The peas are still flowering and (slowly) filling up pods, the tomatoes are still reddening in the greenhouse, and, weirdly, our strawberry plants have a ton of new blossoms and a few ripe specimens. Yet I consider summer officially gone, because I’ve finished up the state agriculture grant.
I had until Sept. 30 to create a report on:
- How much I spent ($1,950.53 out of a possible $2,250)
- How much food we grew (372 pounds)
- How much food we preserved (258 pounds)
- How many direct beneficiaries of the garden (DF and me)
- How many indirect ones (119 – relatives, friends, residents at a family shelter, and all the people to whom we gave seeds and plant starts)
The ag grant people pleaded with us to turn in reports before Sept. 30 if possible. I sent mine (along with a photo of the garden and a list of receipts) on Sept. 15. It took a lot longer than I thought it would to whip this report into shape, but now I can finally relax.
About time, too. It was a busier spring/summer than usual, because advertising and coordinating pickup of all those seeds and starts took way more time than I’d imagined. Of course, that was because most of the people who stopped by also got a garden tour. Yes, I like to show off our little paradise. Sue me.
We don’t plant much before Memorial Day, yet there were always things to point out to visitors: apple and cherry blossoms, the insane rhubarb patch, the greenhouse made mostly of old windows and scrap lumber, Toklat strawberries that had survived another winter and were rarin’ to go.
(See what I mean about the rhubarb? This photo was taken on May 5, about three weeks after the last snowfall. It got a lot bigger.)
Usually our best months are May and June, but this year both were gray and drizzly. Fortunately, all the sun we should have gotten in those two months showed up in July and August. Right now it’s weirdly mild for September, i.e., temps in the mid- to high 50s. On the other hand, it was 35 degrees when we got up one morning last week. Winter is on the way, but right now I am focusing on what we received this summer.
The food we grew
This year we grew potatoes, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, red and golden raspberries, peas (regular and snap), chives, tomatoes, cucumbers, kale, rhubarb, feral and wild greens, apples, fava beans and strawberries. Not bad for a couple of old folks with 750 square feet of growing space.
Some of this food was eaten fresh: tomato sandwiches, snap peas picked and crunched on the spot (our new favorite form of hydration), or salads made of two kinds of lettuce, spinach, rogue* quinoa leaves, and assorted Asian greens from a long-ago planting that has since gone feral.
New to us this year were the fava beans (please, no “…and a nice Chianti” jokes), which to me tasted like the lima beans of my youth. They produce huge pods, but each pod has only three or four beans. Those beans have a rubbery outer skin that’s a lot easier to remove if you blanch them for a minute in boiling water. One pound of unshelled fava beans produced only the amount seen in the picture below.
Being in the garden on a sunny morning to pick fresh raspberries and strawberries for breakfast brought an abiding sense of satisfaction. We grew this. We tended this. We know exactly what’s in it – and what isn’t in it.
We had always shared garden produce to some extent, but not like this year. My ag grant proposal was “City Garden to Preserve/Share & Teach Others,” so we made a serious effort to spread the wealth around. I delivered berries, lettuce and cucumbers to the Clare House family shelter, and dropped off tomatoes and berries to a number of folks from our Buy Nothing group. We gave away 130 strawberry starts, plus seedlings of tomato, English cucumber and golden raspberries.
And when folks dropped by to pick up starts? Most of them sampled last year’s dried apples, strawberries and “rhubarb Twizzlers.” Just about everyone who ate the dehydrated rhubarb treat asked for the recipe and vowed to make it themselves.
The food we preserved
We froze, canned and dehydrated peas, apples, loads of wild and feral greens, red and golden raspberries (26 quarts!), relish, rhubarb compote, cherries and cherry pie filling, applesauce and apple pie filling, and the aforementioned rhubarb Twizzlers.
(Aren’t they pretty? And since we got only 28 cherries last year – yes, we counted them – it was exciting to have enough to can in 2025.)
The wild and feral greens will be turned into “green powder” some time in the near future. We still have about a pint of last year’s, and a little goes a long way in smoothies, meatloaf, stews and even chocolate cake batter. This year’s powder will have the leaves of raspberry, chickweed, dock, strawberry, pea, cabbage, cucumber, radish, turnip, broccoli, mustard, quinoa, spinach, fava bean, dandelion, fireweed, and several Asian greens.
I also tried my hand at fermented pickles, since we grew bush slicers as well as those wonderful Chelsea Prize English cucumbers. Another hat-tip to Buy Nothing: Someone was giving away a fermenting kit, and I was the lucky recipient. I’d never eaten a fermented pickle before, and to be honest, it’s taken time to get used to the naturally sour taste vs. the vinegar slap of commercial pickles. DF really likes them, and I’m coming around, so we will probably do this next year, too.
