The Harvest ~ Part I
I must say this is my favorite time of year. The leaves are only starting to turn and the harvest is still in full swing. Spring is nice too. The garden has just been planted (see picture to the right from May 2008), everything is neat and very green. The flowers are blooming and tiny sprouts are starting to peek from the warming earth.
The garden this year was expaned to double the size, nearly 400 square feet. My intent was to increase the number of foods I would grow and expand into new territory with new veggies, herbs and companion planting. I purchased a new gardening book after hearing a guest on Wisconsin Public Radio one day. I have a fairly green thumb and purchasing a book on gardening was new to me. As it turns out, I learned a lot and tried companion planting this year for the first time. Theory has it, that planting certain veggies and herbs next to each other will result in better crop yield and natural pest protection.
Companion planting combined with a lot of rainfall lead to a very successful year for me. 
I had bumper crops of nearly everything and things like peppers and broccoli have never been this successful.
My plantings this year included the following: 36 hills of potatoes (Superior White, Kennebec), 10 heirloom tomato plants, 5 pepper plants, 3 rows of onions, 3 types of beans (green, wax, royal burgandy), 2 types of peas (sugar snap, shell), mesculn, 5 types of baby red tinged lettuces, and 15 different herbs (chamomile, rosemary, oregano, cilantro, basil, spicy basil, feverfew, lovage, lemon balm, winter savory, orange mint, lime mint, apple mint, mint grapefruit, and chocolate mint).
With fall quickly approaching, I am busy harvesting and storing as much food as possible. The potatoes are nearly dug and will be stored along with carrots and onion for use all winter (more on this in Part II). The tomatoes are ripening once again thanks to some warmer weather and warmer nights. The lettuce and broccoli are still producing along with the zucchini.
I am also busy taking my second herb harvest of the season and drying herbs. Thanks to the generosity of a dear friend, I have a food dehydrator and am learning how to dry herbs, peppers, and fruits. Other food preservation endeavours include a lot of canning and freezing.
As fall is upon us, the footprint will focus on Sustainability and the Harvest. Articles will be posted in the coming weeks on food storage and preservation, as I chronicle my efforts to live more sustainably. This becomes more timely, even though I had been planning these efforts for over a year, with the state of our economy today.
By Lisa Peterson