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grow and harvest 100,000 calories - PEP BB gardening.straw.calories

BB gardening - straw badge
posted 5 years ago
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This is a badge bit (BB) that is part of the PEP curriculum. Completing this BB is part of getting the straw badge in Gardening.

An average person needs one million calories per year.  So this BB is for proving that you can grow one tenth of the average person’s food needs.





To put it in perspective, there are 10,000 calories is in:  
         o 35 pounds of potatoes
         o 10 pounds of prunes
         o 40 quarts of salsa
         o 6 pounds of dried strawberries
         o 55 pounds of onions
         o 50 pounds of winter squash
         o 30 pounds of sunchokes
         o 7 pounds of field corn or rye or most grains
         o 7 pounds of dried black beans
         o 4 pounds of sunflower seeds

To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
 - grow, harvest and use 12 or more species (except in cases where species are quite different as in the brassica family) totaling 100,000 calories
 - minimum of 2,000 calories from each of the 12 species
 - perennials, biennials and annuals are fine but foraging is not
 - can not be used for animal feed
 - no inputs from more than 500 feet away (tomato starts from the big box store aren't allowed) except for seeds
 - this can be completed over a series of growing seasons (please just one submission when you are complete)

To document your completion of the BB, provide proof of the following as pics or video (less than two minutes):
 - each of the 12+ species of food stored or at harvest (whichever is most applicable to prove you did it).  
 - detail the weight of each species and how many calories it represented
 - place(s) where your food is growing

Clarifications:
 - seed potatoes (or tubers or slips) and garlic are allowed provided that you show at least five times more final produce than the “seed.”
 - perennials must already be there, or started from seed, or imported from less than 500 feet away.

COMMENTS:
 
Mike Haasl
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Approved submission
Here's my submission.  The squash was grown two years ago, the rest was this year.  We did grow squash this year but not as much.  We did grow many more calories that were canned, eaten, sold or contaminated with outside inputs in the form of salsa or pickles.

Carrots - 45 lbs.  Stored in the root cellar in five 5 gallon buckets with damp planer shavings = 8,370 calories
Potatoes - 160 lbs.  Stored in the root cellar in wire baskets after curing in the dark for a couple weeks = 45,714 calories
Sweet potatoes - 35 lbs.  Stored in wire baskets in the basement where it's closer to 60 degrees and dry (they won't keep in the root cellar) after curing in a warmer area for a couple weeks = 13,650 calories
Garlic - 7 lbs. Stored in wire baskets in the basement where it's drier (they won't keep in the root cellar) = 4,704 calories
Lofthouse landrace dry beans - 8 lbs.  Stored in mason jars = 11,428 calories
Sunflower seeds - 8 lbs.  Stored in chicken food sack = 20,000
Beets - 32.5 lbs.  Stored in the root cellar in three 5 gallon buckets with damp planer shavings = 6,337 calories
Apples - 120 lbs.  Stored in the root cellar in many 5 gallon buckets with dry planer shavings = 28,320 calories
Onions - 43 lbs.  Stored in the root cellar in wire baskets = 8,213 calories
Squash (14 acorn, 74 pumpkin, 22 buttercup, 54 butternut) - 400-500 lbs.  Stored loose on wooden shelves in the basement where it's closer to 50 degrees and dry. = 80,000
Raspberries - 11.75 lbs.  Frozen on a cookie sheet and then put in cellophane bags in ziplock bags in the freezer = 2,632 calories
Aronia berries - 8.5 lbs.  Frozen on a cookie sheet and then put in cellophane bags in ziplock bags in the freezer = 1,810 calories
Green peppers - 4.5 lbs.  Frozen on a cookie sheet and then put in cellophane bags in ziplock bags in the freezer = 409 calories
Total of 231,587 calories

Bonus species that I didn't weigh would be frozen zucchini, frozen green beans, cabbage, brussels sprouts and leeks that are still in the garden
Bucket-of-carrots.jpg
Bucket of carrots
Bucket of carrots
Potato-haul.jpg
Potato haul
Potato haul
Sweet-potatoes-and-apples.jpg
Sweet potatoes and apples
Sweet potatoes and apples
Garlic.jpg
Garlic
Garlic
Sunflower-seeds.jpg
Sunflower seeds
Sunflower seeds
Beets.jpg
Beets
Beets
More-apples.jpg
More apples
More apples
More-apples.jpg
More apples
More apples
Onions.jpg
Onions
Onions
2017-squash.jpg
2017 squash
2017 squash
Raspberries.jpg
Raspberries
Raspberries
Aronia-berries.jpg
Aronia berries
Aronia berries
Green-peppers.jpg
Green peppers
Green peppers
Lofthouse-beans.jpg
Lofthouse beans
Lofthouse beans

