The part of the year I didn't tell you about.

With our bit of a disappearing act, I know many of you (okay the 2 who read this) are wondering what has been going on around here.

The garden did well before the end of the year, I need to update all the pages with our total output from the garden and our canning numbers. The garden put out a total of 150 lbs of produce. That doesn't even count all the herbs we pulled out and dried. We are still canning some jams from frozen fruit I bought over the summer. At least canning in the winter I don't need to worry about putting added humidity into the air.

Final clear out of tomatoes only. 

In the end, our savings from the garden totaled 128.6% return on investment on our EVERYTHING cost, including the bricks for the new herb bed out front. The consumable return on investment was much much higher. We have been asked if we see that money come back and my honest answer is yes. Our grocery bill is still on the small side since we are able to pull the canned tomatoes out for dinner, or the fact I haven't bought jam in 2 years. Although right now I cringe when I go to the store and have to pay a dollar per pepper when I know ours taste so much better and is not outrageously priced.

We also took in a few new plants at the very end of last season. Pooka asked if we could get a rosebush from her great grandma's house for her. Our dear friend Aunt S came up and helped me try as best we could to transplant it. However, it had been in the ground at Great Grandma's for about 20 years and it didn't like the idea. Right now it is sitting dormant in the garage in a pot and we are hoping that it will survive being transplanted again in the spring. Aunt S and I had decided that the roots were too small to risk putting in the ground when we first grabbed it.

Great Grandma's rose bush we are keeping

With the rose bush came some free succulents from Great Grandma's. We left quite a few in the pot with the rose bush. We also tried planting one in the ground outside, but I am not 100 certain it will survive the winter.

Succulent in the ground,. 

Pooka kept quite a few in the pot with the rose bush, but we did try to transplant one into a pot in the house. It seems to still be alive, if looking a bit spindle at the moment.

Pooka's plants for her room.

This is a quick update of what has been going on. More to come in the next few days.