The first and final harvest of 2011

We've been expecting a freeze any day now, so on Sunday, Kev and I decided we'd better put the garden to bed...what garden there was.  With the excessive heat and the drought this summer, our garden lacked a lot.  We got a few potatoes, a very few onions and once the heat ended, we hoped we'd get to harvest something...anything!  So, we ventured out Sunday afternoon and harvested. 

I planted pole beans this year and bought a variety that grows purple beans.  They turn green when you cook them.  I chose these because I hoped they would be easier to pick than green beans.  However, the leaves have enough of a purple cast that the beans weren't any easier to find on the vines.  We picked over a 5 gallon bucket full of beans.  They are now sitting in the freezer, waiting for me to have time to can them.

This is a shot of most of our tomato crop.  We finally got a few tomatoes to eat, and quite a few cherry tomatoes, but not enough to can.  However, we have gotten enough to enjoy a few BLT sandwiches!

A new crop for us this year was peanuts.  Kev loves to snack on roasted peanuts throughout the winter, so I wanted to see if we could grow some.  Grandma B. grew them one year, so I was pretty sure we could.  Unfortunately, we have a resident mole.  Who ate most of my seed.  I had two plants left.  And we got a very few peanuts.  Not sure if we got enough to roast.  If not, we'll save them and plant them again next spring...if it rains...

 Mr. Mole also harvested most of my carrots for me.

 This one was a prime example of his work.  He ate from the bottom up and left the tops.  So, when we pulled the carrots, we'd find these...

Crazy, isn't it!

So, this year, we didn't grow enough food to live on for the next year.  Fortunately, I still have plenty of  products that I canned last year.  I'm saving  seeds for next year and we'll try again... 

If it rains...and if Mr. Mole moves away.