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Staff note (Dave Burton) :

I hereby certify this BB as complete! I think this is just amazing to see!

 
dawn west
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posted 5 years ago
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Is anyone else going to skip the hugelkulture requirement in the sand badge and continue on with the straw badge requirement to grow, harvest and preserve 100,000 cals? This BB will take all summer and it would help keep me on track if someone else was also working towards this goal. I am amazed at what Mike was able to do.
 
Mike Haasl
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I hope so.  It did take me more than one year to do the stuff in the photos, but I think I grow more than that per year.  It's just that I didn't have pictures of every zucchini and tomato that I picked.  I'm pretty sure many experienced homesteaders are cranking out this amount of food each year so I hope they post about it.  

And you never know when the opportunity may arise to knock out a hugel (that opportunity happened for me at Wheaton Labs).

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Joshua Myrvaagnes
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Just thought of a loophole you may want to plug--require "at least 3% or __% of the calories from each of the 12 species."  (So you can't  for example grow 99,990 calories of sunchokes and then 1 tomato, 1 garlic,1 mint plant, etc...).  Yes, always thinking of a way to game the system.

Also, urban question here: I have been planting things I find in compost down the block from me when I steal their compost.  If it's already sprouting, I want to give it a chance.  A turnip here, an onion there.  The initial weight is approximately nil.   I think this is good permaculture.  And I would love for it to count toward my badge.  What do you think, is that an "import"?  

I also cut the tops off all our bag of carrots and am going to regrow those.  They would have gone in my compost otherwise.  (Or my mouth--sometimes I must think I'm Ianto Evans.  My partner doesn't.  She never thinks she's Ianto Evans.
And I don't think she thinks I am either, if only because she doesn't know who that is).   So I'm thinking the part of the carrot that grows in the sunlight here is this carrot, whereas the part that's from the store would fit the definition of a "seed" and I would need to deduct that portion of the carrot from my declared income.  To me, it's more about the spirit of things than the letter, but I figure it's worth making the rules clear to people ahead of time.  I'm aware of farmers who do this kind of thing, get the thrown away food from a grocery store for their goats (or even their farmers...).  I also feel that growing starts you bought would be cheating, and growing starts that you salvaged would be cheating as well, though I would still do it (outside the BB) rather than just let them die if I had enough space.  Or give them to someone.  

I guess I want there to be a salvaging badge, is there?

That food looks delicious, Mike!

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Mike Haasl
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Good catch Joshua!  We thought of that for some other badges but this one snuck thru.  I'll change it to fix that loophole.

I think that Paul wouldn't go for the compost sprouts or the regrown grocery food.  Since he's not good with seed potatoes I think those would count as imports.  In an urban PEX though, that could be a neat part of gardening or foraging.  No salvaging badge but foraging is probably the closest...

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D Nikolls
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posted 4 years ago
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So... does the seed potato rule mean you can buy seed potatoes, grow potatoes from them, save some to plant, and then in year 2 you're ok?

Or is it meant as 'no potatoes unless you start by importing true potato seeds'?

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Mike Haasl
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I just clarified the BB a bit.  The answer to your first question is yes.  

If you import potato seeds (not little tubers), those would count as seeds so you could grow them out and count them for this BB in the first growing season.

Did my edit to the top post clear it up a bit?

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Kevin Wilson
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dawn west wrote:Is anyone else going to skip the hugelkulture requirement in the sand badge and continue on with the straw badge requirement to grow, harvest and preserve 100,000 cals? This BB will take all summer and it would help keep me on track if someone else was also working towards this goal. I am amazed at what Mike was able to do.



I'm working on this. While we did build a hugel in 2020 (40ft long, 4ft wide and 3ft high) we are never going to build one 7ft high, even if part of it is buried :)

I just added up calories for 2020 in hindsight that I can prove, and it was just over 21,000. 2021 should be higher, I have our own seed spuds and true potato seed to start with, and will keep better records of the rest of the harvest.

