The garden is closed for the season, with the freeze Oct 29.  It's been quite a season and here are the highlights:
  • Growing season was April to Oct this year, with seedlings starting in Feb and March.
  • Fruit/vegetables harvested were (sort of in order of appearance):
    • asparagus, snow peas, chives, lettuce, oregano, strawberries, radish, basil, beans, cucumbers, garlic, summer squash, kale, chard, collard greens, cabbage, carrots, beets, celery, grapes, peppers, tomatoes, leeks, green onions, winter squash, blackberries, raspberries, pumpkins, rosemary, thyme, and sage.
  • Farm market was open 20 weeks Jun 16 - Oct 27 , latest season yet.
  • We averaged over 100 lbs of food per week, with some weeks closer to 200 lbs, so well over a ton (2000  lbs) of produce picked
  • Started the year with 99 jars of canned stuff from last season.
  • To date, we have made over 560 canned jars of items with something from the garden (or peaches from the Scout fundraiser).
    • 15 types of canned savory products:
      • Cowboy Candy, Dill Pickles, Pickled Beets, Sweet Relish, Tomatillo Salsa, Dilly Beans,  Peach Salsa, Spaghetti Sauce, Smoked Tomato Pasta Sauce, Tomato Soup, Roasted Hatch Peach Salsa, Pickled Jalapenos, Salsa, Chicken Marinade, Hot Sauce
    • 4 types of refrigerator savory products
      • Pickled Radish
      • Pickled Beets
      • Bread and Butter Pickles
      • Dill Pickles
    • 3 types of frozen savory produces
      • Walnut Basil Pesto
      • Roasted Hatch Chilis
      • Pumpkin
    • 3 Types of dried savory products
      • Yellow pear tomatoes
      • Anizai beans
      • Hatch Chilis
    • plus
      • Chive Blossem Vinegar
      • Various dried herbs
    • 20 types of sweet canned products
      • Apple preserves
      • Blackberry jelly
      • Cherry Jam
      • Crabapple Jelly
      • Jalepeno Jelly
      • Mint Jelly
      • Peach butter
      • Pear butter
      • Red Grape Jelly
      • Raspberry Jam
      • White Grape Jelly
      • Triple Berry Jam
      • Peach Jam
      • Spiced Peach Jam
      • Raspberry Peach Jam
      • Strawberry Jam
      • Grape Jelly
      • Raspberry Chocolate
      • Raspberry Applesauce
    • 3 types of sweet refrigerator products
      • Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
      • Pumpkin Butter
      • Apple Cider
    • Not to mention the baked goods
    • 155 ¼ pint jars, 271 ½ pint jars, 191 pint jars, and 38 quart jars
  • We are sold out of honey for the year.
    • We started with 44 jars of honey from last year (23 4 oz, 8 8 oz and 13 16 oz). 
    • The harvests this year was 110.5 lbs/11 gallons of honey. 
    • This was turned into 138 jars (32 4 oz, 76 6/8 oz, and 30 16 oz).
  • Natural challenges to the garden
    • Late April hail/snow
      • Wiped out a large portion of the tomato seedlings.  Had to replant so they were smaller that we liked
      • Damaged early flowering fruit, including strawberries and apple trees
    • Grasshoppers were all over the place this year, like most of Colorado
      • Did a number on the fruit trees, raspberries and beans
    • Squash beetle infestation in the pumpkin patch killed plants early and damaged squash and pumpkins
    • 100 degree temperatures for several days in a row, with a lot of 90 degree days  
      • Made it tough to work more than an hour or two early or late in the day.
    • Swarming bees
      • We had at least 2 hives leave and Marc was able to replace with captured swarms locally.
      • Big year for swarms in Colorado
    • Bumper crop of weeds
      • Got through most of the thistle early, but once harvesting starts, it got away from us again
Many thanks to the 17 folks that showed up Oct 26 to strip the tender plants (peppers, beans and tomatoes) before the freeze, pick the final berries, pull all the carrots, pick beets, trim back the raspberries & blackberries,  trash the tomato vines, bean plants, carrot and beet tops and various weeds.  We filled the dumpster (even with it being compacted several times) and we will do a decent job of filling it again next week with what is already in bins still up in the garden.  tTHe compost bins are pretty full as well. Combined with the pumpkin, squash, & cucumber vines that were cleaned up earlier (thank you Janice W and friend), we are way ahead of the winter work for this year.  We will be putting out the silage tarps and other covers in the next few weeks to attempt to get a handle on some of the bugs and more of the weeds.
Canned goods will be available in the narthex through noon on Nov 24 or when they are gone,  when we need to vacate the area for Advent.  Please make sure to place your generous donations in the box or use the QR code.   We are still canning so look for new items each week.
Final numbers for the financials are not available yet.  So we don't know what we have for other missions that support fighting food insecurities.