Posts Tagged ‘carrots’
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Thursday, December 16th, 2010
We have been harvesting our organic carrots that we grew from seed in our garden all-fall-long this year. Carrots take a realllllllly long time to grow. Here’s how our carrots looked back in May.
We planted them from seed starting in early April from an organic seed packet we also used in 2009. We chose a variety called Scarlet Nantes. We grew carrots last year and learned a lot about the ups and downs of growing carrots from seed in a raised garden bed.
This year we got pretty savvy. We planted using the rest of the seed packet, but this time we let our carrots sit and mature throughout the entire growing season. And it worked. Our harvest has been wonderful. In a year when not everything went swimmingly in our garden, our carrots have proven to be real winners.
Here’s one of our carrot rows.
We had a tremendous lack of rainfall this summer, and the carrot greens wilted and looked like they’d been chewed off by buggy pests. But the greens rebounded, so I decided to let the whole bed go. No plucking or de-crowding.
I finally started pulling carrots when the real-deal frost set in. Pulling the carrot beds up has been lots of fun.
Our carrots are all clumped together, and tugging at them to get them up is such a release. Totally rewarding. Some are long, some are short, some are stubby, and some sprouted, ahem, male carrot parts.
Once the carrots are pulled, I set about chopping off the greens to compost, along with the squiggly roots and carrot tops.
We’ve harvested several pounds of organic carrots at this point. And they have this crisp, fresh, gingery taste that is second to none. Their color is a bright, fiery orange. Organic garden carrots are simply amazing! I want more and more!
We eat them raw, of course. I have also used them in Sunday soups and stews like yellow split pea soup and turkey lentil stew.
But my very favorite way to enjoy carrots from the garden is roasted. Chop up your carrots into manageable pieces, generously drizzle with organic olive oil, sprinkle with dill, and roast in a 425°F oven for about 40 minutes.
The smells and tastes of roasted organic carrots from the garden are just about pure perfection.
Did you grow carrots this year? How do you like to cook them?
Tags: autumn, carrots, gardening, organic
Posted in The Growing Season | 3 Comments »
end of november in pics: highs + lows
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
Okay, so I feel compelled to share some of the highlights and not-so-muches from the last few weeks. Because so many wonderful and necessary* and downright taxing things occurred. *Disclaimer and warning: there is a photo of the gross hair clog from our shower drain coming. Digest your breakfast first before scrolling on.
First up—a little leaf raking for yee.
November was also about pulling more carrots from our garden. How could I not photograph one of the funnier specimens?
Did I mention raking? In the road, no less!
And the leaf piles just kept getting bigger and bigger.
Classic me in November: huddled at the ’puter doing work. After hours.
Back to the endless raking. Craig is somewhat befuddled by the sheer amount of leaves in our yard.
Followed by dish duty. Again.
Annnnnnnd raking. Craig demonstrates our refined tarp technique for dragging leaves across the street to the woods to compost.
He’s working haaaaaard!
Ole!
Wait for it… the infamous hair clog. Dude, if you’d struggled and struggled for weeks on end to figure out how to fix your shower drain from its backed-up-ness and come out the other side with THAT—you’d photograph it too. Victory!
No amount of vinegar and baking soda down the drain was going to clear that monstrosity. It took bravery and lots of googling and digging and poking and tugging and full-on drain excavation. It was like finding the holy grail.
What can I say? My long hair wreaks havoc. Fixing that drain problem was actually a huge highlight amongst the rest of the craziness of my month. Now the drain is working like gangbusters once again. Showering has never been so wonderful.
And no, I did not compost that hair. Couldn’t do it.
But let’s end on a REAL highlight, shall we? More carrot fun. Me in the kitchen massacring the first harvest of carrots from our garden!
Tags: autumn, carrots, gratitude, housework
Posted in Household Management 101, The Growing Season | No Comments »
the near-frost october garden
Saturday, October 23rd, 2010
Sigh. The growing season is, well, pretty much over for outdoor 2010 here in southern New Hampshire. I didn’t do a great job of planting fall crops this year. But! I do still have a few veggies hangin’ on or waiting for me to harvest. And it is always nice to have something to look forward to.
Beets!
My beets take forever to grow. This my second year growing beets, and last year they did squat. So this year I started these buggers waaaaay back in April. I pulled a few beets in summer and they were teensy. So I left the rest, and they finally look like real beets! I think I’ll pull them this weekend because I also want to use the beet greens. You can stir-fry them or chop up the greens for soup. And the beets we will roast to put on top of salad.
Cilantro!
I planted new seeds in August, and for whatever reason, these cilantro plants have been total slackers. I thought my seeds had been dug up by birds or chipmunks, but a few weeks ago—wallah! Late bloomers. Wonder how frost-resistant cilantro is? It would be awesome to get a little crop going to clip over the next few weeks. Fresh cilantro = yummy taco night. Need I say more?
And, of course, carrots!
This is our second year growing carrots, and I am so excited to pluck them from the soil. We’ve grabbed a few here and there:
But the majority of our garden carrots are still waiting. And carrots are great because they tolerate frost pretty well. And, really, they just keep on, keepin’ on in the soil. Which works well for us! Looking forward to roasting them with a little olive oil and fresh dill.
So, that’s one of my weekend goals—to finish harvesting the gardens. It’s always a little bittersweet to say goodbye to the outdoor growing season. But, hey, good eats await!