Mike, amazing squash harvest!

Kevin

Kevin's offshoot of PEX: http://uhspr.ca/merit-badges/

 
Mike Haasl
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Pro tip - I did the sand, straw and wood hugels at Wheaton Labs using their excavator.  Much easier

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Rebekah Harmon
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Edge case submission
WHAT A GARDEN THIS YEAR!! its my first time growing so much. But I produced:
Banana squash amd pumpkins,
Potatoes,
Spaghetti squash,
Acorn amd other winter squashes,
Tomatoes,
Sunchokes,
Onions,
Lettuces,
Corn,
Beans of many kinds,
Summer squashes,
Apples,
Chokecherries,
Peas,
Herbs,
And carrots

I'll include my calorie sheet as well as pictures that are necessary. Some pictures are of the finished food product, because I didn't snap one before we prepared or ate them!

Have to say, all in all, its been a joy!
Resized_20210801_193513.jpeg
Tomatoes
Tomatoes
20200911_195949.jpg
Naughty carrot
Naughty carrot
20211026_101021.jpg
Sunchokes
Sunchokes
20211026_101336.jpg
Potatoes stored in root cellar
Potatoes stored in root cellar
20211026_100936.jpg
My growing space
My growing space
20211026_095838.jpg
Apples, making vinegar
Apples, making vinegar
20210727_085143.jpg
Lettuces and onion
Lettuces and onion
20211026_101115.jpg
Spent corn stalks
Spent corn stalks
20211026_100623.jpg
Black and pinto bean seeds i saved
Black and pinto bean seeds i saved
20211026_095324.jpg
Squash!
Squash!
20211026_095311.jpg
More squash!
More squash!
20210803_094000.jpg
My apple guild and pea plant
My apple guild and pea plant

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Staff note (gir bot) :

Mike Haasl flagged this submission as an edge case BB.
BBV price: 0

Staff note (gir bot) :

Mike Haasl flagged this submission as an edge case BB.
BBV price: 0
Note: The squash clearly show enough calories but can you show how much of the other species you grew with some proof?  IE you grew 20 lbs of carrots, here's a pic of all of them.  Here's XX lbs of sunchokes, that represents YYYY calories.

 
Rebekah Harmon
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Edge case submission
Hey Mike , how is maple syrup season? Well, the potatoes have been half harvested and stored. The sprinkler box they are in is 2x3x3, sorry you can't see them in the pic, but I'll bet it's 50-75 pounds of potatoes.

Let's try this a different way. The other half of my potatoes are still under soil. I grew them in tires. I upturned the front stack and found 11 lbs. Worth of spuds. That's 3,800 calories. You can see in the pic that there are 7 more tire stacks, and if they are all pretty close to 11 pounds, that would be a total of 26,000 calories, and it's only half of what I grew.

Here are what's left of my sunchokes, 27 lbs. That's 8,900 calories. Thats more calories than I estimated the other way.

Here are a few things I did with my tomatoes, peppers and tomatillos. Salsa, freeze dried, etc.

Does that help?
20211026_135820.jpg
Potatoes tires
Potatoes tires
20211026_134508.jpg
27 lbs. Suncokes
27 lbs. Suncokes
20211026_181010.jpg
Tomatoes freeze dried
Tomatoes freeze dried

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Staff note (gir bot) :

Someone flagged this submission as an edge case BB.
BBV price: 0
Note: Please refer to the note from Mike H below this post.

 
Mike Haasl
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Syrup season is slow in coming.  Maybe in another 5 months it will finally get rolling :)   I don't do fall tapping...

Your latest post is helping.  Look at how I formatted mine way up above.  I listed each crop, the poundage how many calories that represented and a pic of each bounty.  If you could do that for all yours, you're good to go.

I'd say that you have shown enough produce for the sunchokes, potatoes, apples, squash and cherry tomatoes.  You've done the math for us for the taters and sunchokes.  Just need to do the rest for us...

