Taking a Fast, Cheap, and Good Break

Seven years.  For seven years, I've been writing this blog, hoping to inspire some of you to live lives that are more respectful of your own time, money, health, and other resources. The efforts have spawned one book (and perhaps another in the future) and countless comments and discussions that I treasure.

However, I think the time has come to go on indefinite hiatus. There are only so many times I can tell you about starting my seeds or harvesting my tomatoes or making homemade bread.  I do these things, but I'm not sure I have much else to tell you I haven't said before. This blog should provide value for all of us, and I think my well has run temporarily dry.

So, I'm going on indefinite hiatus.

I'm going to keep the blog open for reference and conversation, and I will likely post from time to time. However, it won't be a regular thing until my life takes a turn that gives me new ideas and new projects to share with you.  Hopefully, one day in the not-too-distant future, it will be a move into a more temperate climate and a lot of new gardening and housekeeping issues to share.

Until then, please feel free to let me know if you'd like me to address a specific issue or project, and I'll come back to this blog to try to share my experience. 

I bid you a sustainable - and happy - new year!

How Much Does a Garden Grow: October and November 2017

Sigh.  I hate when the garden gives up, which, inevitably, it did in mid-October. Most of the tallies I'll share with you in this post are final, although we still have greens and peppers in the sunroom to give us a final boost.

Speaking of sunroom, we adopted a puppy! This adorable little nugget unfortunately likes to climb into the pepper plants, but I think I've managed to create a way to discourage him from doing so.  Nonetheless, I suppose it is time for me to line up a series of posts on sustainable dog ownership!

Regardless, October was our final month for tomatoes, and the big winner this year was the San Marzano crop, with over 38 pounds of harvest. Second was the Cuore di Bue (34 pounds) and the Principe Borghese (33 pounds). Obviously, these three types will repeat in the 2018 garden, with a new variety of Cuore di Bue that came from a friend (thank you, S!); hopefully, this will give me some even heavier tomatoes with better potential for sauce and juice.

Potatoes were a disappointment this year, but hope springs eternal.  I have potatoes planted in the sunroom, and these sorts of plantings often lie dormant until spring and then turn into the most wonderful early spring crops.

At the end of December, I'll give you the final tallies and the overall report.

Cumulative Totals

Total Ounces of Harvest: 4290.0
Total Pounds of Harvest: 268.125

Total Retail Value of Harvest: $973.59

Total Expenditures: (-287.67)

Total Profit (Loss): $685.92