Freshly dug Halblange White organic Parsnips.

Winter harvest:  One box of parsnips.  Woo hoo!  O.K., it is a full box, and I didn’t have any last year, so I call that progress.  Eventually, I’d like to have different vegetables and fruit growing in the garden throughout the year.  But I’m going to give myself a little more time on that one!  I planted lots of carrots to have with the parsnips, but only a few of the seeds germinated this year.  Last year we had a bumper crop of carrots, this year not so much.  That’s how it goes in the garden!

Yellowstone organic carrots (and some garlic).

That is me holding the carrots with my pink gloves. I was a bit camera shy after  working in the garden. 😉 The carrots were delicious and sweet and I was happy with their size.  Want to see where I hung my garlic to dry?

Garlic being left out to dry.

Another one of those not so pretty pictures, if you ask me!  These are hanging at my back door.  Well, they were hanging there while it was dry.  I moved them inside to my utility room (laundry room) after a while.  They are still braided and hanging in there – minus the clumps of dirt hanging from them. I cut those clumps off as soon as I could manage it! I just pull off a head as I need it.  🙂  The parsnips have now joined the garlic in our back room as it is rather like a cold storage room.  I suppose it is a good thing that I don’t have a dryer, so there’s no variation in room temperature. It’s  just plain cold, all of the time!

A little less muddy after a good rinsing, the parsnips were a nice size.

We’ve used the parsnips a few times already. I find them to be a sweet vegetable.  We like to pair them with carrots.  This year we also tried making parsnip chips (like potato chips/crisps).  When I say “we”, I mean my husband!  They were quite tasty.  One thing we learned was to not overlap them on the tray when baking as that prevents them from getting crispy.  Here is the link he used: http://www.inspirededibles.ca/2012/02/oven-baked-sweet-potato-parsnip-chips.html

Parsnip chips made by my husband.

We harvested the parsnips, although we could have kept them in the ground. My son and husband were tidying up our raised beds and decided it was best to move them.  I’m now in the planning stage for deciding what we want to plant this growing season!  The time goes so fast!  It’s already time to plan out the beds, and order seeds.

My teenage son helping out with the beds.

Neat and tidy! Ready for the next planting season!

They worked some of the more aged compost into the soil.  That will give it plenty of time to break down before the growing season starts.  (You can see some parsnips in the bottom right corner of the picture above.)

Now, about those new neighbors!  The field behind us was harvested of it’s sugar beet a while ago. The cows were brought in to finish off the plants.  And they are doing quite a job of that!  The kids and I enjoy watching them, especially the two calves.  Really, we do!  The farmer surely thinks we’re a bit nuts…

Hi there.

The black calf was born in the field.

How many pictures of cows did I take???

Yeah, I know, they are just cows. But I like them, and they seem to be posing for me!

These two are eating my thorny weed pile!

This one came right up to my fence.

I like that I have some items from the garden that I’m still using. The garlic should last me through the spring.  The parsnips are also going to keep us busy for quite a while.  Want to hear a confession?  My pumpkins are hiding in my utility room too…

Pumpkins. And they’re even orange!

Yep. Pumpkins. In perfect condition. They aren’t the baking variety though, so I’m at a loss for what to do with them.  I think that eventually I’ll get the seeds from them, and try to grow some more! 🙂

A frosty Iceberg Floribunda Rose.

There’s the “end of post” flower! So much going on, even in the winter!  I love having  something so enjoyable to keep me busy.  Have you picked out what you are planting this year?

Dana