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Submission flagged incomplete
Hey Mike, thanks for giving me time to work on this. Here is a picture of a list I made of number crunching for you. And a few pictures for chokecherries and apples, since those are also high-calorie crops for me. What else can I get for ya?
20211026_094646.jpg
Numbers
Numbers
20211112_080103.jpg
chokecherry syrup. Whats left! My kids love it
chokecherry syrup. Whats left! My kids love it
20211112_075217.jpg
Apple preserving
Apple preserving

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Staff note (gir bot) :

Someone flagged this submission as not complete.
BBV price: 1
Note: We need to see pictures of ALL the crops. Proper documentation is very important for certification. Unlsee you have very large sunchokes it might be good to double check that math.

 
Skandi Rogers
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Approved submission
This one took a lot of going through old photos, while I grow in excess of a million calories a year easily I don't appear to take many photos of them, take summer squash I know I grew over 50kg of them this year (I keep good records for the business) but I can only find photos of about 7kg which isn't enough to hit the 2k calorie limit.
I grew in excess of 200kg of strawberries this year, but I only included two "pickings" as I am sure they came from runners I have myself taken and planted and not bought plants.
I've included 14 different varieties so if there is a query about one or 2 the others can take up the slack.

Cucumbers        39          2668
Potatoes            41.8       14630
Beans/peas       17             2340
Maize                 5            2100
Apples               15           2940
Beetroot            11          2150
Onions               111        20240
Winter squash   436        87120
Tomatoes           59         4779
Currants             12        3080
Parsnips             22        7500
Cabbage             22        2500
Elderberries       7          2336
Strawberries      26       3900
Total calorie count 150157

The black buckets are 12L the large aluminum pans are 12L the large stainless pan is 10L the potato bags hold 22lb when full. All weights on the scales are in kg/g (those on the list above are in pounds) there may be some rounding errors in the figures above.
There are extra beans hiding in the corner of "cabbage potatoes cucumbers"




Apples-Elderberries.png
[Thumbnail for Apples-Elderberries.png]
Beans-peas.png
[Thumbnail for Beans-peas.png]
Cabbage-potatoes-cucumbers.png
[Thumbnail for Cabbage-potatoes-cucumbers.png]
Corn.png
[Thumbnail for Corn.png]
Cucumbers.png
[Thumbnail for Cucumbers.png]
Currants.png
[Thumbnail for Currants.png]
Onions-and-beetroot.png
[Thumbnail for Onions-and-beetroot.png]
Parsnips.JPG
[Thumbnail for Parsnips.JPG]
Squash.JPG
[Thumbnail for Squash.JPG]
Strawberries-(2).JPG
[Thumbnail for Strawberries-(2).JPG]
Strawberries.JPG
[Thumbnail for Strawberries.JPG]
Tomatoes-Cabbage-Beans.png
[Thumbnail for Tomatoes-Cabbage-Beans.png]
Staff note (gir bot) :

Someone flagged this submission as an edge case BB.
BBV price: 0
Note: Your submission is great but could you just snap a picture of your garden?  per this requirement "place(s) where your food is growing"

Staff note (gir bot) :

Mike Haasl approved this submission.

 
Skandi Rogers
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OOps sorry those were meant to be included.
DSC_0488.JPG
Squash plants
Squash plants
DSC_0029.JPG
Whole field cabbages in forground
Whole field cabbages in forground
DSC_0229.JPG
Peas beans onions
Peas beans onions
P1040825.JPG
Curants
Curants
 
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A clarification on the rule

- no inputs from more than 500 feet away (tomato starts from the big box store aren't allowed) except for seeds



How is this being interpreted for perennials? Looking at Mike's first approved submission, I'm assuming the apples, raspberries, and Aronia berries were probably bought as plants (super cool if started from seed).

Also does garlic follow the seed potato rule?
 
paul wheaton
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Jim Spaulding wrote:A clarification on the rule

- no inputs from more than 500 feet away (tomato starts from the big box store aren't allowed) except for seeds



How is this being interpreted for perennials? Looking at Mike's first approved submission, I'm assuming the apples, raspberries, and Aronia berries were probably bought as plants (super cool if started from seed).

Also does garlic follow the seed potato rule?



I think garlic is like the seed potatoes.

Perennials must already be there, or started from seed, or imported from less than 500 feet away.

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Heather Staas
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Can calories be tracked and calculated by volume vs. weight, or is it only weight that's allowed?

For example;  if I grew and stored  5 gallons of pumpkin = 80 cups x 30 calories is 2400 calories.  would be easier to document total vs. weighing and photographing individual pumpkis before I can or eat them?

