We just got back from a wonderful trip to Yosemite National Park, so I’m behind in blogging once again. I promised my readers at the Huntington Beach Independent a blog post with videos from that trip, but I need to do my Harvest Monday post first.
The chickens are still molting, so egg harvest is down with only seven eggs this past week. Chicken Little is the only one laying with any regularity, with an occasional unbroken egg from Henny Penny. Henrietta, our Black Australorp, hasn’t laid an egg in weeks.
I don’t know what’s up with the blueberry harvest. Or down, as the case may be. This time last year, I was getting a cup to a cup and a half per picking. Now I’m getting a mere handful. Or a tablespoon full. After being gone for five days, we had zero ripe blueberries. I’m suspecting varmits of some kind, maybe birds, maybe the fox squirrel.
The squirrel has been sampling my Babcock peaches and has eaten parts of a third of them. And he devoured my largest apricot, which was ripe. I picked the other two apricots yesterday so I will get at least a taste of my tiny harvest.
It’s hard being an urban farmer. Maybe any kind of farmer. I had three dozen apples on my semi-dwarf Granny Smith. While we were away, the most heavily laden branch snapped, dropping ten of the unripe apples to the ground. That was a third of my apple crop. I suspect that the squirrel had something to do with that accident.
The varmits left us some things to eat. Here’s my harvest for the week ending on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
FRUITS
2 oz. blueberries
11 oz. lemon, Eureka
8 oz. lemon, Meyer
6.5 oz. orange, Valencia
2 oz. strawberries
Subtotal FRUIT 1 lb 13.5 oz. (29.5 oz.)
VEGETABLES
1 lb 12 oz. chard
4 oz. green onion
7 oz. eggplant, Millionaire
1 oz. sage
7 oz. tomatoes, Early Girl
Subtotal VEGETABLES 2 lbs 15 oz. (47 oz.)
TOTAL PRODUCE HARVEST 4 lbs 12.5 oz. plus 7 eggs
If you had a harvest, visit Daphne’s Dandelions and sign in to Mr. Linky. Then head over to the Huntington Beach Independent to read about our trip to Yosemite National Park. http://www.hbindependent.com/news/opinion/tn-hbi-0624-natural-20100623,0,3741242.story
Lou Murray's Green World 
Oh dear…I’m glad the birds and squirrels left you something. We had a number of our fruit tree branches snapped this year too…mostly by marauding deer. I hope the rest of your apples and peaches are spared.
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Hi Clare, sorry you lost some branches to deer. I would assume that this happened before you put up your double fence. Ah, the steps we take to keep our food out of the mouths of wildlife.
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Oh I so hate the little varmints that spoil my harvests. They can be so annoying.
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Gardening for eating takes constant vigilance, doesn’t it, and the pests never seem to eat a whole fruit. They like to sample a little of each one! I hope your harvest is better next week.
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Hi Graceonline, the stinky little squirrel has now eaten 17 our of the 23 peaches that set on my new Babcock Improved tree. I picked the other 6 today even though they aren’t ripe yet, just so I can have some of the peaches from this new tree. This is the first year it has set fruit for us.
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I’m so sorry to hear that, Lou. How very disappointing. Keeping squirrels from trees is so very difficult, too. They like to eat the new leaf buds on my mom’s silver maple every spring. She loves that tree but fears losing it as the tree cannot keep up with the squirrels’ demands. Many dead branches now. It’s not like there isn’t plenty of food for the greedy little guys.
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Hi Grace, sorry to hear about your mother’s silver maple. Those are beautiful trees with the silvery undersides and delicate points on the leaves.
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