What does it mean to have harvested and eaten 1,000 calories of food from a yard? It’s a dubious milestone in the context of my overall objective. Why? Because it took most of August to get there, and to be on track we should have consumed somewhere in the neighborhood of 19,065 calories by now (about 615 Cal/day). But at the same time, getting out of the hundreds of calories has been such a slow roll that involved literally scraping the yard for stalwart remnants of the spring that celebrating — or at least acknowledging — is in order. And besides, my yard is in between seasons. While some growers are munching watermelon and the last of their summer squash, the local wildlife has left me with nothing but a dwindling supply of apples and tomatoes. Soon the calories will be really hard to come by. However, I do have a promising field of fall/winter seedlings.
There’s something to that feast or famine adage.
So, what does 1,000 calories really add up to? It’s about the same as drinking six cans of Pepsi. Or eating two Big Macs. Or three Snickers bars. However, because homegrown food is so damn healthy, the calories accumulate at a bit slower pace than processed food (I’ve really missed an opportunity here to infuse everything with corn). To reach this milestone we ate six strawberries, 10 grapes, 27 Husky cherry tomatoes, two asparagus, one clove of garlic, five basil leaves, one Beefsteak tomato, four small Purple Viking potatoes, and three-and-a-half medium-sized Gala apples. We shared half that last apple with friends, enthusiastically.
I am happy with our first month’s calories, even though they fell short. Potatoes, again, are a trip to pull from the earth. And satisfying a snack-time craving by stepping off the front porch and snapping a ripe apple off our tree has a sense of heritage to it, and excellence — especially in the afternoon, when the apple’s sun warmed but crisp and tastes like chewing cider.
It’s been a tasty first thousand.
Damn good apple. Congrats on the first 1,000!
would you like a graft from our fig tree? We get hundreds of figs and turns out they’re really good for you! you’re certainly welcome to a piece.