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Mike Haasl
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I'd say to do whichever is easier and makes sense.  Please note that for my submission near the top, I just listed the amount of each and then a photo showing that it looked like I did what I said.  I didn't weigh each bucket of apples.  I also grew/harvested double what was needed so it made it easier for them to feel good certifying.  It does look like the BB requirements have been updated since I made my post though...  Document as much as you want, more is always better :)

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Heather Staas
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Excellent, thank you!

Question 2 concerning the input distance.

I have two gardens on different properties.   If I move things BETWEEN my two gardens, but NOT from outside sources,  will it violate the input distance or can I still consider this "from within my garden"?    IE;  rabbit manure,  comfrey tea, chop and drop material,  grass clippings....    The answer to this will play heavily into my growing plans for next year (high yeild plants all in one garden vs. split between the two).  

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Mike Haasl
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Hmm, I think moving between distant gardens wouldn't pass muster.  Then it's not much different from importing comfrey from other places too.

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Heather Staas
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Thanks Mike.   I found myself arguing both sides of that question equally and figured I'd better ask definitively lol.  

"The world is changed by your example, not your opinion." ~ Paulo Coelho

 
Shari Clark
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 - perennials, biennials and annuals are fine but foraging is not



I wonder about the definition of foraging. I have been picking up food from my yard that is usually considered "weeds," such as goutweed and stinging nettles. Is that considered foraging or harvesting, and does it count?

Also, I was just wondering what people were using to weigh their food. I don't have a large food scale.

Thanks in advance!

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Mike Haasl
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I think that sounds closer to foraging than to "Grow and harvest..."

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Shari Clark
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Mike Haasl wrote:I think that sounds closer to foraging than to "Grow and harvest..."



Thanks so much for the clarification, Mike. Just wondering about the measuring. Is it okay to estimate or do we have to actually weigh every single thing we harvest? I may have to invest in a bigger scale because right now, I just have a small kitchen scale. Thanks in advance.

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Mike Haasl
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I think you're best off by harvesting/processing large batches at a time or it will be a really arduous BB to get.  You can do it by volume if it makes sense (gallons of popcorn?).  But it might be worth picking up a scale.  I got a 22 lb scale really cheap at a thrift shop...

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Alex Green
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I grew crops in past years but didn't realize that I had to weigh them.  I also didn't take volume measurements.   Is there any way that I can get some credit toward the gardening BB?  Growing these was a lot of work, and I would hate for it to go to waste.  I might be able to do some research and approximate the weight of the produce, but it wouldn't be an exact measurement.

Can I get credit for any of this at all?  I realize that I can't get credit for things that I didn't take pictures of, but what about things like the squash?
IMG_3897.jpeg
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Mike Haasl
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I think you can get credit for the squash if you propose a conservative weight for that harvest and just go with it.

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Alex Green
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Question:

Do different varieties of squash and tomatoes count as different species for the sake of this BB?
 
Mike Haasl
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 - grow, harvest and use 12 or more species (except in cases where species are quite different as in the brassica family) totaling 100,000 calories  


I think if you grow cucurbita mixta and cucurbita moschata and cucurbita pepo could count separately but tomatoes are the same family.

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Rebekah Harmon
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Approved submission
Ok! Trying for this bb after another growing season!
The crops I grew and their pounds or grams, and the total calorie estimate of each:

