2020 Autumn Harvest

In the spring we began our backyard garden/urban homesteading journey, and we had our 2020 Autumn Harvest the first Saturday of October. It was a beautiful day for harvest-the weather was lovely! My two oldest children helped me pull the plants and remaining produce while the hubby smoked a couple big chickens for dinner. It was the perfect day!

I couldn’t put my finger on what was so refreshing about this 2020 Autumn Harvest. Was it being out in the fresh air and feeling the sunshine? Was it the actual harvest? Then it hit me. Of course all the above had something to do with it, but the biggest reason it was so amazing was because it wasn’t overwhelming.

Allow me to explain.

At 16 my parents let me take over our family garden, and for nearly 15 years I had gardens after that. I loved it. There is something so gratifying, so therapeutic about gardening.

The last few years of my gardeningathon, my gardens were an acre and more at times. I used to preserve at least 1/2 or more of our own food for the winter. Once our second child was born it started to become more of a challenge once harvest rolled around though.

By the time I had our third child we had just moved and it was too late in the year to make a spot for a garden. Then the year after that homeschooling with a baby and toddler started to take more and more time. Eventually I tried gardening again but unfortunately the gardens would always get away from me since I was working part time, homeschooling, and taking care of our growing family-constantly in the pregnant/new baby/toddler phase.

Then we moved again to where we are now, in a town. Last spring we decided to make use of the space in our backyard and create some vegetable beds. All summer long we have been enjoying fresh zucchini, some broccoli, cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs and lettuce. It’s been so nice!

2020 Autumn Harvest was wonderful because unlike other harvest times I’ve had this one didn’t take up a month or two. It was manageable. I do miss not being able to put away pantryfulls of food I’ve preserved myself for my family, maybe someday we will have bigger gardens again if we move to the country, but for now this is perfect.

2020 Autumn Harvest

Some of the lovely produce harvested include tomatoes, broccoli, eggplant, lots of herbs, and zucchinis. Things we tried but that didn’t do so good include peppers and carrots.

We learned a lot this year. We would like to add a couple more vegetable beds for next year. I’m also going to grow our own starts. Last year we decided to do the backyard garden to late in the season for me to start our own. I will purchase some for some organic farmers at our local farmers market too probably.

Another thing I learned is that I put our tomatoes in the wrong bed! The bed I chose for them didn’t get quite enough sunshine. I did discover that the area we have dubbed our rock garden is perfect for some herbs. I think for the coming year we will remove some of the dirt from the beds so that we can make “hotbeds” and get an earlier start next year.

I also discovered that Azure Standard (affiliate link) is the best place to buy affordable fertilizer in bulk-they have bags for just $25.00. Next year I think we will try some potatoes too. Lastly, I tried cramming too much into some of the beds so we won’t make that mistake again next year.

I’m so excited for next year! I am going to assign a group of vegetables to research to each of my three oldest children as part of a school project, and have them discover which varieties are best for northern living, as well as what vegetables do best in beds.

If you enjoyed reading 2020 Autumn Harvest be sure to check out my other urban homestead posts HERE.