How much of your summer fare is from the garden or farm?

[Robin Garr]

Most of dinner came out of our garden tonight: Eggplant and tomatoes roasted with garlic, basil and olive oil, topped with grated Parmigiano. It would be interesting to calculate what percentage of our non-restaurant food this summer has come from the garden, and from farmers' markets, but I doubt we've kept sufficient records to do more than guess. Have any of you ever run similar numbers?

Other than herbs, which except for basil are pretty much year-round, I only grew tomatoes and onions. The tomato tree is, as is their wont, producing beautiful tomatoes all at once. I picked most of the onions two weeks ago - there are still three of them that are valiantly growing.
I've been eating all versions of tomato salad until it's running out my ears!
I think I'll poke around with tomato soup next week. Query to come in Cooking.

John

We don't do any hard calculations but in the summer probably 75-80% of what we eat comes from the farmer's market (we don't have a garden). And that extra 20% is mostly stuff like rice and grains that we can't buy at the market!

In the winter it's maybe 50-50, as we go the farmer's market year-round and buy as much as possible.

[Robin Garr]

We don't do any hard calculations but in the summer probably 75-80% of what we eat comes from the farmer's market (we don't have a garden). And that extra 20% is mostly stuff like rice and grains that we can't buy at the market!

In the winter it's maybe 50-50, as we go the farmer's market year-round and buy as much as possible.

We're pretty much on the same page, Rahsaan, although Mary's gardening skills gave us some mighty good eats over the summer. Cost savings are less clear ... watering during crazy July wasn't cheap, prompting her to guesstimate at one point that each eggplant cost us $300. And time spent is another factor. But there is something really nice about picking dinner an hour before you eat it.

Have to say that we're no more than 50-50 on this. We don't garden and we can only get to one farmers' market on the weekend. We do try to get the bulk of our produce at that market, but are pretty poor at planning more than a couple of days ahead.

[Jenise]

An unfortunately small amount. I grow only tomatoes and lettuce. The three cherry tomatoes are my snack food, and the other two plants (Early Girl and Moskovich) have only produced about 10 tomatoes so far. There are a lot turning color on the Early Girl right now, but the extra long hang time is probably going to compromise quality and it's a crapshoot about how many we'll get--nights are down into the 40's now and the plants are shutting down.

This summer's been worse than usual for us with a sick cat. For the last month or so--prime summer produce weeks for our part of the world--we've either been in Seattle seeing specialists or chained to the house pretty much feeding her every few hours to get her weight up for amputation surgery. Hence I've not managed to get to our local Saturday market even once this summer, but I have picked up fresh produce at garden stands every chance I've had.

Jenise,

I a very sorry, and yes touched by reading of your sick kitty. While I am not per se a cat kind of person, I AM an animal person, and at present have three dogs in my home. Two are female and one is male, all are "fixed" so there won't be surprises. Two are shelter rescues and one is a Is a purebred Brussels Griffon (female). The other female is (I believe) a full blood Vizla and the third is a Heinz 57. I sincerely hope that your kitty gets well, and goes through the surgery in fine shape.

And to keep this at least a little on subject, I am struck by the idea of a small greenhouse for your garden. our area is apparently not conducive to growing tomatoes, and you love them fresh from the garden, it could be an answer without a lot of cash outlay and a minimum of labor on your part.

Jenise- Was pleased to see on FB that Tammy Faye seems to be recovering nicely from her surgery. I do hope things continue to go well for her (and you as well)

Bob- Why don't tomatoes do well in your area? I'm curious since my tomato harvests have been disappointing since moving here to So. Indiana, which isn't all that far from your locale. I've chalked it up to my garden being a tad too close to a black walnut tree and was planning to relocate my tomato patch next year. Maybe sumthin' else is going on??

BP

I only grow tomatoes, herbs, swiss chard, lettuces, radish, spinach., and sometimes eggplant. All the big leaf plants, such as squash and cukes get sucked to death by white flies. Our Farmer's Markets here vary and I can go to one everyday of the week. I usually go on Saturdays and that is where I buy all the produce, nuts, evoo, breads, some cheeses, that I need. I can buy locally grown and milled grains at our local flour mill. Water is expensive here now, and since we have a huge landscaped yard, it is really cost effective to buy at the Farmer's Markets. I will, however, grow my own tomatoes as long as I can walk and think! Heirlooms are not very productive for me, so I rarely try any, preferring to grow the tomatoes which make my tasty tomato sauces and pastes. I have a flat of mixed lettuces and other greens sitting on my patio, next to the water faucet, waiting for the weather to cool a little, so I can heel them into the garden.

The produce that we get from our CSA is probably 60-70% of what we eat, the remainder being the pasta, rice, breads, fish and meat that get from the store. Our dairy comes from local farms as do the meats, so I suppose that if one includes them in the equation the number jumps to 85-90%.

Mark Lipton

So far this summer we have had our own lettuce, basil, thyme, rosemary, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans (three kinds), yellow zucchini, and some green zucchini that had to be supplemented by farms. We have had zero peppers nor eggplants.

[Jenise]

Jenise,

I a very sorry, and yes touched by reading of your sick kitty. While I am not per se a cat kind of person, I AM an animal person, and at present have three dogs in my home. Two are female and one is male, all are "fixed" so there won't be surprises. Two are shelter rescues and one is a Is a purebred Brussels Griffon (female). The other female is (I believe) a full blood Vizla and the third is a Heinz 57. I sincerely hope that your kitty gets well, and goes through the surgery in fine shape.

And to keep this at least a little on subject, I am struck by the idea of a small greenhouse for your garden. our area is apparently not conducive to growing tomatoes, and you love them fresh from the garden, it could be an answer without a lot of cash outlay and a minimum of labor on your part.

Bob, thanks for the condolences. Those are three lucky dogs! (Tammy has a vaccine-associated sarcoma, or VAS, and if you don't know what that is DO inform yourself on behalf of your dogs who get this more than cats do. Be very careful about vaccines in the future!)

Re the greenhouse, one of the few negatives associated with living on waterfront is our vanity about the view. We can't put one in back on the view side, and the front courtyard isn't really conducive either. Not even sure if it would help much since the issue is the marginal quantity of sunlight--the courtyard actually captures and retains heat very well.