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| It's only 3 or 4 inches long -but a true delight around here! |
This is the first time we've ever tried carrots. Truth be told, we were a little worried. We haven't had much success with root crops in the past, boy were we surprised! My nephew asked us why it looks so funny. I said, this carrot doesn't look funny. The carrots in the grocery stores are the ones that look funny.
Bel and the boys went blueberry picking at a local u-pick farm. They harvested 20 pounds. She froze many of them, but she also dried some. They are tasty!
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| Dried Blueberries -a delightful winter snack. |
We also bought 25 pounds of beets for 12 dollars from an Amish farm near us. It seemed like a good deal to us. Bel will freeze most of them. She loves, loves, loves beets and will eat them all winter long. She'll make a batch of pickled beets. Sorry I don't know the recipe.
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| Bel is cutting and freezing beets for winter. |
We got a really great salad dish idea with radishes from another blogger. Everything she used we had in our garden or pantry, so we made it. Unfortunately, we can't for the life of us remember who it was. Whoever you are, if you read this, thanks!
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Homegrown green leaf lettuce, calamata olives, feta cheese, thinly sliced radishes, Greek dressing
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| Our very first blackberry. It was a bit tart, but who can resist? |
I love that you told your nephew the ones from the store look funny! Congrats on your first carrot! We planted a zillion in case of carrot famine... :0)
ReplyDeleteCute carrots. I prefer to eat your carrots than the perfect looking carrot but not perfectly grown store ones.
ReplyDeleteAhh, the firsts. They are the best of all.
ReplyDeleteThe first is always a special blessing:o) I didn't think of drying the berries, I just saw pies and berries and cream dancing in my head while I picked :o)
ReplyDeleteThat was a good price on the beets...we had similar last year with squash.
Congrats on your first carrot! They are so sweet and tasty that you will never want anything but fresh home grown good looking carrots!
ReplyDeleteI just pulled some this morning for dinner....can't wait!!
Hi Apple Pie Gal, We planted a lot too. We can't decide whether to harvest them now or wait. How do you know when it's time to harvest carrots?
ReplyDeleteMalay-kadazan girl, thanks. They are cute carrots. I love the knotty fat look. It's quite becoming.
Jane, truly.
Ginny, The dry berries are chewy, tangy and delicious. Really nice.
Robin, thanks. They are super sweet! Noticeably juicy too.
Congratulations on your first carrot and blackberry!! I have never dried blueberries but I will definitely give that a try because I have a great dehydrator that I think will work well for this.
ReplyDeleteThanks Alicia, I hope the dehydrated blueberries turn out perfectly.
ReplyDeleteYum fresh carrots! The grocery store carrots have absolutely no taste compared to home grown!
ReplyDeletecarpediemacreage.blogspot.com
Sorry I can't seem to sign in with my account - I've been having this problem a lot lately
Jody, kept meaning to get back to you on the harvest question. Well I think it depends on several things. Variety planted (some will get bigger/longer/fatter, some aren't meant to), type of soil you have (we have clay so they tend to be long and skinny), and the season too maybe. Lots of folks will overwinter them even for a natural root cellar. I don't know for sure if it would be too hot where you are now to leave them, but I don't know that it would hurt either. We succession plant ours. And lastly, how big do you 'like' them?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I don't think you can go wrong regardless. Carrots don't go to seed until they overwinter and come into the second growing season. So no worries there. Never done this however. I had a plan that allowed for it, but this years grand "washing out" of the garden put me too far off track.
So I don't know if this was any help at all?? Bottom line...just go with it! Pull one or two up and see if they are to your liking.
Trust me, they will be ;)
That's quite a bit of a harvest! The fruits look really luscious.
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling when it comes to first successful carrots! We had our first good ones this year too. Very confidence boosting.
ReplyDeleteI'd have to say this is the most mouth-watering post I've looked at so far today!