (normally can only order seeds so will use that)-12
- 2 virgina creepers- 20
- 4 Creeping Charlie- 20
Just another Day on the Farm 
Went looking for more info on seed saving Nettles and wound up with ALOT more info than expected. I can’t help but feel that actually growing your own plants is a much more environmentally wise approach than going out and stripping seed (although she does mention that using the plant is a much gentler approach.)
When I harvest rhubarb stalks, I use the leaves (stacked 3 deep) as shade for the roots. No muss, no fuss and right back where they came from (unless they become the base for homemade insecticide: )
hmmm, that is a great post idea, how to make homemade insecticide.. thanks deb
: )
Went looking for info on seed saving for Nettles and wound up with ALOT more than expected…
(http://whisperingearth.co.uk/2010/08/23/harvesting-nettle-seeds/)
Although she does mention here, briefly, that using the plant has a much gentler effect on the body; as the old saying goes: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” so I can’t help but feel that taking a few seeds to grow your own plants is a much wiser approach than just going out and stripping seed willy-nilly. After all, we’re not the only beings that rely on these for food, right? (PLUS, the closer to hand, the more likely we’ll be to use them; )
Do you think that, if people knew how dead easy it is to grow (and share) your own Rhubarb, there’d be more available and the price would be more reasonable?
maybe on the rhubarb but there are a lot of folks that want to eat the stalks but won’t have the plant as they are afraid of the leaves, which is strange to me but I have had folks tell me that they would never have a plant in a garden or on a farm.. so odd, as I can’t imagine not having it!
A lot of folks still think of rhubarb as poor mans food or plant and yet they will pay though the nose for a strawberry rhubarb pie..
I can help you out on the stinging nettles store cost: dried, 40 grams costs about 8$ with tax. 40 grams fills about a cup dried. So, in my opinion, you’re probably saving somewhere around 200$ and up with just that batch.
Takes between around three cups to four cups of fresh nettles depending on how tightly packed to make one cup of dried crumbled nettles.. thank you Marie, that is very interesting and good information to have.. I will be able to figure out how much the nettles I am drying and putting away are worth.. I normally put away around a dozen quart jars at a min for the winter use. each jar is 4 cups.. so 48 cups worth at eight dollars a cup..384..