Harvesting Carrots 2015

Right between the row of Russian Red Kale and the row of Bull's Blood Beets, we have 3 rows of carrots, each with a different variety planted on it.  The last row has Cosmic Purple Carrots, the middle has Atomic Red Carrots and the first has normal (boring, I guess) Orange Berlicum Carrots. The purple carrots seem to grow faster and get big and fat, so I've been pulling a few of those up to enjoy.  We only have half a row of them left.

Today I planned to harvest all of the carrots that were prime size on all three rows so I grabbed some five gallon buckets and got situated.  We've had some rain lately so the ground was moist and easy to pry the fat carrots out of the rich soil by hand. We have had years where it was dry and that makes pulling them hard, and you end up breaking some of the carrots off in the ground.

What's left of the Cosmic Purple Row

The greenery on the carrots was beautiful, but you never know what's underneath the greens and the soil, until you start pulling.

Carrot Greens on the Atomic Red and Berlicum Rows

I would say carrot pulling is back-breaking labor, except it's not.  I started in the morning after milking and weeding and I wasn't in a rush.  I had a glass of grape juice, it was cool and overcast, and I could hear the chickens clucking and singing the little song they sing after laying an egg.  Of course the cows meandered over and began softly lowing, begging for the greens.  It was a peaceful morning, no fuss, no deadlines - one of those days that you thank the Good Lord you are alive to enjoy.

Another reason it is not back-breaking labor is because I'm literally sitting down on the job.  We have a handy little garden chair on wheels that is the most perfect carrot-pulling apparatus known to mankind. We originally purchased it for my grandmother, Bumby, so she could plant her caladium bulbs in her flower beds in comfort.  She enjoyed that so much.  She had a green thumb for sure. When she passed away, we inherited the garden chair and it is a nice reminder of her and her love for rooting around in her flower beds.  The seat has a lid that you can lift up and store all sorts of gardening supplies in it.  As I pulled the carrots, I'd just roll forward.  Lazy, I guess, but that's what weekends are for.

The Rolling Garden Chair

Here are some fresh pulled Cosmic Purple Carrots.  They are not purple through and through.  Just the outer skins are purple.  When you cut into them they are orange on the inside.  When you cook them with a little water, they turn the water purple!

Here are some regular orange carrots.  Unremarkable and boring, I assume, but they sure taste good. The carrot tops (greens) are a favorite of the cows.  I'm told they are good for human consumption if you juice them, but we've never tried them.

And finally, here are the Atomic Red Carrots.  They are red through and through. The beautiful red color is sort of translucent and beautiful to look at when you cut them.

After I'd heard enough begging I began to carry handfuls of carrot greens to the cows.  You can only see Rosie's ear in the top left hand corner of the photo as she opened her mouth and ate the entire bunch whole, leaving none for her daughter Amy, to the right.  No worries, there was more where that came from.

Gluttonous Rosie

After pulling out all the nice sized carrots, I had two overflowing 5 gallon buckets and a smaller bucket absolutely full.  There are a lot more carrots that still need a week or two of growing time before they are ready.  My problem is that I don't thin out my plants.  If I did, the carrots would be of uniform size, but I have an idiosyncrasy that I can't bear to pull up a perfectly fine plant prior to harvest. That's okay.  There's no rule that says that carrots must be uniformly sized and perfect. They all eat the same.  Now that we're done harvesting, I soak them in water, scrubbing the dirt vigorously. I save all the top-soil laden water and go dump that back in the garden.

Buckets 'O Carrots

The Cosmic Purple Carrots kind of sneak up on you.  When you pull them from the ground, they are dull and dark colored. When you wash them, they ABSOLUTELY POP with gorgeous color.  You almost need sunglasses to look at them.  We've always heard that the more colorful things are the more healthy they are for you.  If there's truth to that, these must be like the fountain of youth!

The Majesty of Cosmic Purple Carrots!

The carrots sure do clean up nicely.  There's something else that needs cleaning up after a morning of carrot pulling - my hands!

Dirty Hands

Psalm 24:3-4 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?

And who may stand in His holy place?

4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood

And has not sworn deceitfully.

I'd best get busy then.