This past year I tried desperately to keep a tally of all the food we produced here on the farm and gathered from mother nature. Well I tell you, I failed miserably! I was able to keep track of most of the meat we put up but there was no way that I could track all the fruits & vegetables.In addition to grocery shopping in the garden nightly this summer we picked lots of wild raspberries, domestic raspberries, and a few strawberries & blueberries. Next summer's fruit harvest should be more plentiful. The kids and I also went strawberry picking a couple times and froze all we could. For the second year in a row I bought 20lbs of Maine blueberries from a local. You can't beat the price or the taste!
I froze what I could from the garden including beets, cabbage, beet greens, swish chard, green beans, peas, pumpkin, and rhubarb. I canned dill pickles, zucchini pickles & relish, an beets. In cold storage we put up onions, garlic, sweet potatoes, yukon golds, hubbard and buttercup squash. The eggs tally lasted until mid July and the count left off at 3373 eggs. We eat lots, give plenty away and sell to a few locals.
Here is our meat tally. Keep in mind all of the chicken & turkey we put up are on the bone.
Rabbits - 10lbs (still have 7 full grown meat rabbits to put up or sell)
Ducks - 13 lbs (we have 8 Muscovies that we intended to eat but have become attached to and 3 Khaki Campbells) They will reside in the greenhouse this winter. I will be posting about that as soon as it is complete.
Fish - 6lbs (this is inaccurate, it is the only # I had written down, I did not do a good job tracking this....oops)
Pork - 270lbs
Turkey-82 lbs
Venison- 88lbs (thanks to Maine Man. I did get a shot at one for a first this year but I missed :(.... couple weeks left in the season.
Chicken - 423lbs (we have 15 Cornish Rocks roosters left in the barn that probably weigh at least 8lbs dressed) Seeing how we have no more freezer space or the need for any more meat MM will do the deed this week and we will give to family. Early Merry Christmas ;)
Partridge/ Woodcock - I forgot to track....
Total Tally - 892 lbs (after MM takes care of the broilers and the rabbits we should be up over 1000lbs. I will update the tally when all is complete)
We gave some meat to family& friends. Some we bartered for homemade wine & cider. The rest will nourish our family right through a good portion of 2010.
Not only did we raise all these animals but Maine Man processed 100% of the meat. He really lives up to his name!Interestingly, we tried to sell the last of the rabbits and cornish rocks and nobody was interested.(I didn't even mention prices) I also offerred one of our grown pigs to a family member for free and they declined. The basic reason is because nobody wants to do the deed. I can't say I blame them because I am have never been interested in that either. Give me the meat, I'll package but I'm quite all set with the rest. Although the more I get into this lifestyle the more I think... well maybe. Funny how you acclimate to your surroundings. A couple years back I would not even considered it. Heck, I go hunting. Not sure how I'd feel if I shot one but hopefully someday I'll find out. It is kind of sad how much we have distanced ourselves from killing animals for food. Some can barely even recognize meat as living animals that were killed for their consumption. :(
P.S. We also put up 4 quarts and 1 pint of maple syrup. Can't wait to tap more trees next year!
Not sure if I'll keep a running tally next year but I am glad I (somewhat) I did this year.
10 comments:
Very impressive list, you must be ready to hibernate - did you know you can tap birch trees too, no maples here - i had a lovely visit with you blog today, thanks, peace for all
I did know that. We may try to tap a couple birch trees this Spring and compare flavor.
Good for you guys! We didn't get much from our garden this year. It was a sad sad garden. We also killed our first chicken last week. Unfortunately, we had to because it was sick so we didn't eat it. :-(
I keep a calander with a pen attached near our phone. We wrote our daily pickings on it (and continue to write our egg tally on it). I found it pretty easy to keep track that way.
We have 8 rabbits for the same reasone, we can't bring ourselves to just do the job. I hear rabbit is good eating just haven't eaten it yet. I don't even know anyone around here that does that. I guess I could call a taxadermist? I don't know. You all have done a great job with your supply!!
I have always wanted to try and make syrup. The stuff in the stores don't even compare.
What a tally! I attempted to keep track, but failed. We keep a calendar on the fridge and I was doing good writing the egg count on there, but then... stopped sometime back in the summer. It was probably about the same time that the garden became overwhelming. I'm going to attempt again next year.
No hunters or farmers in my house, so I never had the experience of killing for food..I am definately not opposed to it, just don't know how good I'd be. I can put a worm on a hook, though..so maybe there would be hope! I'll keep growing and see where that all goes...It is my building years..you know, like when the sports teams are real successful, they say they are having a building/rebuilding year. Learning as I go and smarter all the time!!
I LOVED reading your post...I too would struggle with the actual "dispatching" of the animal and the butchering process, but i would have no problem with the packaging, cooking and eating of the meat! Your tally, even incomplete, is amazing and very impressive!
Quite a list you for there! Great post!
Nothing better than the feeling of security by having so much food stored up and you guys must feel so secure and proud. It's alot of work to harvest all that meat and veggies.
Thanks to you next year I'll know when to dig my onions. I waited to long this year and they partially rotted.
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