Marching to the BEET of a Different Drum

A person who is growing a garden, if he is growing it organically, is improving a piece of the world. He is producing something to eat, which makes him somewhat

independent of the grocery business, but he is also enlarging, for himself, the meaning of food and the pleasure of eating. The food he grows will be fresher, more nutritious, less contaminated by poisons and preservatives and dyes than what he can buy at a store. He is reducing the trash problem; a garden is not a disposable container, and it will digest and re-use its own wastes. If he enjoys working in his garden, then he is less dependent on an automobile or a merchant for his pleasure. He is involving himself directly in the work of feeding people. - Wendell Berry

I like that Wendell Berry quote.  It kind of encapsulates everything bouncing around in my little brain about small-scale agriculture at any given time.  I am always amazed that you can work up the soil a little bit, removing the weeds and put a dead seed into the ground and with a little water and a bit of sunshine, in no time flat little seedlings are popping up out of the ground.  If those seedlings are cared for properly and if the grower exercises a bit of patience, the happy gardener will be harvesting delicious vegetables that will be enjoyed by family members.  Healthy vegetables from healthy soil results in healthy people.

Of course there are things that we can't grow here.  I love mangoes, but we can't grow them, so we must purchase them.  While many are content to purchase most of their vegetables and fruit at the grocery store, if it is possible, growing them yourself is the better choice in my humble opinion, but maybe I march to the beat BEET of a different drum...

Well, it was, after-all time to get the beets planted.  We like beats.  They are great sliced and cooked in a pot with a little broth.  They are great pickled, making a delicious appetizer and fantastic cut up and roasted in the oven.  In the past we threw the beet greens over the fence to the cows, but now we've started eating them. Sorry cows.  So I worked up a 24 foot row that is approximately 30 inches wide.  I stepped off three similarly sized blocks on the row and using a stick, made two furrows, evenly spaced, on top of the row.

Late afternoon sun shining on the Beet Row

We're putting in three different types of beets this year.  We're using the old stand-by variety that we always plant - Bull's Blood Beets.  While varieties like Detroit Beets have green greens. Bull's Blood Beets have red greens.  We tried a new variety last year called Golden Beets.  While we didn't get the yield with the Golden Beets that we did with the Bull's Blood Beets, we're planting them again.  They just look so nice on a plate next to the red beets -  a work of art, you might say, on your supper plate.

Three beet varieties

So the new variety we're trying this fall in the Chioggia beet.  I'm assuming it must originate from Chioggia, a town in the province of Venice in Northern Italy.  This beet comes highly recommended, and I've read that it is the SWEETEST beet there is.  We'll see.  I think it is interesting because the beet, when sliced, looks kind of like a starlight mint.  Starlight mints will always remind me of the candy that you try to quietly unwrap in church prior to the end of service and pop in your mouth to ward off the dreaded "church breath" that threatens to offend your fellow congregants if not properly dealt with!

The "Starlight Mint" Beet 

Beets are a very pretty root crop and they come from a dull, unassuming seed. Although I've tried to save seeds from beets, I've never been successful in getting them to flower.  Perhaps I'll try again this year.  

Beet Seeds

I sowed these seeds in soil that I've amended with lots of organic matter over the years, so it works up nice and deep.  They are planted 1/2 deep and spaced about 4-6 inches apart.  In addition to the three varieties shown above, I'll also plant Mangel Beets, a mammoth beet I talked about HERE to feed to the cows during the cold weather.

I like beets and I like to march to the beat of a different drummer.  Henry David Thoreau said at the end of Walden:

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."

Sounds like good advice to me...