Again, there’s tremendous pleasure in knowing the provenance of foods saved for winter. No pesticides or herbicides.
The friends we made
When people came by to pick up seeds or starts, I enjoyed putting faces to the names I’d seen in our Buy Nothing group. Often a simple stop-by turned into both a garden tour and an impassioned discussion about why fresh produce tasted better, or how important it was for Alaska children to see how food is grown.
Several times we’ve had parents bring their kids by to “help” us harvest. It was delightful to watch them dig through soil for potatoes, and to hear them say “Whoa!” as they pulled foot-long carrots from the beds. (Some of the grant money went toward making those beds taller and adding more soil. It worked!)
One of those kids, a preschooler with the amusing old-lady name of “Bernice,” was a real hoot. Every time she took a bite of a snap pea or cucumber slice, she’d strike a bodybuilder pose and chant, “Healthy and strong!” Apparently her mom is always telling her we need to eat things that are good for us. Bernice also was delighted to “help” DF hose off the potatoes; using the sprayer might have been her favorite thing about the visit.
We hosted a four-hour open house on a Sunday afternoon in August. About 50 people showed up, all of them eager to tour the garden, pick berries and sugar snap peas, moan about slugs and sawflies, and discuss ways to garden affordably.
The visitors were hungry for knowledge and fearful about rising grocery prices. We were delighted to point out ways to grow (and preserve) delicious, healthy foods without breaking the bank. Some people asked if we’d be giving away plant starts next year. The answer, of course, is “yes,” and for every year after as long as we’re physically able to keep up with the demand.
I’m a big fan of the phrase “Each one teach one,” so I asked anyone who got supplies and/or toured the garden to pass along their own seeds/starts in the future. Also their knowledge: If we share best-practices tips as well as tomato seeds, we can make a big difference in our neighbors’ lives.
Sometimes that difference isn’t much fun: Weeding, sawfly-larvae picking and filling slug traps is no one’s idea of a good time. But being able to pick a fresh tomato or to bake an apple pie on a winter day is worth the splinters and the sunburn it took to get those things.
Okay, readers: How did your gardens grow?
*We last planted quinoa in 2018, yet it still pops up everywhere. Quinoa is like mint: If you have it once, you’ll have it forever.
Related reading:
Congratulations on such a fruitful and giving year of food prosperity! Living in West Michigan and growing a garden was a nightmare. I start all of my plants under grow lights…think those large marijuana type lights. 😉 Spent everyday 4-6 hours daily tending to them for 3 months. Ended up having such a white fly infestation, I had to abort my mission. I am still really pissed. What I could salvage went into our raised beds. Our temps this summer were in the mid 80’s and the low 90’s. White flies again….they LOVE my basil and tomatoes. Worst year EVERY in the 30 years of raising veggies. I am an advanced Master Gardener thru MSU. So defeated this year. :'(
How frustrating that must have been. What’s going on, Mother Nature???
Can we say “climate change,” boys and girls?
But…but…that’s a hoax! The greatest con job of all time! At least, that’s what He Who Shall Not Be Named said. /s
Nice to see you back! I’m impressed with the amount of food you grew in the amount of space you have. I’d say you and DF made great use of the state agricultural grant and you made some friends along the way. Bernice sounds like she was loads of fun. She and my late mother share the same name so maybe that’s why I was drawn to that part of the story. And yes…it is an old-lady name. My mother never could stand her name and preferred Bern or Bernie. I’m surprised to hear of a child having the name but perhaps she was named for someone.
I love the photos, especially the jars of cherries. Cherry pie is a favorite of mine.
I gave my yard over to the woodchucks years ago so no vegetable garden for me but I grow raspberries and rhubarb in the side yard which for some unknown reason, the woodchucks stay clear of. Both crops did well. They’re facing south which helps and they’re at the bottom of a very slight hill so the rain gets sent directly to them.
Thanks for a very interesting article.
Wonderful article, and use of the grant. I’m in PA, close to Maryland, and my great tomato flood has just started last week. It’s late. Today I picked an overflowing bucket of tomatoes, the tall one from Dollar Tree (two gallon?). Two days ago I turned a half bucket into pasta sauce. We have been eating them for about 3 weeks, and giving away some to neighbors. And of course, what grows through the fence belongs to the neighbor. Planted the ones purchased from the greenhouse, and some volunteers a friend gave me. Maybe 25 (?) plants in total. The mortgage lifter tomato plant died, without doing a thing. Had a problem with that plant last year too.
Also planted some green pepper and some peppers that turn yellow and orange on the plant. Marigolds are planted next to all of the plants, to attract bees, to smell good and look pretty, and prevent bugs.
