Carrot Contemplation

A couple of days ago I bragged that the carrots were ready for digging.  Not exactly.

Eeeeww! Root maggots

In fact, the carrots were past ready for digging, having been invaded heavily by the heinous carrot root maggot.  I've had this trouble before in the summer.  I think this is one of the reasons people say not to leave root crops in the ground once the hot weather sets in.  Also, I blame my using some wood chips from the dairy barn mixed with leaves to mulch the bed.  I read yesterday that the flies that lay the eggs that hatch into root maggots like to lay their eggs in manure.  Oh well.

Good enough to go into the fridge for later

I did manage to salvage around 5 pounds.  There were some (above) that had little or no damage.  The rest I was able to clean up and cut away the nasty parts leaving a couple of edible pounds.

 Ready for the soup pot

 I  cooked onions, fennel and garlic in a generous amount of butter, added homemade chicken stock and the cleaned up carrot remains and simmered it till the roots were soft.  

Pureed with cream and garnished with sugar snap peas, dill, chives and yogurt, this was a tasty soup that we'll be able to enjoy for the next few days as it made about a gallon. 

This is one of those gardening experiences that give me pause.  

Is it really worth all the effort to grow what amounted to less than 5 pounds of carrots?  I can buy a 5 pound bag of organic carrots at the coop for about $6.  I have had this thought before when I harvested carrots that were less than stellar.  They are challenging to get started, often germinate poorly and carrots planted in spring for summer harvest are not that sweet.  The ones I grow in fall do better, can stay in the ground until I'm ready to eat them and are quite sweet especially once the cold weather sets in.  So I consider them to be more worthwhile.  But I wonder if I should really bother planting spring carrots in future.  

I think this may be one of the only crops I've ever really questioned the value of growing.  If you have any thoughts or experience with carrot growing, weigh in on this discussion via my comments section, go ahead, it's not that hard to leave a comment!

Here is a helpful article from Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association on Carrot Rust Fly.

Returning to Normal

I was trying to catch a flock of crows flying over.  You can see one- a blur, but love the red oak leaves set against that blue, blue sky.

What a day.

I am finally feeling the fog lift from having that tooth pulled.  I took a good brisk walk down along the creek, soaking in the fall colors and bright sky.  Came back home and worked in the garden for a couple of hours, weeding and tidying up in the veg patch.  Finished cleaning up the asparagus beds.  It always looks so much nicer when that's done.

Pulled down Jacks beanstalk, now dry and dead.  Pruners and scissors, cutting and pulling the twisted vines where they had climbed, wrapping themselves around the fence wire up, up, up.  Put away the posts, fence, piled the vines into the wheelbarrow for compost.

It was chilly and I kept my purple sweatshirt on the whole time, feeling snugly.  Pulled chickweed and oxalis from between the young carrots.  The soil was cold and I was glad for my good gloves.

Kept a fire going in the stove all day too.

 

sweet gum leaf  - like burgundy leather

The autumn has truly arrived and with it colorful trees, breezy clear days with leaves swirling by.  I am ready for this shift.

Also glad for the time change, to wake before 7 with some sunlight.  And at the end of the day to come inside and hunker down for long evenings of comfort food suppers and books.

Everything's On The Move

It's been warm this week and after an inch of rain last night, a front pushed through bringing clear, dry air for the afternoon.  In the yard there are a few things pushing out, the blood root (above) started opening on Sunday along with quince and more daffodils.  The primroses open wider, making their Easter egg colors pop from the leaf litter, camellias continue and the plum trees (below) burst into bloom over the weekend.

In the veg garden the peas are starting to emerge and in the past week I planted carrots, beets and 200+ onion plants.  Tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and basil are snugged up in a corner of the bedroom in flats sitting atop a heat mat and under a grow light, germination was very good this year, despite some seeds dating back to the late 90's and early 2000's.  I store the packets in the freezer in plastic boxes and they can keep for a very long time.

This afternoon while touring the yard together to see what was new and exciting, I said to David "Look at that snaky root over there"  and then together we said "That's not a snaky root, that's a rooty snake!"  On closer inspection, it was a good sized black snake, basking in the sun and looking gray like a tree root because it was probably about to shed.

Later I took a long ramble through the woods and saw more critters doing the work of spring.  The lowlands were pulsating with the songs of peepers and chorus frogs.  As I passed by the pond, mud turtles plopped into the water off their sunning logs and hung near the surface, enjoying the warmth of the water after crawling out of their muddy winter beds.  I stood for a while on the bridge where the water from the pond flows down a waterfall into a creek.  The overflow was running high from last nights rain, noisy, splashing over rocks and eddying into a swirling foam galaxy at the bottom of the fall before rushing on down to Morgan. 

In the woods and along the stream banks the trout lilies are peaking, and the dainty white spring beauties are also blooming now.  I heard a pair of red-shouldered hawks and looking up spotted them right above me, having a courting conversation and when  the male flew with pine needles in his beak I followed him with my eye to the nest and made a note of which tree top the platform of sticks was resting in for future observation. 

I roamed overland, climbing up to a high ridge line that I seldom visit because it's a steep climb.  I had the urge because I know that too soon the ticks will be out and I won't want to go off the trail. Cruising along I was startled when I came upon this BIG snapping turtle right in the center of the trail.

I spent some time with this girl?  I think so, obviously on the move in search of a mate and a place to lay eggs, she was quite a distance from the nearest pond.  Her shell was easily 12 inches long. 

I tossed this pine cone down as a measure, it is 4 inches, same width as her head pretty much.  I admired her eyes, elephant skin, snout and that beak of a mouth ( if you click on the picture I think you can zoom in).   I kept my distance, I have read that a snapper can reach their neck out 12 inches in a quick thrust.  And check out those bear like claws!

I relish this time of year when the sap starts to rise in all things living, myself included.

Anthropomorphic Carrot

We dug the remaining carrots the other day, got about 5 pounds.  Many were multi-pronged, not sure why accept that David transplanted some when they were small and I think that might have given them cause to make more than one root.  I'm planning a soup with the gnarlier ones combined with turnips harvested before the cold, finished with that good fresh cream from next door.  Maybe a touch of curry?  

My latest column finally made the paper yesterday, an ode to these cold winter days we've been seeing for weeks on end.  Here's a taste:

"Smoke billows down the roof and falls past the picture window, rolling across the yard into the woods where it hangs like a misty curtain in the bare trees. The brilliant morning sun, low over the horizon, shines straight through to the far side of the house.

Logs sizzle and pop inside the woodstove, water burbles on top, these sounds punctuate the inertia of a cold winter day. We read, and read, and read, dozing in the sunbeams like a pair of cats, only stirring to put another log on the fire or refill our coffee cups."

Click here for the full piece.

Tomorrow is the first day of the four day Great Backyard Bird Count sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  It's fun and easy to log your birds on line, if you are a birder, check it out by clicking on the link above.

Today the fierce winds of yesterday have passed and its sunny, but the chill air remains.