1. Jerusalem artichokes, 27 lbs. from last year, 72 from this year, making 32,670 calories
2. parsnips, 37 lbs, making 12,617 calories
3. lettuce, so many salads! about 2,000 calories
4. radishes enough to fill 4 quart jars, at 500 cal each, makind 2,000 calories
5. tomatoes, 2,800 calories from last year, and two bushel from this year, making 12,800 calories
6. Corn 1155 grams of dried corn, 3,800 calories
7.  2 c. of last year's black beans, 2 c. of this year's beans, plus about 2,000 calories of fresh peas is 6, 800 calories
8. two years of squash, including 25 spaghetti squash, 7 pumpkins, 13 acorn, 8 delicata, and 19 banana squash, equals an estimated 13,280 calories
9. strawberries. several bowl-fulls, about 2,000 calories
10. apples: 1.5 bushels, 17,000 calories
11. flaxseed: guessing 2,000 calories, since the first batch, which I calculated exactly, came out to be a little less than 2,000 calories, and there was a second batch, also pictured, but I forgot to picture the handful I used for next year's seed!
12. sunflower seeds, 284 g, 2704 calories
grand total:  108,671 calories
last-years-sunchokes.jpg
30 lbs of sunchokes
30 lbs of sunchokes
20241014_115944.jpg
this years sunchokes 1
this years sunchokes 1
20241028_151610.jpg
this year's sunchokes 2
this year's sunchokes 2
20241016_113048.jpg
parsnips 1
parsnips 1
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parsnips 2
parsnips 2
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lettuce representaion. In actuality, I ate months worth of salads, with 6 cups of lettuce each day
lettuce representaion. In actuality, I ate months worth of salads, with 6 cups of lettuce each day
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more greens, goosefoot this time
more greens, goosefoot this time
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radishes were picked by the handful, mostly
radishes were picked by the handful, mostly
20240827_122438.jpg
eventually, I harvested all the rest and canned them
eventually, I harvested all the rest and canned them
cherry-tomatoes.jpg
cherry tomatoes from last year
cherry tomatoes from last year
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tomatoes processes so far, a little more than a bushel
tomatoes processes so far, a little more than a bushel
20241027_175434.jpg
the tomatoes I still have left to process! XO
the tomatoes I still have left to process! XO
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corn
corn
20241023_090054.jpg
hopi pink corn
hopi pink corn
20241023_090143.jpg
dakota popcorn
dakota popcorn

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Note: I think we're missing a pic of the apple trees and maybe of more garden space (maybe from further away)?)?

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Rebekah Harmon
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The 2nd half of pictures. Many of these foods grew in or next to my GAMCOD garden site, so I only included one picture of that. (In the sunflower photo)
*adding in the pictures of apple trees and growing spaces!*
20241028_145948.jpg
where the sunchokes grew, besides in my GAMCOD garden, which is where most of my calories grew from this year
where the sunchokes grew, besides in my GAMCOD garden, which is where most of my calories grew from this year
20241027_175557.jpg
this year's squash
this year's squash
squash-1.jpg
last year's squash 1
last year's squash 1
squash-2.jpg
last year's squash 2
last year's squash 2
sunflowers.JPG
sunflowers growing in my GAMCOD garden
sunflowers growing in my GAMCOD garden
20241023_083249.jpg
processed and weighed sunflower seed
processed and weighed sunflower seed
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strawberries
strawberries
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more strawberries
more strawberries
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bruh, do you have any idea how hard it was to get my kids to WAIT to eat these until I snapped a photo!?
bruh, do you have any idea how hard it was to get my kids to WAIT to eat these until I snapped a photo!?
20240929_131719.jpg
gooseberries
gooseberries
20240918_151832.jpg
apples from my honeycrisp trees
apples from my honeycrisp trees
20241006_123649.jpg
apples from my harlared trees
apples from my harlared trees
20240824_162659.jpg
most of the flaxseed harvest
most of the flaxseed harvest
20241027_180357.jpg
the second flaxseed harvest
the second flaxseed harvest
20240628_101940.jpg
peas
peas
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peas!
peas!
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more peas!
more peas!
beans.jpg
last year's beans
last year's beans
20241031_170105.jpg
my two honeycrisp trees, although it has snowed now, you can still see the walking onions and lemon balm polyculture beneath them
my two honeycrisp trees, although it has snowed now, you can still see the walking onions and lemon balm polyculture beneath them
20241101_143552.jpg
harlared apple trees, guilded out with strawberries, chives, and gooseberries
harlared apple trees, guilded out with strawberries, chives, and gooseberries
20241101_114213.jpg
tomato growing space. I grow them in tires. The tires, though not permie-worthy, hold heat needed for tomato success. 15 plants here went in the 15 tires
tomato growing space. I grow them in tires. The tires, though not permie-worthy, hold heat needed for tomato success. 15 plants here went in the 15 tires
20241031_170118.jpg
my garden space, including a 200 square foot plot up front, a line of mulberry trees, and rows of raspberries and parsnips, tomatoes, etc.
my garden space, including a 200 square foot plot up front, a line of mulberry trees, and rows of raspberries and parsnips, tomatoes, etc.

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