One basil plant, doing well. One patty pan squash plant doing well. Yellow squash plants all died without any fruit, but I used old seeds in pots. One rosemary plant in a large pot, mixed with marigolds, doing well. Some green beans. I grab a few at a time, as they ripen, snap off the ends, then rinse and freeze them until I get enough to do something with them. Watermelon plants from the greenhouse died after I moved them from the pot to the garden.
The two volunteer tomato plants that I planted out front in the flower bed are so heavy that they are breaking the wooden supports. I’ll have to add more, and tie the plants to the supports this week as we are supposed to get four days of rain. I planted some potatoes that were on their way out, about 10 days ago in a large pot. We will see what happens with that. Don’t remember if I planted carrots or not; we will see what comes up.
I might have a BLT or two tomorrow, without the L.
I do use what I call my “Hillbilly Watering System”. I soak the garden during dry weeks. I have two liter coke bottles inserted upside down into the ground next to some of the plants. The lids are screwed on securely, but have two holes drilled into them. The lid end is inserted into the ground, and the wide end is up in the air. I either cut the wide end off, or cut it most of the way around and leave it attached. I fill the water bottles instead of using the hose every day. Gets water to the roots and saves on your water and sewer bill. Our sewer bill is two or three times the water portion of the bill.
Very excited to see this post after talking to you about the garden grant! How nice that you shared with your community! We’ve harvested a cornucopia of cukes and a passel of peppers in South Jersey, but sadly our tomatoes did not do well.
They didn’t do well back in my hometown, either. Which is weird, because South Jersey is known for tomatoes.
Amazing! Your garden sounds delightful, and I wish I were closer so I too could ask for a tour.
MrH and I planted a straw bale garden this year, the first in our new place, and were amazed by the abundance we harvested from such a small footprint. Our tomatoes and brussels sprouts didn’t fare well (No one we know had much success with tomatoes this year) but we were buried in zucchini, yellow squash, acorn squash, okra, eggplant, snap beans and peppers. The YouTube gardening channels I follow kept talking up the benefits of a fall garden, so we’re now harvesting cucumbers and anticipating a second round of snap beansand some collards. We set aside two bales for a variety mix of pollinator flowers and were rewarded with honeybees and bumblebees, dragonflies and damselflies (presumably not after the flowers!) and at least two hummingbirds who make regular visits. When we’re all done for the year, we’ll scatter the bales and let them break down into the lawn.
The amount we planted this year was about right for our family (and then some!) except for peppers and possibly snap beans. If we expand the garden, I’d like to add snap peas and pumpkins. I also want to find a way to grow potatoes and sweet potatoes, either in cardboard boxes or in bins.
Longer term, I want to phase in some raised beds and possibly some perennials like strawberries and sparagus. Eventually, we’d like to have some fruit and nut trees, blueberries, and maybe even grapes. Oh, and maybe a little herb garden close by the back door.
I love hearing about your and DF’s garden, and how you’ve extended it to pass on the plants, produce, and knowledge to your community. Enjoy the fruits (ha ha) of your labors this winter, and let us know how your garden grows again in the spring!
My cousin in South Jersey can get TWO pea crops: one in spring, one in fall. Lucky her. But the folks I know in that area had pretty much zero success with tomatoes this year. Weird.
I’ve heard of straw bale gardening and it sounds interesting. Will be fun to watch for any wheat sprouting in your lawn next year; we’ve had it pop up in beds we covered with straw for the winter.
There’s an interesting book called “Making Home: Adapting Our Homes and Our Lives to Settle in Place,” by Sharon Astyk. She talks about the best foods to grow for the tough times she sees ahead. (Astyk is a “peak oil” person.) As an experiment, she scattered a little compost on her dirt driveway, added cut-up seed potatoes, covered them with straw and watered if needed. To her surprise, she got quite a nice little crop.
She also has other interesting ideas, such as unplugging her fridge and turning it into an old-fashioned icebox by adding jugs of water that she froze in one of her freezers. Smart! If you can’t find the book in your local library, see about an inter-library loan. Or get it used on Amazon:
https://amzn.to/4nHIHlv
What a gift you two are to the community! Are you eligible for the same grant next year?
I don’t know, actually; my uneducated guess is that they’d rather spread the wealth around than give it to people over and over. Maybe some of your Fairbanks gardening friends should apply?
I do plan to encourage my neighbor to try for one of these grants, though. She’s making a concerted effort to grow more of their food, and has begun raising chickens. She calls it “resistance.”
Thanks for reading, and for leaving a comment.
