The Walden Effect: Homesteading Year 4. Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

Storing parsnips and carrots

ParsnipsI probably could have left them in the ground a little longer, but the day before Thanksgiving just felt like the right time to dig the parsnips.  I ended up with a big bowlful, and the roots slipped quite nicely between layers of damp creek sand/gravel in a large flower pot.  They have now become the first inhabitants of our fridge root cellar!

Meanwhile, inside, I checked on the carrots I've been storing in the fridge.  After about a week, the top layer started to lose a bit of its crispness, so I wet a dish towel and laid it on top.  It seems like I need to re-soak the dish towel once a week, but the carrots are now staying nice and crisp.  The only problem is that we've eaten half of them already!  I guess next year we'll have to grow twice as many.

I still have a bed of younger parsnips and a couple of beds of young carrots in the garden.  I planted these too late to get large roots this fall, so I'm hoping that they'll overwinter in the ground under a heavy leaf mulch and grow for me in the spring.

Check out our Avian Aqua Miser sale if you're looking for a gift for the chicken lover on your list.  Or feed your own independence with our ebook about starting your own microbusiness.


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