Check out these beautiful carrots! There was a time in June that I didn't think there would be ANY carrots, much less carrots this nice. My first crop of carrots did not come up, nothing, not a one! So I went to many farm/garden/nursery stores and NO ONE had carrot seed. It seems carrots not coming up was a systemic problem, one not isolated to just our farm. My husband was telling my tale-of-carrot-woe at work and one of his colleagues offered him some of his last year's seed. We took it and gave thanks! I planted those tiny seeds in July and joked with John that we would have carrots for Thanksgiving. It turns out Halloween would have been more accurate, but here they are! I waited until we had a hard freeze (it was 20 degrees two nights ago) so they would keep for a long time. The frost hardens the skin and increases their storage-ability. What will we do with all these carrots? I cook some up in the slow cooker for babyfood, Jana loves carrots. And I'll can some to add to soups, stews and hotdishes. And we'll eat the rest fresh and stored for most of the winter.
This past weekend my parents were here to visit. We had one of my favorite meals: hamburger and sauerkraut over mashed potatoes and green beans. John and I looked at the table filled with food and realized that all the food on that table we had grown or processed ourselves! It was really amazing to have such a feeling of comfort in knowing exactly where all of the food came from, what was not sprayed on it, how long it had sat on a shelf, etc. I encourage all of you to strive to eat locally next summer. Spend this winter talking to people about food and investigate places where you can get (or even raise) your own food.
