Early in the season I noticed that several bloggers were keeping a running total of their harvests and the monetary value associated with it. I decided to do the same but never quite mastered the gadget that would put it on the side panel of my blog. So I kept a journal record and entered it into a spreadsheet in late summer. I still have some broccoli out there and some parsnips, but I will credit them to next year's harvest. Today I ran the final totals.Out of a 3o'x24' plot (with two 8x4 foot garlic beds outside) I yielded 382 pounds of produce at a conservative value of $647. I say conservative, because those luscious heirloom tomatoes I counted at a mere $1.26 per pound. (they sell at the farmer's market here for $4.99 a pound). I had put much hope early in the season in some French melons that fell to the cucumber beetles. And yet, as I look at the variety on this list I am impressed with the variety of crops I managed to plant even if the showings were small in categories like zucchini that in past seasons seemed to fly out of the garden.
But in my heart of hearts I know that this is only one way of counting rewards that come to me by tending this small plot. How do I put a price on coming eye to eye with a hummingbird while harvesting pole beans? How do you weigh the satisfaction of the smell of the first carrot you pull from the earth ... the first sliced warm tomato ... the spring dug parsnip chowder in April ... the bright green flavor of your first plate of asparagus? It's like the Visa ad, I guess ... priceless.
| Pounds | Ounces | Price | Value | |
| Apples | 1 | 3.3 | $ 0.66 | $ 0.80 |
| Artichoke | 1 | 4 | $ 6.00 | $ 7.50 |
| Asparagus | 28 | 9 | $ 1.67 | $ 47.70 |
| Basil | 1 | 4 | $ 12.00 | $ 15.00 |
| Broccoli | $ 1.50 | |||
| Brussels Sprouts | 1 | 14.3 | $ 1.25 | $ 2.37 |
| Butternut Squash | 1 | 11.4 | $ 1.01 | $ 1.73 |
| Carrots | 1 | 8 | $ 0.54 | $ 0.81 |
| Cucumbers | 20 | 13 | $ 0.75 | $ 15.61 |
| Eggplant | 8.4 | $ 0.97 | $ 0.51 | |
| Garlic | 21 | 12 | $ 6.16 | $ 133.98 |
| Garlic Scapes | 3 | 9 | $ 6.00 | $ 21.38 |
| Green Beans | 23 | 12.6 | $ 1.07 | $ 25.45 |
| Greens | 7 | 3 | $ 1.51 | $ 10.85 |
| Onions | 7 | $ 0.55 | $ 0.24 | |
| Peppers | 1 | 4.7 | $ 1.26 | $ 1.63 |
| Potatoes | 2 | 8.5 | $ 0.31 | $ 0.78 |
| Radishes | 5 | 6 | $ 3.04 | $ 16.34 |
| Salad Box | 1 | 6.9 | $ 9.85 | $ 14.10 |
| Shallots | 11.9 | $ 1.08 | $ 0.80 | |
| Snap Peas | 2 | 4 | $ 3.52 | $ 7.92 |
| Tomatoes | 235 | 4 | $ 1.26 | $ 296.42 |
| Tomatoes Cherry | 13 | 4 | $ 1.93 | $ 25.57 |
| Zucchini | 4 | 10.5 | $ 1.26 | $ 5.87 |
| SUB TOTAL | 371 | 179.5 | $ 647.49 | |
| TOTAL | 382.22 |
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