today i finally harvested the very last of my vegetables from last year-- carrots! they have been in the ground ready to eat for months, and in the fall i had started harvesting a few at a time here and there but i was waiting to do the big harvest later. this way i could have fresh local vegetables when there hardly any around. most of the farmers markets around town closed in November for the season, except Dupont Circle and Takoma Park, which are open every sunday year round. but the options get pretty limited for fresh veggies at the market in the winter, so these carrots i pulled up today are a special treat.
in the twin oaks community garden, pulling the last of the carrots from my plot
over the summer i was trying to figure out when i'm supposed to harvest the carrots. i figured it out mostly by trial and error-- i pulled up one or two early on and they were the size of my pinky, so that was way too soon. i ended up searching online when to harvest and thats when i found that if you cover them up in the fall with leaves and staw, then they will stay warm in the ground so that you can harvest them later in fall or winter.
the tiny carrots i pulled up in the june when it was waaay too soon to harvest
so what to do with my 12 pounds of carrots?!
carrot ginger soup!
AND
carrot cake! (vegan and gluten free)
... with a bunch leftover for snacks and cooking with later.
carrots and my housemate sophie's hummus
recipes and pictures of cake and soup soon to come! (i promise!)
yum! i just discovered this and am excited. keep updating!
ReplyDeleteMake carrot powder!! It's a fantastic herbal remedy for all sorts of things. Shave some carrots and dry them by laying them out on paper for a few days. Then use a mortar and pestle to powder it. Store it in a jar and add the carrot powder to just about anything when you're cooking. The drying concentrates all the vitamins and it becomes a universal be-well/get-well elixir.
ReplyDeleteooh carrot powder is a great idea. i've cooked with beet powder before and it worked out really well in soups and sauces, as well as red velvet cake, but carrot powder i've never tried. sounds great! thanks!
ReplyDeleteDang! That is a lot of carrots you might say!! Wish I could be there to see them!
ReplyDelete-Pacifica