What a great garden story. I love learning about other people’s garden. We have turnip greens, broccoli and some surprise tomato plants growing right now. We grew squash, Zucconi, broccoli, sunflowers, cucumbers, and sweet corn. I have canned and frozen all that I can and we gave away some. My sister-in-law had an over an abundance of purple hulled peas so we have some of those frozen as well. I love having a garden and knowing what is in my food. We probably do not have enough to last to next year but we have some and learned new skills. I am already planning my garden for next year.
That all sounds great. I want to suggest to DF that we try putting in a second pea crop in midsummer, to see how much we could produce. I picked peas yesterday and there are still some immature pods left.
The mom of one of those “helpers” posted the sweetest photo of him sitting on the deck, surrounded by the carrots he had pulled, and noted that since visiting and working in our garden, he has taken a bigger interest in vegetables. He also cut up the ones we sent with him and roasted them with olive oil and salt, insisting that everyone in the household try them. “Pretty delicious!” she noted.
I love it when kids learn that food does not always come from the supermarket.
I didn’t plant broccoli this year, but have in years past. I used the leaves to make stuffed cabbage, instead of cabbage leaves.
I hope you can get the grant again, at next application.
So happy to see the update, I wondered how the growing season went. It sounds like you encouraged and inspired a good number of folks with the grant funds. I would go so far as to bet some of these folks will be bitten by the gardening bug in the future. I certainly hope that will be the case. I personally think there is a huge reward in growing your own food, the taste is unbeatable and there is just something uplifting for a human to see plants grow and produce. All the best to you and I hope you get another grant to be an example to folks that can truly benefit.
Thanks for your kind words. And yes, although it was the busiest summer ever right when we’re faced with some other challenges, touring folks through the garden and giving away plants (and hearing from proud plant owners) made this the best season ever.
Definitely true about the garden bug. We have heard from folks who are, for example, amazed by how good a real strawberry tastes or surprised at how simple (not always easy) it can be to grow food to put on your table. We are saving extra tomato seeds this year and will also be digging up lots more strawberry and golden raspberry starts as well.
Sometime i would like to see a photo of your mysterious Asian greens….I am growing chijimisai and bok choi this year. The bok choi made a lot of seed pods. Some burst open at a light touch….I expect that I’ll find baby bok choi growing next spring😁. The chijimisai was so tasty that it didn’t be a chance to make seeds.
Also, the other day, I mowed the grass near my planter. a lettuce plant must have bolted. There were tiny lettuce leaves poking through the grass. I’ll harvest them soon.
Finally, could you tell us about the costs of your garden? As a novice, $1900 is a lot more than I’d plan to invest for 400 lbs of veg. Maybe because veggies at the store are a lot less expensive here, as opposed to prices in Alaska. I was shocked when the price went to $2/lb for broccoli crown s here. Maybe you’re including the cost of water? Or you had some one-time expenses?
Will have to wait until spring for those photos, as everything is dead now. Some of the Asian greens are definitely mustard-y, though.
A chunk of the grant went toward bigger-ticket items, such as a yard cart that tips like a dump truck (and has proven soooo useful), some large pots for the greenhouse, cloche covers for outdoor beds, additional canning jars, materials to build indoor shelves by the window, a second cherry tree, and a new dehydrator. We also bought lumber to make the raised beds taller, and $200 worth of topsoil to add to those beds. Those items will be re-used year after year.
As for the cost of vegetables and fruits, yes, they are higher here. I have a photo of the “everyday low price!” of 18 ounces of fresh blueberries: $9.99. This week, broccoli crowns are $3 a pound, apples are $2.49 to $3.99 a pound, and ordinary slicing tomatoes are $5.99 a pound.
Our water is not metered, so that’s not an issue. We don’t heat the greenhouse, so no increased utility costs.
As for the cost of vegetables and fruits, yes, they are higher here. I have a photo of the “everyday low price!” of 18 ounces of fresh blueberries: $9.99. This week, broccoli crowns are $3 a pound, apples are $2.49 to $3.99 a pound, and ordinary slicing tomatoes are $5.99 a pound. English cucumbers are $5 to $6 apiece. Good-quality or heirloom tomatoes in the summer farmers market can cost $10 or more per pound.
There’s no way we could afford to eat as much fresh produce as we do (especially berries and apples) if we’d been paying for them. We also make jam, relish, two kinds of pie fillings, rhubarb compote (really good in yogurt), pickles, dried apples, “rhubarb Twizzlers” and green powder, so we eat well year-round.
Good luck with your garden. If you’d like to learn more about ours, I’ve written about it fairly extensively.
https://donnafreedman.com/tag/garden/
https://donnafreedman.com/tag/gardening/
Thanks for reading, and for leaving a comment.