What do you have still growing and hangin’ on in your garden? Did you plant fall crops? What’s working for you? I’d love to know.
Tags: autumn, beets, carrots, cilantro, gardening, gratitude, organic
Posted in The Growing Season | 2 Comments »
hot, hot, hot…
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
Hot! Sizzling! Scorching!
It was pretty darn warm here in southern NH today. Temps rose above 90°F and the humidity soared with it all. Dare I say I fretted all day long about my lettuces while I was stuck at work, knowing they were gasping in the reallllly hot temps. Must water! I pleaded with Craig to water the gardens when he got home from work, knowing that I had to be at the dentist at 6 p.m. (Yes, I have a fantastic dentist who does nighttime appointments after work!)
Craig of course gladly obliged, bless him. And I trotted off to have my 6-month cleaning which I was slightly dreading. My last appointment wasn’t so stellar. But after having 5 cavities filled over the winter and committing myself to drinking raw milk, this visit was superb. I was told that my teeth look great and my gums are looking way healthier. I can’t help but give credit to the raw milk. Because I’m still brushing and flossing and eating fruits and veggies. The milk is really the biggest change I’ve made. So happy to go to the dentist and come away feeling victorious!
I stopped on the way home to pick up some organic tomato and pepper starts at a garden stand in Groton, Massachusetts near my dentist. It was fun to poke around a garden center where they grow everything on-site. One day (maybe next year?) I will finally commit to growing tomatoes from seed. Besides the roma and cherry tomatoes and banana peppers I picked up, everything else in my garden this year I’ve grown from organic seed. And without starting anything indoors. Heh heh.
This is a huge leap for me! Each year I’ve grown as a gardener, and committing myself to growing from seed is really exciting. And as of today, May 25th, everything is coming up!!! The heat over the last few days is causing a fantastic garden explosion. I’m so thrilled.
The cilantro is almost ready to harvest!
Here come Blue Lake Beans! They've sprouted and grown tremendously in 2 days.
Come on beets! I want success this year!
So the lettuces did wilt a bit, but a healthy watering revived them.
I see potato sprouts!
The zucchini are up!
These sugar snap peas are ready to be staked/trellised. I need to figure out a way to do this.
Can you spot the radish? They are ready to harvest! I thinned a few this weekend and gave the babies to my Mom. First pick of the season!
If you look real close into the heart of the plant, you can see where the first broccoli rabe stalk is forming.
My carrot sprouts. They are slow and steady. And I am so excited for their progress.
The garlic plants are getting gigantic!
I am very thrilled with how the garden is going. Here it is the end of May, and everything is starting to flourish. The coming months should be exciting to see how my hard work to plant seeds and try new veggies pays off. Weeeee!
Tags: beans, beets, broccoli rabe, carrots, cilantro, gardening, garlic, lettuce, organic, potatoes, radishes, raw milk, spring, sugar snap peas, zucchini
Posted in The Growing Season | 2 Comments »
tuesdays are tough days
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
Tuesdays are just so in the middle of the beginning of the week. It makes them a kind of melancholy, long sort of day. Knowing it is ONLY Tuesday. You’re back into the routine of the work week and really IN it, with nowhere to go but more long days of work to follow for a while.
Perhaps I’m being a bit overly dramatic—I blame it on my allergy medicine.
On the positive side of things, I’ve been working on improving my posture at work. I’m very aware that I hunch over a lot and slump in my seat. It’s such a bad habit, and a surprisingly tough one to break. I am much better at practicing my posture when I’m walking to the bathroom or going to fill up my water glass. But at my desk I quickly start to hunch and soon I’m the equivalent of a fiddlehead fern. I have a post-it note taped to the bottom of my monitor to remind myself to straighten up!
Along with this conscious spine lengthening, I’ve also been practicing deep breathing this week. Calming breaths. Slow exhales. Being in the moment. Between all the hunching over and shallow breathing, I’m surprised that the pollen have been able to work their way into my system at all! The breathing is a little tough right now because I’m pretty stuffy, but it definitely makes me feel better and less anxious.
One really cool thing that happened today was that we got our first thunderstorm of the spring/summer season. I love thunderstorms! I love the dull groan as the thunder travels in the distance. I love counting after lighting flashes until the next boom. I love searching the skyline for thunder clouds. I love the way lightning can look green and pink and how it can travel horizontally and vertically.
It got suddenly very dark outside around 5 p.m. and the wind starting whipping. The temps dropped about 10 degrees, and then the rain came down in sheets as the low, heavy rumbles of thunder passed through. It caught us by surprise. I got home from work to find that the windows were wide open in the guestroom, and the bed was a little damp. Oops.
After the storm passed, the sun rays filtered through the low-lying clouds and the shadows and light were really pretty.
The other nice thing about the rainstorm was that I didn’t have to water the gardens after work today. And the heat over the last few days is causing a flurry of growth!
The carrots have sprouted!
The radishes are flourishing!
The lettuce rows are clearly visible.
I need to brainstorm some little way to make Tuesdays more tolerable. Because I don’t think I’ll be lucky enough to get a short thunderstorm every Tuesday afternoon.
Tags: carrots, gratitude, lettuce, radishes, spring
Posted in The Daily Balance, The Growing Season | 2 Comments »