Garden Produce and Canning

 This is the only proof I have that I canned anything in 2020.  I canned tomatoes, apples, pickles, green beans, and made some jelly.  I guess I was just too busy actually working to stop to take any more pictures.  I do enjoy canning.  It was very stressful this go around though.  I think I was working too much and trying to cram too many things into a day.  We all survived, but barely!

Garden Visitors

 These nasty visitors were not kind to my tomatoes.  Blase and Darren took care of them, but it took a couple of weeks.  I think the kids were relieved because with over 40 tomato plants - that's a lot of work.  They were happy to let anything else have the tomatoes.  

June 6th Gardening and Storm

Blase grew some vine plants for me in the greenhouse.  They didn't survive the hardening process outside, but it was still worth a shot. 

Cormac was working in the lower garden while the rest of us were working in the upper garden.

The upper garden is mostly for the chickens and our vine plants.  They are not doing so well.  I think it is because we haven't worked the ground much.  It was a last minute decision.  I'm sure next year's go around will be better.

We were busy planting as this storm came upon us.  Within a couple of minutes the wind picked up.  We lost a roof off a shed and part of the sheeting on the shelter in the yard.  Things were blowing away left and right...including the seeds that Rex was carrying back to the house.

No worries!  I braved the harsh weather to save the precious seeds.  What a crazy start to the garden.

Some of the 2019 Canning

This is some of the canning we did this fall.  This does not include all the stuff we froze from the garden.  I got sick of canning so a lot of the produce went to the chickens.

2019 Garden Update #2

 Our garden did well.  Almost too well!

 I canned only a third of the produce.

 We were also blessed with apples from Aunt Norma's tree.

 So many tomatoes!

 Carrots and beets...green onions...

peppers and zucchini 

We had such a great season.  God blessed us.  The crazy thing is - we only watered three times all summer.  God truly blessed us.

2019 Garden Update #1

 We expanded the garden plot that was already worked from years before.

 This is about 3/4 of the garden.  The garden was huge enough to keep us all busy this summer.

 Gianna was a great help in the garden.

 Gianna is standing by the peas and cucumbers.

This was our first harvest.  Such amazing green superfoods!

The garden got plenty of rain.  We only watered the garden three times this summer/fall.  I was super impressed with the zucchini.  I had enough to feed all of western South Dakota if I wanted to.  The tomatoes did great as did beets.  

August Garden

 All that dill for the grocery stores!

 Ignore the weeds.

Topbar Farms, LLC

Darren has been busy starting a business.  We are owners and operators (is that the proper way of putting it?) of Topbarm Farms, LLC.  Topbar Farms is a hydroponics greenhouse business.  We are growing a variety of lettuces, herbs, greens, and odds and ends.  We have a couple of restaurants that are buying from us already.  We started little with only a few towers.  Then we grew to 50 towers last month.  Now we are expanding again with the purchase of a shipping container and over a hundred more towers.  Our plans are to grow what produce the local restaurants are in need of.

 The baby plants waiting for their time to transplant into the towers.

 some of the produce

 The towers with the grow lights off.

 The towers with the grow lights on.

 These pictures have the grow lights shining on them.

One of the amazing benefits to this business is getting to eat the produce.

Darren brings home lettuce, parsley, mint, basil, radishes (that was an "odds and ends" experiment), bok choy, greens, micro-greens, cilantro, chives, and other random experiments to eat.  

We are selling to individuals as well.  Our plan is to sell mostly to restaurants, but if we have extra produce we will sell to anyone.