Sunday, June 22, 2014

Of Rain and Emptying the Root Cellar

Well, I missed posting yesterday for lack of a single thing to say.  Get out the wet noodle . . . I'm ready to take my punishment.

I have nothing (much) to post about today either, but I have to get a new post up so that picture of me in my custom-made blooper blouse will disappear.  (Why is it that almost no one likes pictures of themselves?)

Weather-wise we are stuck in this wet, drippy, foggy, chilly period.  With more of it forecast for the coming week.  No visible puddles (when the moisture is not actively falling from the sky) in the garden, but oh my, do the plants look sad and in need of an infusion of sunshine.  I shan't complain (much) though because from the middle on down to the southern part of our fine state, Minnesota is experiencing serious flooding.  Not a good situation for anyone, but I'm sure the struggling farmers will be affect adversely.

Hubby and I just finished sorting through the remaining potatoes from last year's crop.  I knew from when I looked through them for small ones to plant that they had started to grow very healthy sprouts, but I hoped there were some that were still fit for eating.  Nope.  Negative on that score.  I waited too long to go through them and should have either entered us in a mashed potato marathon or dehydrated them or canned them.  They all went into the compost.  My bad.


We also had about a half bucket of carrots left that were getting pretty hairy but are still very firm and sweet tasting.  So a little brushing took care of the "hair" and they're now stored in the spare fridge and will get eaten up PDQ.


These are the first lupines of the season I picked for a shelf in the bathroom.  In previous years, they've blanketed the hillside in back of our wood working area but this year only about half as many are showing.  Either the winter was too harsh for them or they've had way too much water gushing over their feet.  I hope they will re-seed themselves so next year there's a more spectacular display. 

Hope you all had a good weekend!

 

18 comments:

tpals said...

I thought you missed a post! Considering I can go weeks without posting you've done great.

Charade said...

And I'm even more impressed, since I've now gone just over two years since my last post!

Mama Pea said...

tpals - I'm starting to realize I must lead a very boring life when I can't think of a single thing that rates writing down. How is that when I'm busy all day??

Mama Pea said...

Charade - Well, you'd just better shape up, girl, and get back in the posting groove! ;o)

Freedom Acres Farm said...

We, down here in the central part of the state, have planted beans and cucumbers TWICE and they are STILL not coming up! It's getting almost too late. That part of the garden has been under water more than not in the past 6 weeks. :-( Hey, have you shared how you store your carrots here before and I missed it? If so, link please? If not, explanation please?

Sue said...

The lupines are my favorite--it's one of the things I miss most about the U.P.---they were EVERYWHERE up there. Here?-maybe a smattering here or there, but very rare.
Glad the carrots were still holding well. I ran out months ago--and boy, do I miss them. Somehow, store bought is not so good. How do they manage to ruin carrots???
Hope the sun shines brightly on you guys for a bit.
Have a good week

Marie said...

ah... things are coming up, but sun would be welcome. and yes, we've become an island surrounded by water ... this too shall pass ....

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

I'm trying to catch back up reading. Blogger was giving me trouble today and our power was out again. Those carrots look tasty.

Susan said...

Heck, I wish I could GROW carrots, let alone have enough to store. Nothing wrong with those lovely roots that a shave and a haircut couldn't fix....I am so glad that I am not the only one who missed a post! Is it July yet???

Carolyn said...

I cannot wait until June is over. Who started this silly blog-a-day thing anyhow. Should be slapped.

Mama Pea said...

Hi, Sue - I don't care what anyone says, any food you can grow at home tastes soooo much better than store bought.

I wish I knew why our lupines are so sparse this year. Guess I'll just cross my fingers they come back next year.

Mama Pea said...

Freedom Acres Farm - Dang, I just lost my reply to you. I'll try again.

I put about 2# of carrots (that's just a handy size for me to grab) in a plastic bag with some holes poked in it. The bags are then put in a tote box and stored in the root cellar. This year we also just tossed some loose carrots in a plastic bucket and kept it covered with a damp towel. These ended up keeping better than the ones in the bags, and were the ones we just brought up. If you have room in a spare refridge, you can bag them and keep them in there for many months.

So sorry to hear you've had such flooding problems. So discouraging when trying to grow your own food.

Mama Pea said...

Marie - Oh gosh, I sure hope your situation improves soon. As much water as you have is NOT a good situation.

Mama Pea said...

Kristina - We've been having a lot of trouble with Hughes.net going out on us during our heavy rains. Sure, the days when it's raining and you can be inside catching up on computer things, you can't get the reception. Not fair.

Mama Pea said...

Susan - So why is it that you can't grow carrots? You've got good, friable soil . . . what's up, kiddo?

Mama Pea said...

Carolyn - We who agreed to commit to the blog-a-day thing were the dummies! ;o}

Freedom Acres Farm said...

Thanks. I'm not sure if that would work in my cold closet or not - we don't have a true root cellar :-( We tried them in buckets of sand the last two years and they only made it until about January and then get mushy. I don't have a spare refridge - I'm on solar power! I'm blessed to even have a small freezer! LOL Thanks for the tips!!

Mama Pea said...

Freedom Acres Farm - Yes (before root cellar), we've tried storing carrots in both sand and sawdust. Both were messy and ineffective. When living totally on solar power, there is no doubt you have to do things differently (alternatively? pun intended) and make up the "rules" as you go along.