Monday, August 24, 2009

Shiny!

Check out this big blue addition to Seven Trees' workforce! It's a 2007 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT 4x4 V8 from Dewey Griffin in Bellingham.
We started out looking for a Toyota Tacoma, but after test driving (and pricing) them, plus a Tundra and a Nissan Frontier & Titan, we realized we could get a lot more use out of a full-sized truck, and that the Dodge Ram is a lot of truck for the price. It's going back to the shop this week to have a bedliner and some running boards added. You wouldn't believe how high those seats are off the ground!
We harvested all our onions this weekend. Quite a pile, and that's not including the ones we've already eaten.
They have to cure for a while before we take the tops & roots off and store them in the pantry.
A wheelbarrow of beets (and the not-quite-finished painting project in the background). This is about 1/2 the harvest, since the first 1/2 is already pickled & jarred.
We left them in the ground longer than usual, but they should still be good pickled. Luckily the cows like them, so any we don't eat will be put to good use. All the critters loved the pile of tops we took off, leaving around 50lbs of beets in the basket.
And for the exciting finale, this year's garlic harvest, ready to get cleaned up and brought inside for storage.

5 comments:

Kristen said...

Nice shiny truck! Does Gem get to ride in the back seat? :)

Seven Trees said...

LOL He could fit I think!
First car payment ever....scary ;)

Oldnovice said...

On your bounty, where do you store these things? I ask because I live in the South and have sweet potatoes which really should come out of the ground before insects get to them, but after the "curing" stage, I have no idea where to store them. I'm thinking a large picnic cooler in a closet (away from areas that get heated in winter) with maybe newspaper between potatoes and a refreshed cool-pack every day to keep the temp at roughly 50 degrees?

Any thoughts?

Seven Trees said...

We have a spare fridge finally (not working quite right, but better than nothing right now). We also use coolers & ice for short term storage (like a week or so until we can can or freeze stuff). We use the pantry which is a bit cooler than the rest of the house. It's a spare bedroom on the north side. No basement or root cellar, so we're learning to time our crops for cooler weather. The potatoes go out in the garage once summer is over.

For sweet potatoes, doing the cooelr & ice thing is good wit hplenty of ventilation. I've read that in tropical areas, people build above ground 'huts' that look kind of like a wood shed for storing them. If they're in the shade, I guess enough breeze gets to them to keep them cool.

It's too cold for us to grow sweet taters up here, so I don't really know first hand. Someday I'd like to try some in the greenhouse though.

Anonymous said...

Nice truck. You even bought American. I like it. You going to put an NRA sticker on it? All trucks need one.

I hope you get the bedliner that covers the sides also.

nova